Small New York town where libraries rule – Entertainment News (Trending Perfect)

Located in the northern Catskills, New York, the small village of Hobart is home to about 400 residents and millions of wonderful characters, all stacked on shelves. Hobart is a village of books. Just a short walk from Main Street, there is seven Different libraries.

When Kathy Dwyer retired, she moved to Hobart to surround herself with beautiful scenery and lots of books. She initially had no intention of selling them – they were buying “For the first two years we were here, we were the best booksellers ever,” she said.

But she and her husband eventually opened two boutique stores—Creative Corner Books, which sells cookbooks and crafts, and New York Books and Ephemera, which focuses on all aspects of New York. “We really try not to mix what we sell with what we sell so that there’s something different in each store,” Dwyer says.

There is a store specializing in mystery books (Quarry Books). Behind the children's bookstore (The Book Nook), there is another store selling specialty travel books (More Good Books).

The village was inspired by High on Waya thriving Welsh book town that has become a world-famous destination for book lovers.

Don Dales has never been to Hay-on-Wye, and doesn’t even consider himself a “book person.” But he does consider himself a businessman. Dales grew up near Hobart, once a major supply point for the surrounding agricultural industry. When he returned to the area two and a half decades ago, times had changed. “It was a ghost town,” he says. “I always said the tumbleweed was falling down Main Street. It was depressing.”

Dills bought several buildings on Main Street. At about the same time, a Manhattan couple moved to the city and opened the William H. Adams Antique Book Store. Dills believed that strength might lie in numbers, so he began converting his buildings into more “I went out and bought a lot of books,” he said, “and a lot of wood, and made a lot of bookshelves.”

Old books have given Hobart a new identity – and new residents, like retired teachers Barbara Pallett and Cheryl Clarke, owners of Blenheim Hill Library. “I think Barbara always dreamed of starting a library because of her love of books,” said Clarke. “It wasn’t like that for me. I just wanted to retire!”

Clarke knows a lot about books, having published several collections of poetry. She also knows a lot of writers, and co-founded the Hobart Women Writers Festival, an annual weekend of readings and workshops focused on women.

Writers and readers now make pilgrimages to Hobart, in part because of what the city represents. “They like to feel like they’re in a place where books matter,” Ballett said. “Because I think a lot of people are in places where books matter.” no “That's it. So when they come here, they're so happy!”

You won't find everything new at Hobart's bestsellers; almost everything here is second-hand. No one gets rich here. For the shopkeepers, these stores are hard work – a new chapter in their lives.

For $2 you can buy a book and a cake at young Mikali Azgaryan's table at Hobart's farmers market. Who knows? One day he might open the village's eighth bookstore.

Don Dills believes there is room for growth: “People love books. They love seeing them on the shelves. They love seeing the cover of the book and saying, ‘Oh, I remember that book, that was a great book!’ And besides, a house without books is a boring house… unless it has a cat!”

For more information:

• Hobart Book Village
• William H. Adams's Antiquarian BooksHobart, New York
• Blenheim Hill BooksHobart, New York
• Book Corner (Children's Lending Library), Hobart, New York
• Creativity Corner BooksHobart, New York
• Liberty Rock BooksHobart, New York
• More good booksHobart, New York
• Books and other things from New YorkHobart, New York (Facebook)
• Quarry booksHobart, New York
• Hobart Women Writers Festival
• Hobart Farmers MarketHobart, New York (Facebook)

Story produced by Aidan Trevisan. Editor: David Bagat.