Sharpsburg's good, not so good
What If .... “The saddest words of tongue of men, are the words it might have been.”The little town of Sharpsburg has many features that make it unique â ¦. some good, some not so good. First, let’s talk about the good.
Most of the old-town area is much the same as it was many years ago. The old stores could easily be set in the early 1900s. There are no new and modern buildings to spoil the “old-time”look. Photographers and locals frequently use the area as the backdrop for pictures. With a few exceptions, the old homes in the immediate area are in very good condition and a few restored beautifully. The recreation center and library have been refurbished to blend with the vintage look. Streetscapes was completed to enhance the look of the Old Town area. This and all of the above lend to the charm of the Old Town, which is one block from Highways 16, 54 and 154. This is a very good location with good traffic counts on these roads.
But.... The immediate Old Town area has failed to thrive after the installation of Streetscapes when many of the merchants moved away during the construction. The loss of the Old Town Sharpsburg Festival was another casualty of Streetscapes. Efforts have been made to revive the festival; none have been successful.
This I know. The Old Town Sharpsburg area will never be revived without the cooperation of the town, the property owners and the merchants. If any one of these entities is missing, revitalization will not happen.
My source of information: While on the Town Council several years ago, I enrolled in a Town Revitalization Workshop sponsored by the Georgia Department of Community affairs ... an all day, five-day workshop. Obviously, we were given a tremendous amount of information but the bottom line was community cooperation ... just that simple... just that hard.
Polly Garlington, Sharpsburg
