Fifty Years Ago, He Stopped His Motorcycle In Summit. And Put Down Roots.

Wayne Stinson was looking to escape Long Island when he first stopped in Summit in 1976. Not only did he never leave, he’s one of the Summit Neighbors working to revitalize the scenic rural community.

Now Wayne Stinson is betting on Summit Neighbors and the next generation(s) to keep this Upstate community growing.

For Wayne Stinson, it all started with a motorcycle ride through Summit.

If not exactly bustling, the town was thriving. 
The year was 1976.

The Red Barn. 
Johnson’s. 
The Lake View Inn. 

The Summit Trading Post (where this story really begins–though Stinson didn’t know it then).

It was still chilly when members of Summit Neighbors got to work on this year’s Steps Garden plantings. Their hope? That their work will draw someone interested in investing in their rural community at the top of Schoharie County.

Fifty years and a couple of generations later, he’s one of the Summit Neighbors hoping the green space and pocket parks they're planting along Main Street–Route 10–will grab the attention of someone else driving through.

Maybe that someone’s…you.

[In 2024, the Town of Summit’s Comprehensive Plan Committee surveyed residents to come up with a vision for its future. There’s some cool history in it too. Take a look.]

The Steps Garden at the corner of Main Street and Charlotte Valley Road.

“We’re trying to create a place where people can imagine themselves…something that captures the eye of someone driving through who thinks ‘That’s a nice little community. I think I’d like to live here’...”

And maybe even open a small business. 

Coffee anyone? 

It’s a familiar story:

Stinson was looking to escape Long Island when he made that first motorcycle ride, stopping at the Trading Post to ask, “Is there any land for sale around here?” The answer: “It’s all for sale.”

Summit Neighbors have added plantings to all of the Welcome to Summit signs.

“I catalogued that,” he said. And two years later, he was back with friends to buy 60 acres off Wharton Hollow Road. By the time he retired upstate in 1983? Stinson (a former Long Island cop) and his wife had already started building on theirs.

Fast forward through a handful of retirement careers (locksmithing–his son, also Wayne, runs it now; restoring vintage BMW motorcycles and cars) and Stinson and neighbors turned their attention to recreating what the Trading Post—sold, resold, struggling–and for sale–had been when Lolly Seaton (locals then just called it ‘Lolly’s’) opened it in 1961.  

They sent out a mailing to everyone in the zip code addressed simply to “Summit Neighbors".

“And that’s the name we took. Summit Neighbors. What could we do to find new owners for the store?” (And maybe clean up some of the nearby buildings that had fallen into disrepair.)

For a few years, they worked with the Mohawk Valley Land Bank to take down a couple of those buildings. Inspired, owners of others took theirs down on their own.

But the store was a problem they couldn’t solve. 

It burned this March. 

By then, they’d already begun beautification efforts: flowers under the Welcome to Summit signs, the Steps Garden on land owned by the Methodist Church site along Route 10.

“We were the only town without a park,” Stinson  said. “And we really needed to have a park.”

Now? There’s a custom picnic table at the corner of Main Street and Charlotte Valley Road. Someone has even donated a grill. Small, sure, but it’s a start.

Because now, Summit Neighbors has turned its attention to a quarter-acre lot close to the old store, a donation from the Land Bank, too small to build on–but not too small for more gardens, a stone wall, fill, grass…and if their Capital District United Way Weavers’ Award application is successful, maybe a pavilion. Maybe more benches. A gathering place. Like Lolly’s all those years ago.

Again: “We’re trying to create a place where people can imagine themselves…something that captures the eye of someone driving through who thinks ‘That’s a nice little community. I think I’d like to live here’...”

Can you see it?

Can you imagine yourself putting down roots here?

Stinson did.

Be like Wayne.

SEEC’s got plenty of resources. Root-Access has plenty of stories.