July 2026
Note: This is Chapter 4 in my Borscht Belt series. Links to the other Borscht Belt articles are at the bottom of this article. If you don’t find a write-up on a specific hotel or bungalow colony in this chapter, either they are profiled in the other chapters or I haven’t heard of them. Unfortunately, my articles are not even close to being a complete list of the former hotels and bungalow colonies.
The Borscht Belt, the colloquial name of the Catskills area of eastern New York State that was once populated with resorts and bungalow communities for Jewish clients from New York City, in an era when Jewish people still faced discrimination elsewhere. Cheap airfare, a decline in passenger rail service, more integration and a desire of the younger crowd to travel elsewhere are some of the factors that led to a decline in the popularity for the 500 hotel resorts and even more bungalow colonies that once populated the area.
While some of the former hotels and bungalow communities were re-purposed into Othodox Jewish schools and Yoga resorts, most were either demolished, destroyed by fire or abandoned and left to crumble.
Given that there were once thousands of hotels and bungalow colonies, it’s near impossible to visit all the sites, especially given that many were demolished with no trace of the former establishments left today. The following hotels, and the others in my previous three articles, are just some of them; including some of the more noteworthy like Kutsher’s and Grossingers.
Note: Information on some of the former hotels in this edition of my Borscht Belt series was hard to find on-line or through available books. I don’t live in the area, so it’s hard for me to stop by the local archives office. If you can help fill in any details, it would be greatly appreciated.
Note: Trespassing is illegal and permission should be sought from the owner, if possible, before entering on to private property.
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Resorts and Bungalow Colonies featured in this Chapter:
Sunset Acres Hotel, Spring Lake Hotel and Spa, Murray Hill Hotel, The Saxony Hotel/Palonia House, Hotel Furst, Sunny Oaks
Hotel, Hotel Olympic, Rieger’s Hotel, Pine Tree Villa, State Route 52 Greenfield Park Hotel*, Pioneer Hotel & Country Club,
State Route 55 Swan Lake Hotel*, Normandie Hotel & Country Club, Premier Hotel, Hotel Lorraine, Hotel Gradus, Woodbourne
Sky House Hotel, Mayfair Hotel/Carnival Lodge, Liberty Hill Hotel*, Lennon’s Hotel, Columbia House, Butler Lodge, The
Morningside Hotel, Green Hills Estates*, The Lake House, Lake Rest Hotel, Ridge Mountain Hotel, Flamingo Hotel,
Oppenheimer Regis Hotel, Regal Hotel, Echo Hotel, Epstein’s Hotel, New Alpine Hotel/Rainbow Hotel, Mount Cathalia Hotel,
Greenwood Inn, Utopia Lodge, College Hill Manor*, Melbourne Hotel, Beaverkill Hotel, Fieldston Hotel, Sylvan Grove Hotel,
Pine Hill Hotel, Lake View Hotel, the Roseville Hotel, Holiday Hotel/Shlesinger’s Hotel, Edgewood Inn, Hotel Leona, Shelburne
Hotel, Woodbourne Sky House Hotel, Sunset Lodge, Marian Gables Inn/Mountain Spring Hotel, Queen Mountain Hotel.
Breezy Corners Bungalow Colony, Park Hill Road Bungalow Colony*, Mountain Cottages Bungalow Colony, Weinstein’s
Bungalow Colony, Fairhill Kochelein Bungalow Colony, Whittaker Road Bungalow Colony (East)*, Whittaker Road Bungalow
Colony (West), *Casten Road Bungalow Colony*, Lewinter’s Bungalow Colony, King Herman’s Bungalow Colony, Hutrat Road
Bungalow Colony*, Swan Lake Road Bungalow Colony*, Dishner’s Bungalow Colony, Lhoch Bungalow Colony, Tice Road
Bungalow Colony*, Tanzman Road Bungalow Colony*, Willow Bungalow Colony, Cold Spring Road Bungalow Colony*,
Wellspring Road Bungalow Colony*, Green Meadow Bungalow Colony*, Heiden Road Bungalow Colony*, Ulster Heights Road
Bungalow Colony*, Timberline Bungalow Colony*, Thompson Road Bungalow Colony*, Post Hill Road Bungalow Colony*,
Mount Hope Road Bungalow Colony*, Francis S. Currey Boulevard Bungalow Colony*, Woodcrest Villa Bungalows, Briscoe
Road Bungalow Colony*, Echo Mountain Bungalow Colony, Hilldale Road Bungalow Colony*, Milk Road Bungalow Colony*,
Village Park Bungalow Colony.
*Unknown actual name
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Sunset Acres Hotel
While the Borscht Belt was a vacation sanctuary for Jewish families prior to integration in the 1960s, a lesser known fact is it was also a haven for Black families looking for a vacation and recreation spot. Sunset Acres, located west of Parksville, was a small resort that catered almost exclusively to Black families. Located in Parksville, Sunset Acres was a small resort that operated during the 1960s.
Owned by William and Celestine Mardenborough, the summer-only hotel featured variety of amenities, including a swimming pool, tennis and handball, a social hall and like the other Borscht Belt hotels, great food.
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Spring Lake Hotel and Spa
Parksville.
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Murray Hill Hotel
Fallsburg.
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The Saxony Hotel
The Saxony Hotel opened along State Route 42 in South Fallsburg in the 1940s, when Harry & Sylvia Cohen bought Hotel Glass and transformed the main building facade to the “Sullivan County Mission” design trend of the day. This design was noted for resembling that of Spanish architecture.
The Saxony offered an impressive range of amenities, with their playhouse & cocktail lounge housed in a separate building. Like most of the hotels, The Saxony thrived off of entertainment and traditional hospitality.
By the 1970s, The Saxony was sold and changed its name to Palonia House in an attempt to revitalize the business, but by 1977, The Palonia closed for good.
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Hotel Furst
Open along State Route 42 in Fallsburg, also known as “Hotel Row,” from 1930s to 1960s, when a fire destroyed the hotel buildings. Hotel Furst closed permanently as a result and the property sat vacant until the mid 1980s, when Camp Nageela was founded on the property.
In the 1950s, Hotel Furst was advertising their new ice skating rink and “champion toboggan slide.”
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Sunny Oaks Hotel
Opened near Woodridge in 1928 by Cynthia & Ted Arenson, Sunny Oaks Hotel was known for offering guests folk dancing, warm hospitality and traditional Jewish cuisine. Like many of the early Borscht Belt hotel owners, the Arensons originally bought property with the intention of farming the land, but eventually it morphed into a boarding house and then a hotel.
Sunny Oaks wasn’t a fancy hotel. The collection of old wooden bungalows were small and had an assortment of mismatched furniture. There was one phone and one television for the up to 100 guests, and many guests shared a bathroom. The dining room served simple meals like roast chicken, boiled beef flanken, and cheese blintzes, with borscht served daily (of course).
When Sunny Oaks closed in 1999, it was one of the last of the small, family-run resorts remaining in the Catskills. The old social hall was converted into a summer home overlooking the lake.
One unfortunate distinction that Sunny Oaks has is a connection to the infamous Bernie Madoff, an American financier and mastermind of an estimated $65 million Ponzi scheme, the largest known in history.
Sunny Oaks was one of the resorts frequented by Madoff associates for recruiting investors, exploiting the trust of the Arenson family and his guests.
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Hotel Olympic
Opened in 1941 near Fallsburg.
The hotel was destroyed by a fire in 1976, destroying the old woodframe buildings and forcing the 275 guests and the staff to evacuate the hotel. The cause was deemed to be electrical.
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Rieger’s Hotel
Spring Glen.
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Pine Tree Villa
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State Route 52 Greenfield Park Hotel*
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Pioneer Hotel & Country Club
Opened in the 1920s near Greenfield Park and owned by the Gartenberg and Echechter families. In its day, it was the largest sabbath observant hotel in the Catskill.
In later years, the hotel featured a full spa including the only salt water indoor pool, plus a 9 hole golf course, with Leo Gartenberg being the owner of the hotel for about 40 years.
The end of the Pioneer Country Club came in 1974, when like so many of the old hotels, it burned to the ground. Leo Gartenberg died in 1990.
The former hotel property is now home to Camp Horim – Beis Meir, Mevakshai Torah, established in 2007.
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State Route 55 Hotel*
Swan Lake
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Normandie Hotel & Country Club
Loch Sheldrake.
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Premier Hotel
Opened in South Fallsburg, Premier Hotel featured buildings designed in the Greek Revival style. In the 1940s and 50s, the hotel was renovated, giving the buildings a minimalist modern look.
The main building burned down years ago, with the theatre, the Playtorium, being the biggest building still standing today.
Now Four Star Estates Condominiums.
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Hotel Lorraine
This magnificent property is the former site of the famed Hotel Lorraine, a glorious retreat in the heyday of the Sullivan County Catskills. Tree-lined drive leads to this 1940s ranch and barn. The home has original features intact: beautiful hardwood floors, paneled doors, high ceilings, enclosed porch and vintage stove and sink.
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Hotel Gradus
Formerly owned by the Gradus & Rosen families, The Gradus was a mid-sized hotel in Kiamesha Lake that featured a facade inspired by Spanish Villas, a style that would eventually be named Sullivan County Mission.
Hotel Gradus sat between two other hotels, the Mayfair Hotel to the north and the Fairmont Hotel to the south. By the late 60s early and 70s, Hotel Gradus was the only hotel left on the block.
The hotel closed in the early 1980s. The main building has since been demolished, but the annex building still stands today. The property is now known as Machneh Chaim V’Shalom (Munkatch Boys Camp).
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Mayfair Hotel/Carnival Lodge
Operated by the Schumer family, the Mayfair Hotel in Kiamesha Lake epitomized the evolution from a classic Borscht Belt establishment to a sophisticated Mid-century Modern complex.
Amenities at the hotel included a rounded indoor pool adorned with striking red wall-to-wall flooring, embodying the epitome of late mid-century aesthetics. The hotel complex seamlessly blended elements of 1920s stucco, 1940s Tudor, and 1960s aluminum and glass, resulting in a visually captivating facade.
The Mayfair was sold in the 1970s and became The Carnival Lodge. It closed in the 1980s and all the buildings were demolished.
The property is now vacant.
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Liberty Hill Hotel
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Lennon’s Hotel
Located outside of downtown Liberty. The main building is now occupied by Hospicare Inc., a medical supply company.
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Columbia House
The Columbia Hotel in Hurleyville dates back to 1891, when John Harms Knapp welcomed guests to his farm, what was then called Columbia Farm. As with many of Sullivan County’s Silver Age resorts, the Columbia started out as a working farm, complete with dairy products from their Guernsey cows. Guests meals included fresh milk, butter, eggs, poultry, maple sugar, and vegetables, all grown or produced on the farm.
Like so many of the early Sullivan County hotels, the Columbia included a working farm. The hotel operation was small at first, but grew steadily. By 1898, the Columbia was able to accommodate 150 guests.
The guest building was heated with steam and lighted with gas. Hot and cold water, baths and lavatories and toilet rooms are on every floor.
The Columbia became the first hotel in Sullivan County to feature a swimming pool in 1923.
John Harms Knapp suffered a stroke, and died in 1912, and his wife took over until her own passing in 1936. At that time, their son, Benjamin G. Knapp assumed control. The hotel he inherited included a swimming pool, erected in 1923 – the first pool in the county completely independent of any direct water supply – and a nine-hole golf course, opened in 1932.
Ben Knapp almost immediately began a major expansion, which included the construction of 12 additional rooms, all with private baths, and a large dance pavilion. Within a few years, he had added 12 more rooms with private baths, and eventually constructed a new lobby, dining room, night club, and a second golf course.
By the time Ben Knapp died in 1960, the hotel had added an additional thirty rooms. In 1963, the Columbia, then run by Ben’s three sons, John J., Ben II, and William, joined the growing trend in the county to stay open all year around, and added another building with 25 rooms, and a ski hill.
The Columbia added a ski hill in 1961, featuring T-Bar lifts, snow making equipment, a ski shop, and a ski school with certified ski instructors, in addition to a toboggan chute and horse drawn sleigh rides. At the time, the Columbia Hotel featured the most successful ski areas, although only for a short time.
By the summer of 1966, its Diamond Jubilee year, the Columbia could accommodate about 330 guests, and featured an Olympic sized swimming pool, two golf courses, and tennis courts, in addition to the skiing. Upgrades were planned for the hotel as the seventies approached, including an indoor pool, additional suites, a new night club, and more public space for conventions and meetings.
Unfortunately, the downturn in the fortunes of the Borscht Belt led to the closure of numerous hotels and bungalow colonies, and in 1969, the Columbia was one of them. At the time, it was the oldest continuously operating hotel in the county.
Ray Parker, who was the president of the Concord Hotel at the time, bought the hotel in September 1970. Any plans Parker had for the hotel never came to be, as it was destroyed in a massive fire on Christmas Eve 1971.
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Butler Lodge
Many future comedians and entertainers in both film and television got their start working in the Catskills. One such future entertainer was 14-year-old named Melvin Kaminsky, a young drummer and future entertainer who would go on to become a well-loved writer, film director and actor named Mel Brooks.
In the summer of 1941, Brooks got a job bussing tables during the day and drumming with the hotel band by night at the Butler Lodge. Eventually Brooks ventured into stand-up comedy for the first time at Butler Lodge, when he stepped in for an absent actor, ad-libbing a routine and receiving a room full of laughs.
Later, while still working in the Catskills, Brooks worked as a tummler (emcee), stand-up comic, social director and befriended budding comedian Sid Caesar. In 1950, Brooks became a writer on on Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows,” a popular variety series that took vaudevillian comedy to the small screen, featuring satirical sketches with talent such as Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Brooks and later, Woody Allen.
The series changed the nature of TV humor, setting a standard for shows such as Saturday Night Live, Mad TV, The Carol Burnett Show and The Muppet Show.
Brooks went on to have an illustrious career as a film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor, and producer. Some of his iconic films include The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, The Naked Gun, Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and the upcoming Spaceballs 2.
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The Morningside Hotel
The Morningside Hotel in Hurleyville, was one of the first hotels in the area to operate throughout the year. Starting out like many of the former hotels as a boarding house, the hotel’s main building was damaged by a fire in 1927. A second fire in 1941 completely destroyed the hotel.
The hotel was re-built and re-branded as the New Morningside Hotel, featuring a nightclub called the Juggler’s Lounge.
The New Morningside Hotel closed in the mid-1970s and all the buildings were demolished. The property is now Morningside Park and Campground, a recreational and camping area with amenities like pedal boat rentals, ball diamonds, a bath house, a cafe, picnic areas, a playground, a pool and BBQ facilities.
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Green Hills Estates*
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The Lake House
The Lake House was among the many small, family-run hotels. Opened in the 1920s near Woodridge, the Lake House started as a five-room guest house, eventually growing into a 50-room hotel, including an associated bungalow colony.
The Lake House had a big dining room with hardwood floors, serving amongst other dishes, lots of borscht and sour cream. Guests could walk across the road to a cow barn to get raw milk.
By the 1940s, the Lake House grew to include numerous buildings, including the Ritz House, a casino, the Main House, the Annex, and the solarium/pool.
The hotel was owned by Jacob Ezersky until 1953, when he sold it to Joseph & Gerda Katz.
The Lake House closed in the 1980s, but was bought by an orthodox sect and turned into a private retreat, owned by Brooklyn’s Machne Ohel Moshe D’Krasna.
The hotel has amenities including social spaces, a theater/casino, and an indoor/outdoor pool for guests.
In April 2007, the main building of the Lake House was destroyed by a fire. Firefighters managed to save five bungalows and a second guest building with about 30 rooms, that was connected to the main building by a breezeway.
Lake House Hotel, July 2024. Photo: Google Maps.
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Lake Rest Hotel
Woodridge.
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Ridge Mountain Hotel
Located south of Parksville, the Ridge Mountain Hotel was owned by the Welkowitz family. The main building was designed in the Mission-style popular in the area. The property is now occupied by Now Camp Adas Yereim.
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Flamingo Hotel
Opened in the late 1940s, the Flamingo Hotel in South Fallsburg, was more of a bungalow-style, members only country club resort, as opposed to a traditional Borscht Belt hotel. The Flamingo had a main club house with a large dining room, private cabanas, golf course access, game & card rooms, a health club, and more.
The Flamingo was one of the many hotels that closed in the 1960s, an early victim of the decline of the Borscht Belt.
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Oppenheimer Regis Hotel
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Regal Hotel
Opened in the 1920s and owned by the Bernstein & Vogel families, The Regal was a humble, classic Borscht Belt hotel, featuring a Sullivan County Mission style facade. The Regal Hotel was located south of Woodbourne, between The Eldorado and Leibovitz Pine View Hotels.
By the 1960s, the Regal’s amenities included a large outdoor pool, a theater/cocktail lounge, a spacious dining room, multiple orchestras and a teen lounge.
The Regal closed along with a handful of other Fallsburg hotels in the 1970s and is now an orthodox summer camp, Kossoner Shul.
In 2024, some of the buildings were destroyed by a fire.
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Echo Hotel
The Echo Hotel, outside of Ellenville, New York, was never the fanciest, the most well appointed, or the most anything of its time. Owned by Sam Wagner and operated by the family from 1948 until its closure, the hotel did provide a more affordable family vacation than the bigger hotels. Even by the 1970s, a family of four could enjoy a weekend stay in a two-bedroom suite, with three meals per day and unlimited activities, for around $150.
The Echo Hotel came with many of the usual amenities, including an indoor pool, an uncovered, outdoor ice rink and even a mini golf course in the dark basement, which Sam Wagner acquired from the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens, somehow procured by his father, Sam
The hotel closed in 1979 and is now home to Camp Bnos Belz, a Jewish summer camp.
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Epstein’s Hotel
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New Alpine Hotel/Rainbow Hotel
After the New Alpine hotel in Ellenville’s Ulster Heights hamlet changed ownership in the 1960s, the hotel was renamed Hotel Rainbow for a short time before becoming Camp Chaviva, which remains in operation to this day.
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Mount Cathalia Hotel
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Greenwood Inn
Ellenville.
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Utopia Lodge
The Utopia Lodge was one of the few hotels that catered to black vacationers in the Catskills, although all visitors were welcome. Located on the woodsy and scenic Mountaindale Road in Greenfield Park. Utopia Lodge featured an expansive outdoor pool, pastel-clad buildings, and a large dining room that doubled as a theater.
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College Hill Manor*
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Melbourne Hotel
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Beaverkill Hotel
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Fieldston Hotel
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The Riverside Hotel
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Sylvan Grove House
Sylvan Grove House. Historical photo.
Sylvan Grove House opened in the late 19th Century in White Lake, not far from Kauneonga Lake. It was a traditional, modest hotel that later became eclipsed by larger, more modern resorts. It was an example of the many small hotels that served the Borscht Belt.
Although the Sylvan Grove name is still on the front of the main guest building, it no longer operates as a hotel.
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Pine Hill Hotel
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Holiday Hotel/Shlesinger’s Hotel
Holiday Hotel originally operated as Shlesinger’s Hotel, opening in the 1950s. It was a modest hotel, but it had the usual amenities, including an outdoor pool, dining room, social hall, and boating on the nearby Luzon and Morningside Lakes. The main building is one of the last remaining examples of a classic mission-style Borscht Belt hotel.
For a time, the resort served as part of a religious summer colony, but it has been abandoned for years.
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Edgewood Inn
Livingston Manor
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Hotel Leona
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Shelburne Hotel
Opened in 1922, the Shelburne Hotel was owned by Jacob Benkowitz, starting operations with 20 rooms and expanding in the 1930s to 40 rooms. The main building was built in the Sullivan County Tudor style, 2-and-a-half stories, frame construction, with a stucco exterior.
Amenities included an air conditioned dining room, tennis, basketball, a swimming pool, as well a day camp activities for children and entertainment in the Casino.
The hotel operated in the summer only.
A fire in April 1940 caused around $20,000 in damage to the hotel.
By the 1960s, the Catskills were in decline, leading to the closure of many hotels, especially the smaller ones who struggled to keep up with the expectations of their guests and a declining client base. The main building was destroyed by a fire in the early morning hours of 6 April 1965. The casino and five other buildings were spared, but the hotel never re-opened. The property was bought by the owners of The Empire Hotel, who were planning to reopen it as a children’s summer camp, but this never happened.
The casino sat abandoned and crumbling until in 2003, when it was bought by Maurice Gerry and Allan Berube, who restored the playhouse.
Today, the Shelburne Playhouse is one of the few remaining hotel social halls from the Golden Age of small Jewish hotels in the Catskills. It is a long, rectangular wood-frame building, 95 feet long and 35 feet wide theater and dance hall structure that houses the main seating/dance hall area, with an entrance pavilion. The building is a Tudor Revival-style with a gable roof.
The interior is all wood, with knotty pine wainscotting, shiplap walls, scalloped-edged wood “curtains” descending from the ceiling’s peak at each end, beadboard ceilings, decorative molding, deco-style wall sconces, recessed ceiling lighting troughs and built-in benches along the walls, exposed wooden roof trusses along its 25-foot-high cathedral ceiling, and oak dance floor.
Sources: Shelburne Playhouse – Wikipedia.
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Brown’s Royal Hotel
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Woodbourne Sky House Hotel
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Sunset Lodge
On the shore of Tennanah Lake in Roscoe, a small lakeside resort grew out of the early vacation movement that transformed Sullivan County in the early 1900s. By 1933, the property was operating as Sunset Lodge. Unlike the enormous resort complexes that later defined the Borscht Belt, Sunset Lodge represented the smaller family-run experience. It was an intimate place where guests came for fresh air, meals, recreation, and a slower pace of life. Sometime after its early years, the property was purchased by the Rieping family and became known as Rieping’s Lodge.
Around 1970, the property entered a new chapter as Tennanah Lakeshore Lodge under the management of Michael and Dina Pavelka. The name change reflected an effort to present the resort with a broader lakeside identity during a challenging period for Catskills tourism. Advertised as a mountain resort offering tennis, golf, fishing, boating, hiking, dining, music, and dancing, the lodge continued the traditions of the classic Catskills vacation: days spent outdoors and evenings gathered together in a social setting. During the 1970s it remained a functioning seasonal resort, with employees living and working on site and guests filling its dining rooms and guest spaces. By the late twentieth century the resort had closed, and the once-busy dining rooms, guest areas, and recreational spaces fell silent. The lodge still stands on Tenennah Lake and is a real glimpse into how bustling life around there was.
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Marian Gables Inn/Mountain Spring Hotel
The Marian Gables Inn in Roscoe began its life as the Mountain Spring Hotel, nestled on 200 acres overlooking the hills surrounding the Tennanah Lake area. The hotel was part of a corner of the Catskills catering to trout fishing and seasonal boarders drawn by the mountain air, forests, and quiet lakes.
During the twentieth century, the property became known as Marian Gables, continuing its life as a small country inn. Although little documentation survives describing the inn’s day-to-day operations, the property’s size, surviving buildings, and location suggest it functioned as a traditional Catskills retreat centered on peaceful surroundings rather than large-scale entertainment. Today, the estate remains one of the district’s more elusive historic properties. The property is now privately owned and used as a residence.
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Queen Mountain Hotel
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Bungalow Colonies (*actual name unknown)
Breezy Corners Bungalow Colony
Breezy Corners Bungalow Colony, along Joyland Road, north of Monticello, began as many of the old hotels and bungalow colonies did, as a working farm that rented rooms to summer boarders.
In 1848, the Breezy Corners land was owned by Walker Willets, who operated WL Willets Boarding House, featuring 10-rooms, well-stocked ponds, and “excellent livery accommodations.”
After Willets died in 1897, his widow, daughter, and son-in-law continued to operate the boarding house.
Eventually, Breezy Corner offered one and two-bedroom bungalows that families could rent for the entire summer. An Olympic size pool was available to guests, who could also enjoy a hot meal at the luncheonette, or play a round of golf at the nearby course run by the Concord Resort Hotel.
Breezy Corners also had its own club called The Revolution. Some of the biggest names of the 1960s and 1970s music scene graced the stage at The Revolution, including Jethro Tull, Jeff Beck, Joe Cocker, Fleetwood Mac and apparently Led Zeppelin as listed as an upcoming act on a poster from The Revolution.
In 2008, the owners of Breezy Corners sold the property for re-development and promptly shut it down the bungalow colony, forcing some life-long residents to find somewhere else to spend their summers. After the forty families of Breezy Corners left, the property remained vacant for ten years, with the bungalows slowly crumbling.
Resorts World Catskills, a casino resort opened on the property in February 2018, along with The Alder at Resorts World Catskills, in December 2018.
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Park Hill Road Bungalow Colony*
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Mountain Cottages Bungalow Colony
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Weinstein’s Bungalow Colony
Owned by Jennie “Nanny” Weinstein and Morris Weinstein. For 50 years they operated The Sunrise Hotel; and later Weinstein’s Bungalow Colony.
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Fairhill Kochelein Bungalow Colony
Fairhill Kochelein Bungalow Colony, first welcomed guests back in the 1920s. Located at the corner of Old Liberty Road and Kutsher’s Road, Fairhill Kochelein eventually grew beyond the 10 bedrooms in the main house and side building with a dining room, to include a handful of bungalows and a pool by the 1960s.
The owners of Fairhill arranged a deal with the nearby Kutsher’s Hotel that saw their guests receive passes to the nightly shows at Kutsher’s, in exchange for use of some of the Fairhill property. Kutsher’s eventually bought the bungalow colony outright.
Fairhill Bungalow Colony closed in 2002.
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Whittaker Road Bungalow Colony (East)*
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Whittaker Road Bungalow Colony (West)*
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Casten Road Bungalow Colony*
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Lewinter’s Bungalow Colony
Lewinter’s Bunglaow Colony was owned and operated by Holocaust survivor Herman Lewinter. Born in Zloczow, a small Ukrainian town, in 1907, Lewinter was sent to the Janowaska death camp, where fourteen of his family members, including his oldest son, were murdered by the Nazis. It was his love of photography that saved Lewinter’s life.
The Nazi staff at Janowaska ordered Lewinter to go around the camp and snap anything that he saw, except the atrocities. Of course, Lewinter disobeyed this order, secretly capturing images of life and death within the concentration camp. His photographs provided a record of the horrors he and others endured and ensured their stories would not be forgotten.
Lewinter was secretly plotting his escape. Every week, the Nazis allowed him to leave the camp to purchase photography supplies from a nearby town. He would rush to get his supplies, then sneak over to the fence surrounding the concentration camp and dig.
Week after week, he would return to the site, slowly expanding and chipping away at the dirt, hoping his plan would not be discovered. Finally, he staged his escape, taking whoever he could with him, including the photographs he had taken of the atrocities committed by the Nazis.
Lewinter’s photos helped convict multiple Nazis at the Nuremburg Trials after the war. The photos are currently on display in Holocaust museums all over the world, including the United States Holocaust Museum and Yad Vashem in Israel, preserving evidence of the horrors committed by the Nazis and commemorating the bravery of those who stood up against them.
Unlike many survivors of the never Holocaust, Lewinter never stopped telling his story.
In addition to owning the bungalow colony, Lewinter was also a photographer at the Concord Hotel. He later bought the bungalow colony directly across the street from the colony, re-naming it King Herman’s.
Lewinter died in 1999.
The bungalow colony closed and all the abandoned buildings were demolished in 2015.
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King Herman’s Bungalow Colony
When the original owners decided to sell the bungalow colony directly across the street from Lewinter’s, it was Herman Lewinter who bought it from his neighbors. Lewinter re-named it King Herman, as a symbol of his survival in the camps.
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Hutrat Road Bungalow Colony*
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Swan Lake Road Bungalow Colony*
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Dishner’s Bungalow Colony
Opened in 1940 and operated by Isidore and Anita Lipschitz in South Fallsburg. Dishner’s closed in 1981 and like a lot of former bungalow colonies, is now operated as an Orthodox colony.
The main building has been replaced, but some of the original buildings and bungalows remain. The handball court and pool also remain, but the pool is enclosed in accordance with orthodox requirements. Past the pool you can still see the handball court.
Anita Lipschitz died at the age of 91 on 30 August 2008 at the Sullivan County Adult Care Center in Liberty, pre-deceased by Isidore.
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Lhoch Bungalow Colony
State Route 209, south of Ellenville.
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Tice Road Bungalow Colony*
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Tanzman Road Bungalow Colony*
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Willow Bungalow Colony
Opened in 1940 on Route 209, east of Kerhonkson, 73-acre property featured twenty bungalows, a swimming pool, a main house and former boarding house beside it, complete with kitchen facilities, a barn and various other outbuildings. The rear of the property was a woodlot, with a meandering stream.
Wolodymyr and Stephania Dutka bought the bungalow colony in 1966, around the time the Borscht Belt was beginning its slow decline. Willow Bungalows closed in 2011, after the deaths of Wolodymyr and Stephania, and has sat vacant ever since.
Currently, Gene Dutka, son of Wolodymyr and Stephania, is seeking new owners for the bungalow colony, with the hopes of re-opening it. Many other former bungalow colonies have found a new life as Orthodox summer camps or co-op communities.
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Cold Spring Road Bungalow Colony*
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Wellspring Road Bungalow Colony*
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Green Meadow Bungalow Colony*
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Heiden Road Bungalow Colony*
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Ulster Heights Road Bungalow Colony*
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Timberline Bungalow Colony*
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Thompson Road (North) Bungalow Colony*
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Post Hill Road Bungalow Colony*
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Francis S. Currey Boulevard Bungalow Colony*
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Old Glen Road Bungalow Colony*
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Mount Hope Road Bungalow Colony*
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Woodcrest Villa Bungalows
Woodbourne.
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Briscoe Road Bungalow Colony*
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Echo Mountain Bungalow Colony
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Hilldale Road Bungalow Colony*
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Milk Road Bungalow Colony*
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Anawana Road Bungalow Colony*
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Village Park Bungalow Colony
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Summitville Road Bungalow Colony*
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Read my other articles on the Borscht Belt:
Crumbling resort hotel a relic of a bygone era – Canadian Military History
Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project dedicates more markers in 2024 – Canadian Military History
Borscht Belt Museum continues to grow ahead of official opening – Canadian Military History
Borscht Belt Museum – Telling the story of America’s Jewish Vacationland – Canadian Military History
Unique roadside attractions – The Stone Castle of Swan Lake – Canadian Military History
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Sources: The Haimish Hotel – AHA, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral Interview, CATSKILLS: Massive Fire Engulfs Kossoner Shul in Woodbourne, Sifrei Torah Safely Rescued [VIDEO & PHOTOS] – The Yeshiva World, Ridge Mountain Hotel Parksville NY 1953 | United States – New York – Other, Postcard / HipPostcard, Lake House Hotel destroyed by fire, 55th Anniversary Weekend of Woodstock and … Woodridge/Lake House in the Borscht Belt! | Pressvision’s Blog, New Futures For Old Bungalows? Even Millennials Want Old-Fashioned Fun, Sunset Acres: A Black Catskills Resort – New York Almanack.
