February 2025
There’s a bit more tourist activity in the Catskills area of eastern New York State these days. Helping to draw visitors are two new tourist attractions meant to celebrate the area once known as the “Jewish Alps” and “The Borscht Belt”: the Borscht Belt Museum and the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project.
For many New York City-area Jewish families, the summer months meant another trip to “The Mountains,” otherwise known as the Catskills, or the Borscht Belt. This was an area in eastern New York State, 90 miles from the George Washington Bridge, was where generations of Jewish families would head to escape the repressive summer heat of New York City. Spanning the late 19th Century and most of the 20th Century, Borscht Belt resorts were popular for family vacations before cheap airfare and integration allowed families to travel to distant locations. Offering kosher food, recreational and entertainment facilities, these resorts became an annual pilgrimage for many families and inspired several Hollywood movies including “Dirty Dancing” and “Sweet Loraine,” both released in 1987.
From a high of over 500 different hotels and thousands of bungalow colonies to just a handful today, the Borscht Belt represents a by-gone time. Some of the original Borscht Belt hotels still remain in operation, like Honor’s Haven, formerly the Fallsview Hotel, Vacation Valley Resort, formerly the Granit Hotel, and Villa Roma Resort and Conference Center. A number of the former hotels that remain standing have been given a second life as religious schools and retreats, but most were abandoned and left to deteriorate or were outright demolished. Numerous others were destroyed by fires, including four in the past two years.
Today, the Catskills is undergoing a bit of a revival, as families of all religious and ethnic backgrounds head to Sullivan and Ulster Counties to enjoy some of the new hotels that have opened in recent decades, or purchase a vacation home at one of the many former bungalow colonies that have been turned into co-operatives.
The grandest of the new hotels, the $1.2 billion Resorts World Catskills, opened in February 2018, on the east portion of the former Concord Hotel property in Kiamesha Lake. Resorts World features a casino with 150 table games, an entertainment village, an indoor water-park lodge, Kartrite Resort & Indoor Waterpark, and the 18-hole golf course that was once part of the Concord.
Future re-development plans involve the former Nevele Grand Hotel and Country Club property. Somerset Catskill Holdings LLC bought the property in 2023, and announced their plans to demolish the existing Nevele buildings and construct a new boutique hotel and a residential community on the property. This is the latest of several re-development plans that have been proposed over the years.
The Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project
The Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project is an initiative meant to formally commemorate and tell the story of the Borscht Belt, including its importance in American Jewish history and its impact on things like architecture, music, comedy and sports. As the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project web site notes, “Our goal is to create a comprehensive marker system and self-guided audio driving tour that traverses the region along with an array of public programming and educational materials.”
The Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project is headed up by Marisa Scheinfeld, a Brooklyn, NY-born photographer and author, who was raised in the Catskills during the last two decades of the 20th Century, when it was all fading away. The goal is to create a self-guided audio driving tour, using historical markers in selected locations throughout Sullivan County, along with an assortment of related exhibitions, film screenings, comedic and musical events. Each marker commemorates the hotels and bungalow colonies that once populated that specific area.
Starting in 2023, Scheinfeld and her collaborators have dedicated nine historical markers in Monticello, Mountain Dale, Fallsburg, Swan Lake, Woodridge, South Fallsburg, Kiamesha Lake, Hurleyville and Bethel.
So far, the only one that has been mounted on the actual site of a former hotel is the marker dedicated to the Concord Hotel and Breezy Corners Bungalow Colony in Kiamesha Lake. The current property owner, Resorts World Catskills, a new hotel that occupies a portion of the former Concord property, enthusiastically gave permission for the marker to be mounted on-site back in June of this year.
A further four are planned for dedication in 2025 in Loch Sheldrake, Parksville, Livingston Manor and Ellenville, with six additional markers planned for 2026. Stay tuned.
The Borscht Belt Museum
The Borscht Belt Museum commemorates and tells the story of the Borscht Belt, featuring a selection of artifacts from the hotels and bungalow colonies, along with photos and personal stories from those who spent their summers within them.
Located in former Home National Bank building at 90 Canal Street in downtown Ellenville, the bank itself has a significant connection to the history of the Borscht Belt. In the 1950s, when few other financial institutions would give loans to Jewish businesses, Home National Bank president William Rose would provide the much needed financial assistance to the hoteliers and bungalow colony owners in the area.
The driving force behind the creation of the museum is author and archivist Allen J. Frishman, a lifelong resident of Sullivan County and Town of Fallsburg as Code Enforcement Officer for 24-years, where both his grandparents owned bungalow colonies. The artistic advisory board for the museum has a collection of notable Jewish celebrities, including Fran Drescher, Harvey Fierstein, Judd Hirsch and Neil Sedaka.
Also read: Borscht Belt Museum continues to grow ahead of official opening – Canadian Military History, Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project formally commemorates the Borscht Belt’s vibrant history – Canadian Military History, Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project – Home, The crumbling remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland – The rise and fall of the Borscht Belt – Canadian Military History.
