The Ghost Hotels of the Catskills

The Daily Beast ^ | August 25, 2014 | Brandon Presser

[C19fan]

Phones on desks, linens on beds, catalog cards spilling out of the filing cabinets—all covered with a fine patina of dust. Neglected for years, and abandoned in seconds, it’s like a modern-day Pompeii in which the earth suddenly reclaimed its souls as they went about their daily business.

But this isn’t fodder for the next Dean Koontz thriller; it’s real, and its 100 miles north of New York City. Sullivan County once boasted 538 hotels and over 50,000 bungalows, but today practically nothing remains of this illustrious, vacationing era, save crumbling towers and abandoned estates.

Walking through the haunting wreckage—thirsty swimming pools filled with garbage, and rows of hotel towers tagged by vandals—it’s almost impossible to believe that area was one of the most important vacation destinations in America for well over a century.

[lonestar]

Is this where they had “summer stock” theaters?

[Dr. Sivana]

Ahh, I was in the Wallingford area, that would explain why we didn’t talk about upstate NY so much.

CT WAS a great place. Sometimes when people ask me where I was from, I would say Krypton, my home planet blew up a long time ago.

[caww]

I worked for a time in the Pocono’s......also lived about seven years in communities close to it.

[caww]

I remember from my youth the ads for places like the Mount Airy Lodge. :)

Pretty much abandoned today

[caww]

Here's the ski lodge at Mt Airy Lodge now...

[Dr. Sivana]

Didn’t one of those places run ads with Barbi Benton singing?

[caww]

I don’t know....sorry....

[workerbee]

"You think kids want to come with their parents and take fox-trot lessons? Trips to Europe, that's what the kids want! Twenty-two countries in three days."

RIP, Max Kellerman (and Johnny Castle, and Dr. Houseman)

[okie01]

How could anyone write an article about the Catskills and not refer to it by the term every one used..”The Borscht Belt..”

It's there. You must have missed it.

[jttpwalsh]

That’s a good one !

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic was posted 8/25/2014 . Thanks C19fan.