In February of 2020, just before the COVID pandemic became national news, this columnist, your Sullivan County Historian, released a new book, In Further Retrospect. The book was a collection of my “Retrospect” newspaper columns dealing with a wide range of topics from shad fishing on the Delaware River to major hotel fires to Nazis in Narrowsburg.
It was the third time the “Retrospect” columns, first published in 1987, had been collected in book form, following the book, Retrospect in 1996 and Remembering the Sullivan County Catskills in 2008.
Now comes another collection of columns, The Borscht Belt in Retrospect due out this spring.
Unlike the earlier collections, The Borscht Belt in Retrospect will not cover a wide range of topics, focusing instead on the hotel industry in Sullivan County, particularly as it existed during the early to mid-20th century.
Of course, the book will also feature a number of columns about ancillary subjects, and taken as a whole will explain the Borscht Belt phenomenon, its development, and its impact.
Long before this columnist was named Sullivan County Historian in February of 1993, one of the weekly “Retrospect” columns was dedicated to the unveiling of a timeline depicting the evolution of tourism in the county, beginning before the construction of the first summer hotel — in White Lake — in 1845 and continuing through 1965.
Among other things, the timeline introduced the idea of the Silver Age (1890 –1915) and the Golden Age (1940 – 1965), terms that have now entered the mainstream when discussing Sullivan County resorts.
Many are now familiar with the concept: beginning while the county’s economy was still dominated by extractive industries such as timber, tanning and bluestone, a large number of fishermen began to arrive in response to a world record sized trout having been caught in White Lake, and soon the first summer hotel was built there to accommodate them.
Then another was built, and another. By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, and the tanning and timber industries had started to wane, the county began a long transition from an industrial to a tourism economy.
By 1890, the railroads had helped the tourism industry to take hold and to grow. Thousands of summer visitors flocked to the county each year, and 200 or so hotels and more than a thousand farms provided them with a place to stay.
That Silver Age of prosperity lasted until about 1915, when myriad factors precipitated the demise of tourism here, at least temporarily. Again, the county had the reinvent itself, and another 25-year long transition period ensued.
The Golden Age was next, and at its peak there were 538 hotels, 1,000 rooming houses, and 50,000 bungalows for vacationers to choose from. But the Golden Age would end, as well, and by 1965 it all began to come crumbling down.
The so-called Borscht Belt developed during the transition period between the Silver Age and the Golden Age, and defined the region for much of the first half of the 20th century. After World War II, however, with the Golden Age in full swing, the Borscht Belt image became inadequate to describe the phenomenon that was the Sullivan County hotel industry.
From the “perfect summer” of 1952 to the ultimate collapse of tourism here in 1965, that expansive industry was defined more by gold than by borscht.
The Borscht Belt in Retrospect will feature columns that explore the factors that created the Borscht Belt to begin with and the reasons for its demise. There will be a glimpse of the area before the phenomenon of the Borscht Belt and an examination of what happened after the fall.
The book will feature 65 “Retrospect” columns from over the years and a number of accompanying photographs. If you are interested in the Sullivan County resort industry and the role it has played in the rich and colorful history of the region, you will not want to miss this book.
The Borscht Belt in Retrospect is being published as a fundraiser by The Delaware Company, a non-profit history education group with a mission to promote and support the history and historic landmarks of the region. All proceeds from the book will go toward supporting that mission.
The book is expected to be released before Memorial Day and will be announced here in the New York Almanack.
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The Almanack publishes essays from historians of all stripes, historical societies and others with biding a interest and original research relevant to New York State.
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Illustration: The working cover for the upcoming book The Borscht Belt in Retrospect.
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