Marker Project has new sign

Roscoe on the Borscht Belt map

By Manor Ink Staff

Roscoe, NY –The hamlet of Roscoe has a long and storied history, an important part of which has now been unveiled with the installation of the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project’s 17th plaque on July 11.

Marisa Scheinfeld, founder and project director, told the attending crowd at the dedication that Roscoe served as both a gateway and destination for visitors traveling by rail to enjoy the rivers, mountains and landscape “unlike anywhere in Sullivan County.”

It was the arrival of the railroad in July 1873, Scheinfeld said, that “changed everything,” transforming Roscoe with a wave of tourism. “When you got here, you had the feeling that you had arrived somewhere different,” she said. Later on waves of Jewish entrepreneurs and visitors, as well as other groups, transformed the area into a vibrant summer playground.

The marker, on the corner of Stewart and Railroad Avenues in front of the recently repainted O&W Railway train cars, highlights the fact that Roscoe was likened in the Railway Vacation Guide to the Alps. Indeed, the Campbell Inn, a famous Roscoe resort hotel, was known as “Little Switzerland.” Numerous other establishments dotted the area, including the Tennanah Lake House, Mountain Springs Hotel, the Rockland House and the Antrim Lodge.

Fred Holtz, a Roscoe resident, recalled that his family vacationed for many summers at the Campbell Inn. “It was $39 a night, including three meals and terrible entertainment,” he said with a laugh. Nancy Buck, also a Roscoe resident, worked the summer of 1978 as a waitress at the Inn. “If you ever watched ‘Dirty Dancing’, that’s what it was like,” she said. “It was a great experience – you worked six days week, three meals a day, and it was tortuous – and if your guests checked out on your day off, you didn’t get the tip!”

Scheinfeld thanked Brian Morasco and Carol Davidson and the Roscoe O&W Railway Museum for providing great support for the Marker Project, helping with its installation and for the lovely garden that surrounds the marker.

For more information about the Borscht Belt Historical Marker Project, including a map of and information about all 17 markers, visit borschtbelthistoricalmarkerproject.org. For information about the museum and its visiting hours, go to roscoerailwaymuseum.org.

Reporter Elias Horn helped with the reporting of this story.