The Borscht Belt remembered

Project proposes a marker for Manor

By Alissa Shipp | Manor Ink Mentor

Sullivan County, NY – When she was five, Marisa Scheinfeld and her parents moved to Kiamesha Lake. Her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents all came to the Catskills for vacations starting in the 1920s, and so her dad chose a job at Harris Hospital, largely because of his happy childhood memories of the area.

Scheinfeld remembers going to her grandparents’ condo at the former Kutscher’s, where she’d swim in the pool and play shuffleboard. Her grandfather played cards at the Concord Resort Hotel, and she’d play there, too.

Years later, when Marisa got her degree in photography in California, she was struggling with what to photograph. Her mentor gave her advice that became a project: shoot what you know. “I took those words to heart,” Scheinfeld said. “What is your story, what is it that you can tell in a way that’s really true to you? I knew my hometown region had a history, and that many of its resort structures were in ruins. You’d drive by them, they’re eyesores to the community.”

So Scheinfeld returned to the Catskills, a place where Jews and other minorities had created their own hotels and vacation colonies. At the Borscht Belt’s height, there were over 500 hotels and 50,000 bungalow colonies – more hotels than Vegas. Performers included Liz Taylor, Jerry Seinfeld, Jerry Lewis and Mel Brooks. Scheinfeld’s photographs and research became the book The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland, published in 2016.

As an extension of her book, Scheinfeld created the Marker Project. There are already four historical markers in the ground, and this summer will see five more installed in towns around the county. Scheinfeld and her team have also submitted a proposal for a marker in Livingston Manor, a hamlet that had over 40 hotels and ten bungalow colonies.

All markers are donated at no cost to the towns, and residents are able to see and comment on the proposed text and sign placement before installation. Scheinfeld hopes to erect the Livingston Manor marker sometime in 2025.

All the markers will eventually be plotted on a website map so drivers can go from town to town, learning about the history of the area. There will also be downloadable audio tours and interviews with people who lived or vacationed at the hotels and colonies. The aim is to connect both residents and tourists to the amazing, often hidden history of Sullivan County.

More information is available at borschtbelthistoricalmarkerproject.org. Other project members include Isaac Jeffries, Louis Inghilterra, Kelli Huggins and county historian John Conway.

Reporter Salvador Hernandez contributed to this story.