The Catskill Mountains are located less than an hour's drive northwest from New York City, west of the Hudson River, near Albany. The region, which lies adjacent to the Appalachian Mountains, was a popular resort area during the mid to late twentieth century. Large, all-inclusive resorts dotted the area and were a popular escape for those living in the city as well as a training ground for some of the best entertainers of that era.
The Catskills span from the Hudson River Valley west into central New York State. The region contains more than 30 mountains over 3,500 feet high and six prominent rivers. The Catskills continue into northeastern Pennsylvania as the Poconos.
The Catskills have been favored as a rural retreat from New York City almost from the point of that city's origin. Author Washington Irving wrote about the mountains in "Rip Van Winkle" and the Hudson Valley School of the late nineteenth century, and early twentieth century painters depicted many parts of the Catskills in their work. The region began drawing vacationers from New York City en masse during the end of the nineteenth century and resorts began to spring up throughout the area. Perhaps the most famous event and locale in the Catskills is the three-day Woodstock concert in Bethel, New York in August of 1969. The event is immortalized in the film of the same name.
The popularity of the Catskills boomed in the 1920s through 1960s as middle class, second generation immigrant families, many of them Jewish, sought a place to vacation near New York City. Resorts, such as Grossingers, Brickman's, Browns and Kutsher's Hotel (the resort that inspired the film "Dirty Dancing) thrived and offered all-inclusive vacations with meals and a host of activities included. A "Who's Who" of mid twentieth century comedians, such as Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers, Don Rickles and Lenny Bruce, got their start by playing the Catskills resorts.
Today, only a handful of the old resorts remain. Many succumbed to fire or the prevalence of affordable, overseas vacations. Several, such as Grossingers, have been purchased by travel companies set on transforming them into modern-day casino resorts.
Visitors to the region will find hiking and biking trails, bed and breakfast inns, camping sites, winter and summer sports, antiques and wineries. Although the site of the Woodstock concert is private property, there is a recently-opened Woodstock Museum nearby.
