Yesterday, there was the groundbreaking for the soon to open Borscht Belt Museum, which will be on the site of a former bank in Ellenville, New York. It is scheduled to open on July 28th later this year, and will try and bring back to life a little of the old glory days of the Borscht Belt hotels. Many decades ago, before airline travel became more accessible to the masses, people from New York City used to come to the Catskills for an escape, and these hotels dominated, offering wonderful accommodations and world class entertainment.
At the time, the Catskills were a very attractive location for people to come to in order to escape the hustle and bustle of the city. It is an area resplendent with an abundance of natural beauty, with the forests and mountains of the Catskill region broken occasionally by lakes and streams, and with some farmland also to be seen. Yet, the Borscht Belt hotels scattered throughout this region also offered these folks the opportunity to see some of the premier entertainers of the day, as well as major sporting events:
“We want to show people this piece of history that is being lost continuously here,” author and archivist Allen J. Frishman told The Post of the museum, which will be housed in a former bank in Ellenville, NY.
“This is preservation. It’s so important to save this part of Americana. It was the comedic entertainment capital.”
It should be interesting. Having some roots here in this region personally, and remembering seeing some of these very famous, and once rather glamorous hotels myself - albeit, admittedly, decades after the peak of their glory - this museum should prove very intriguing.
Below are some links to some articles which provide further details on this story, as well as a video of the actual groundbreaking itself.
Enjoy!
Borscht Belt Museum to become reality (VIDEO) April 19, 2023
https://midhudsonnews.com/2023/04/19/borscht-belt-museum-to-become-reality/
New museum celebrating the Borscht Belt to open in July By Phil Hall - April 19, 2023
https://westfaironline.com/arts-leisure/new-museum-celebrating-the-borscht-belt-to-open-in-july/
New Catskills museum revives ‘lost’ golden era of Borscht Belt one-liners By Kirsten Fleming April 17, 2023
https://nypost.com/2023/04/17/new-museum-revives-lost-golden-era-of-borscht-belt-one-liners/
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