Greenfield Park & Ulster Heights are two of many Catskill communities evocative of Eastern Europe. For Ashkenazi Jews arriving in the early 20th century, its forests, hills, and farms were reminiscent of the countrysides in which they once lived.
By the 1930s, Tudor became a popular architectural style in America. Its facades of stucco and wood were found at the Tamarack Lodge, Seven Gables, and Grand Mountain Hotel. After WWII, both the landscape and architecture provided an atmosphere of Old Europe, creating a powerful sense of place for visitors, including Holocaust survivors.
Several bungalow colonies in the area, notably Excelsior Lodge, later renamed Four Seasons Lodge, were founded by survivors. In the 1960s, famed architect Morris Lapidus redesigned the Tamarack into a sleek Miami-inspired resort. Buddy Hackett, Cream, Ella Fitzgerald, The Four Tops, Rod Stewart, and The Who performed at the Tamarack.
Side 2
From the 1920s through the early 1970s, the Borscht Belt was the preeminent summer resort destination for hundreds of thousands of predominantly East Coast American Jews. The exclusion of the Jewish community from existing establishments in the 1920s drove Jewish entrepreneurs to create over 500 resorts, 50,000 bungalows, and 1,000 rooming houses in Sullivan County and parts of Ulster County. The Borscht Belt provided a sense of community for working and vacationing Jews. The era exerted a strong influence on American culture, particularly in the realm of entertainment, music, and sports. Some of the most well-known and influential people of the 20th century worked and vacationed in the areas. Beginning around 1960, the Borscht Belt began a gradual demise due to many factors, including the growth of suburbia, inexpensive airfare, and generational changes.
