12. 10 Abandoned Resorts from The Borscht Belt, America’s Jewish Vacationland in Catskills, New York

The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland by Marisa Scheinfeld.

The Borscht Belt Resort, located in the Catskills in New York, was once a major vacation destination from the 1920s to the 1960s. Looking for respite from city life, New Yorkers would head to Borscht Belt to sunbathe, swim, dance, and dine during the summer months, and the resort soon became known as a Jewish vacationland. By the 1980s, however, the once-bustling resort, home to numerous hotels, bungalows, tennis courts, and swimming pools, became desolate as New Yorkers began to favor different destinations. People lost interest in Borscht Belt for a number of reasons, namely because of the airline industry boom, as the possibility of exotic getaways lessened their desire to return to the Catskills for vacation.

Photographer Marisa Scheinfeld’s book The Borscht Belt: Revisiting the Remains of America’s Jewish Vacationland takes advantage of the availability of the abandoned resorts and looks at the remains of the Borscht Belt. Noted also in this book is the resort’s importance in American Jewish history, as for many Jewish New Yorkers Borscht Belt served as a haven when they were banned from many of the city’s hotels in the 1920s. Here’s a look at 10 abandoned resorts from the area.