Local History with Dede Terns-Thorpe - Catskill Mountain House

CATSKILL - Today, we’ll cover a few more tidbits about the Catskill Mountain House as explained in Mr. Roland Van Zandt's 1966 book, The Catskill Mountain House. Van Zandt later had a 25th edition in 1991, copyrighted by Deb Allan of the Black Dome Press. Van Zandt explains the difficult travel to arrive there, what visitors did while spending their summers, and the area’s broad 200-year history. 

Construction started on the building at Pine Orchard in 1823 with its opening on July 4, 1824. But it was some 20 years later that under the ownership of Charles Lebatt Beach, we were given the white Greek Corinthian 13-columned building visible from the valley. That white speck was a continual sight to the many generations on and off the mountain.  

Author and Historian Roland Van Zandt shares his words about “the noblest wonder of the Hudson Valley”. He tells us how the scene played out during its final goodbye in the early hours of January 25, 1963. The House, built without protection against the elements, stood proudly for 140 years. How sad for the Haines Falls firemen conducting the controlled burn on that cold January 25th, 1963. They had grown up with that Greek Castle in the sky. 

Van Zandt explained how its demise became a dangerous necessity—years of neglect had created a hulking ruin. He covered the period from 1820 to 1830 and explained that the Hudson Valley was the focal center of the nation. It was the artery for trade and traffic and the fastest-growing commercial and social center of the nation. Van Zandt said that the only sizable area with ninety or more inhabitants per square mile was the region extending from N.Y.C. across New Jersey to Philadelphia. (This helps us understand the arrival of Philadelphia’s George Harding and his Hotel Kaaterskill.)

Van Zandt explains why it was our section of the Catskills that became an early resort area. He said it wasn’t until the coming of the railroads that tourism spread into other areas of the Wall of Manitou, the Indians' name for the wall of mountains between Catskill and Kingston. 

I am one of those handful of people lucky enough to remember the C.M.H. A few of us will even admit to having gone inside the ruined building, up the fire escape, or danced in the parlor. As Van Zandt said, it was difficult for people to not go inside and visit the great building. (Van Zandt himself first saw the shattered Catskill Mountain House in 1958). 

East Jewett Historian and Author Doris Brooks continually credited Charles L. Beach, proprietor of the C.M.H., for all he did for the mountaintop. Beach was ultimately responsible for the start-up of the Laurel House. In 1846 he was approached by two female guests of the hotel, inquiring about a more reasonable place to stay. He sent them to a nearby boarding house belonging to Mr. Theodore Overbaugh and located near the site of the future Laurel House. 

It’s the workers who built these great hotels and the historians who saved our history that have given us what we have today. Thank you all. 

Thanks for reading. It was wonderful studying the history of the beginning of tourism in the Town of Hunter. 

Schools are open, drive carefully, and stay safe.

Dede Terns-Thorpe/HunterHistorian