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My Return to the Catskills
©2009 Ron Kapon
In 1952, the summer between high school and my freshman year at Columbia College, I worked at Kutsher’s Country Club in Monticello along with Wilt Chamberlain & Clyde Lovellette, both All-American basketball players. Growing up my father took me to many conventions and vacations at Grossingers, The Concord and Kutsher’s. I returned several times to Kutsher’s for its sports academy & Maurice Stokes' basketball game. I had accumulated a credit with a barter agency and was looking for somewhere to spend my credit. I saw that The Inn at Lake Joseph in Forestburgh was offering a 3 night mid-week barter deal and I accepted the credit. I invited my friend & former talk show host Sally Jessy Raphael and her husband Karl to be my guest. This 15-room Victorian country mansion shares a 250-acre private lake with kayaks, a large outdoor pool, billiard table, table tennis and cooked to order breakfast. The rooms were large and very comfortable with working fireplaces and whirlpool baths. This is the story of joy and sadness, all in a four-day trip.
First the depressing part: Monticello is a village of fewer than 8,000 permanent residents that is the county seat of Sullivan County, NY, (80,000 people). It sits just off Route 17, the Quickway (before the Thruway was built) and is only 1 1/2 hours from New York City. The main street Broadway is torn up and most of the stores are empty. The one saving grace is Monticello Raceway, which is now a Racino with electronic slot machines, horse racing and an excellent buffet. The night we ate there it was Senior Citizen Tuesday with a price of $12.95. I visited the “Borscht Belt” and its hotels and bungalow colonies during its heyday (1940-1970) to see Jerry Lewis, Henny Youngman, Don Rickles, Buddy Hackett, Robert Klein, Steve & Eydie and many more entertainers. The only thing left of the “Big 3” hotels are their golf courses. Kutsher’s Country Club was especially sad for me to revisit. I think there were 4 guests staying there and the magnificent dining room I used to eat in was closed. Better news awaited when we traveled to the western part of the county two days later.
One of Sally & Karl’s hobbies is fly fishing so the nice folks at Sullivan County Visitors Association booked us at the Catskill Fly Fishing Center & Museum in Livingston Manor. It turns out that everyone there remembered Sally and she was even in one of their promotional videos. This was the birthplace of dry fly fishing in America. Who knew that fishing was the #1 sport in the US? We stopped in Livingston Manor at the Catskill Art Society & Hurleyville at the Sullivan County Historical Society & Sullivan County Museum. Nearby Roscoe is called “Trout Town USA.” We picked up some great bargains at Memories, an antique store featuring my favorite words- “50% off.” We wished we had time to stop at Stagedoor Manor in Lock Sheldrake. It offers total theater immersion plus all the fun of a summer camp. Stagedoor alumni include: Natalie Portman, Zack Braff, Robert Downey Jr. and Mandy Moore.
Dinner was at Mr. Willy’s, one of the best restaurants in Monticello. We only had a 15-minute drive to the Forestburgh Playhouse that ran a very professional summer performance schedule. We saw All Shook Up, a musical inspired by and featuring the songs of Elvis Presley (no impersonators). Most of the cast were university drama majors who performed at every show. Think of the minor leagues of baseball, except these performers batted 1,000. A cabaret show next door featured many of the cast members performing musical numbers from the ‘50s & ‘60s.
Day three was spent heading toward the western part of the county and was, for me, nirvana. First stop was at Ferndale Antiques where I continued my buying spree. We were driving north through Liberty and then west where we stopped in Jeffersonville for what else: shopping. Located near Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, the Woodstock Museum and the Delaware River, the Jeffersonville area is home to the newly rebuilt Villa Roma Resort. It is very kid friendly with bumper boats, horseback riding, rock walls, go carts, bowling and lots of water sports. They spent money to upgrade and the full house shows they were smart.
I could have spent hours more at the Bethel Woods Center For The Arts Museum. The Center is a state-of-the-art performing arts center located at the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival in Bethel, New York. Beginning in 1996 the original festival field and 1,700 surrounding acres was purchased. Bethel Woods is a multi-venue performing arts complex that can accommodate 15,000 fans at the main outdoor concert pavilion. Performers include: Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, The Allman Brothers, Heroes of Woodstock and The Dave Matthews band. A museum and event gallery opened in 2008 dedicated to the legacy of the 1969 Woodstock Festival and the decade it concluded. The interactive exhibits consist of audio/visual experiences, informative displays, and a collection of artifacts, and the permanent exhibits include: The Sixties, The Woodstock Festival, The Journey to Woodstock, Three Days of Peace and Music—Film, Legacies of the 1960s and Woodstock. Dinner was at 1906 Restaurant & Steak House in Callicoon, another small town bordering the Delaware River & Pennsylvania. The restaurant was a Wine Spectator Award Winner for their impressive wine list. We had been out and about for almost 12 hours and we were ready for bed.
On the way home we spent an hour at the Wurtsboro Airport. It is believed to be the oldest operating soaring center in the nation. Privately owned, they offer glider, power, scenic and antique biplane rides. Yes, there was sadness for what had been and was but a memory. But there was also happiness at discovering new places to stay, shop and visit. Would I come back- try inviting me?
For More Information-
www.scva.net
www.lakejoseph.com
www.monticellogamingandraceway.com
www.kutshers.com
www.cffcm.net
www.livingstonmanor.org
www.roscoe.com
www.mrwillys.com
www.fbplayhouse.com
www.ferndaleantiques.net
www.themuseumatbethelwoods.org
www.bethelwoodscenter.org
www.jeffersonvilleny.com
www.1906restaurant.com
www
.wurtsborosairport.com
www.sullivanccountyhistory.org
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