The Washington Post, August 2024
Just behind the Victorian-style Kenoza Hall hotel in Sullivan County, N.Y., are 10 small white-and-green structures. They have shiplap siding, shingled roofs and covered front porches elevated on stilts, echoing the architecture that proliferated in the Catskills region in the early 20th century. They’re situated close together, surrounding the pool, spa and firepits, encouraging community among guests. Some might call them cottages or cabins, but for those familiar with the history of the Catskills, they’re unmistakably bungalows. You’re unlikely to see a singular bungalow in the Catskills; they were built in colonies — groups of cottages that share central amenities and gathering areas.
“We situated them specifically so that they relate to each other, so that it’s like a true bungalow colony,” says Sims Foster, Kenoza Hall co-owner and Sullivan County native, whose great-grandmother had a bungalow colony in the 1920s. The bungalow colonies of the Borscht Belt — the nickname given to the summer resorts frequented by Jewish people in the Catskill Mountains — were at their height between the 1940s and mid-1960s, according to Sullivan County historian John Conway. They’ve been enshrined in pop culture in movies such as “Dirty Dancing” and “A Walk on the Moon” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” TV series.
