The Borscht Belt Through the Eyes of Marisa Scheinfeld

  |  September 16, 2014
marisa scheinfeld

Grossinger’s Catskill Resort, Liberty photographed by Marisa Scheinfeld

“What the resort from ‘Dirty Dancing’ might look like today,” muses the title of a blurb we found on FastCoDesign.com. Except the resort used in Dirty Dancing was located in the south. The photographs by Marisa Scheinfeld on display at the Yeshiva University Museum in NYC, however, are of resorts that are actually in the Catskills, in various states of decay and abandonment. Some of the photos on exhibit are haunting, others fascinating, all of them depicting what happens when once-great structures are left to the elements. Scheinfeld, a Sullivan County native, grew up visiting and eventually working in these resorts. “Growing up in Sullivan County,” she writes on her Project Statement, “I hold an indelible connection to the region and as a photographer I felt inclined to document its history, decline and what of it remains.” She goes on to explain:

“Historically, Sullivan County has seen three major industries rise and fall. With the death of one industry another has eventually sprung up in its place. While the county is still home to thousands and visited by many, it is due for a revival and beckons to allure visitors once again with its abundance of natural beauty and the respite it can and has always offered. As history often repeats itself, in time, however undefined, something new will arise.”

Her vivid depiction of what remains of the once-beloved 1960s Catskill resorts at Yeshiva University Museum until April 2015.

About Kandy Harris

Kandy is a writer and musician/music teacher living in Saugerties, NY.

Read more from Kandy Harris

Read On, Reader...