The History of Swan Lake: From Borscht Belt to Glamping Retreat

The Domes are located in Swan Lake, NY, which is in the Sullivan Catskills. When I purchased the property, I was curious whether one of the “Borscht Belt” hotels previously operated there. We had clues that the property had previously supported commercial operations, but despite our research, we could not find anything to identify it. Until I stumbled on this photo in the archives of the Library of Congress

You may recognize this as the billboard we used to create our entrance billboard.  When I bought the property, the faded “Swan Lake Mansion” lettering had disappeared, and nothing discernible remained.  It was a blank canvas to create our retro-inspired welcome sign.

Further digging turned up a few references to the Mansion Hotel, including this wonderful illustrated postcard that clearly shows our land bordering Swan Lake and the multiple buildings that surrounded the hotel.

A pool is also visible in the lower left corner, and the welcome sign is depicted in the lower right. It is strange to think that very little evidence of this resort remains, but it was likely one of the very many hotels that catered to the NYC Jewish population, who were often excluded from staying at “Gentile” resorts elsewhere. With no laws prohibiting such discrimination (the 1964 Civil Rights Act was the first major national legislation to prohibit various types of discrimination in hotels and other public accommodations), the large Jewish population in NYC created a demand for all-inclusive types of resort hotels that were popular in the Catskills and gave rise to the term “Borscht Belt.” One of the most famous was Grossingers, which was depicted in the popular movie Dirty Dancing. The iconic hotel ceased operations in 1986 and was located in Liberty, NY, just a 5-minute drive from the Domes.

We are proud to be the caretakers of our property and hope the next generation of hospitality business is a worthy successor to the rich history our property holds.