Catskill Mountain House

The Catskill Mountain House was a famous hotel near Palenville, New York in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River Valley, built in 1824. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn of the century, it was visited by three U.S. presidents (U.S. Grant, Chester A. Arthur and Theodore Roosevelt) and the power elite of the day.

Related Topics:
Palenville, New York - Catskill Mountains - Hudson River Valley - 1850s - U.S. Grant - Chester A. Arthur - Theodore Roosevelt

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Artists and writers had discovered the Catskills some time earlier. Shortly after it was constructed, the Mountain House and its surroundings became a favorite subject for Washington Irving and artists of the new Hudson River School, most notably Thomas Cole. James Fenimore Cooper, on a speaking tour of Europe in the 1850s, advised his audience "If you want to see the sights of America, go to see Niagara Falls, Lake George and the Catskill Mountain House."

Related Topics:
Washington Irving - Hudson River School - Thomas Cole - James Fenimore Cooper - 1850s - Niagara Falls - Lake George

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The hotel was built in 1823 and opened a year later by a group of merchants from Catskill, New York on a plateau with sweeping views of the Hudson valley on one side and two lakes on the other side that provided water and recreation.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1839, Charles Beach, whose father ran a stage coach line from the town of Catskill to the Mountain House, leased the hotel from the owners for six years and then bought it outright. Beach rebuilt the Mountain House, changing the original Federalist design into a neo-classical structure. The Mountain House dominated tourism in the Catskills until 1881 when the Kaaterskill Hotel was built offering its first real competiton.

Related Topics:
Stage coach - Federalist - Neo-classical - Kaaterskill Hotel

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The view that made the Mountain House famous came at a cost— getting up the 1600-foot climb from the valley required a five-hour stagecoach ride. As competing hotels that were easier to reach began to be developed, the Mountain House built the cable-operated Otis Elevating Railway to bring its guests directly from the Hudson to the hotel. But the railway proved to be expensive to operate, and was finally sold for scrap in 1918.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Charles Beach died in 1902, and just as the fame of the Mountain House was to be eclipsed by other area hotels, so were the Catskills eclipsed by the Adirondacks as the fashionable playground of the wealthy. The Mountain House continued to operate until the start of World War II— 1941 was be its last season. In 1962, the State of New York acquired the property, and the hotel, which had fallen into disrepair, was burned by the state Department of Environmental Conservation on January 25, 1963.

Related Topics:
Adirondacks - World War II - January 25

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The state now operates a large public campground, North-South Lake, near the site of the hotel.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~