The Borscht Belt is the nickname for a collection of resorts and vacation bungalows across New York’s Sullivan, Ulster, and Orange counties that attracted crowds of Jewish visitors in the mid-20th century and left an indelible mark on American comedy, cinema, and culture.
More than half a century later, almost all of the formerly prominent hotels are out of business and are now derelict and dilapidated.
They’ve been burning down over the past two years — and no one knows why.
Tim Bruno spoke to journalist Luke Tress who reported on this for New York Jewish Week.
Image: First responders tackle a fire at the Nevele Grand Hotel, near Ellenville, March 19, 2024. (Courtesy/Eric Helgesen)
It’s so not a coincidence these fire Pines, another hotel, can’t remember the name, and Nevele.
Looking hard for evidence of Arson perhaps?
The places presumably don’t have power or fuels to spark fire since they’ve been closed so longer. Also, it’s very wet around here, so it’s not a brush or forest fire issue. Finally, it’s not just Jewish hotels and camps; there was also the Ukrainian one: https://hudsonvalleypost.com/suspicious-fire-at-ukraine-camp-in-hudson-valley-ulster-county-wawarsing-ellenville-new-york/
I personally think it was a serial arsonist and not a shelter seeker as the main fireplace (the only fireplace that could have started it without burning the second half down to the ground as well) still had the graffiti inside intact albeit sooty while the graffiti outside was cooked off by the fire, meaning that the fire couldn’t have gotten out of control in the fireplace where that piece of graffiti would have burned away
but then again I don’t live anywhere near it and it’s blocked off anyways so I can’t get a closer look