We’re on another trip to the Catskills, this time to the southern side, less mountainous and way less populated. In the early 1900s, thousands of Eastern European Jews bought the farmland and let out rooms to city dwellers looking to escape the summertime heat. The enterprise turned into big business after WWII, giving rise to the Borscht Belt where 2 million people vacationed annually. Inexpensive airplane travel made other destinations more attractive in the 1960s, and the resorts went out of business, leaving this section of the Catskills relatively unpeopled.
Kenoza Hall and the Stone Arch Bridge Historical Park
We wake up in Kenoza Hall beside Kenoza Lake, a lovely B&B brought to you by the same people who built the DeBruce in the nearby “hickster” hamlet of Livingston Manor.
After breakfast on the porch overlooking the lake, we drive to the Stone Arch Bridge Historical Park that features a grass-covered bridge, small waterfall, and an adjacent park where we idle away the time watching two boys fish (very Norman Rockwell).
Max Yasgur’s Farm
Then on to Max Yasgur’s farm in the southern Catskills, the actual site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, miles from the town of Woodstock. On the former farm lies the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts and a museum we found well worth a visit. Its exhibits comprise a comprehensive history of the music festival, plus you can walk the land where the festival took place, which is cool, comparing the current bucolic hillside to the mud-soaked Woodstock photos that are an indelible part of counterculture mythology.
Narrowsburg
Then we drive to the hamlet of Narrowsburg on the Delaware River, so named because it sits on a bluff above the narrowest (and deepest) part of the Delaware. The main street bustles with shoppers of antiques, clothing, and books, and there’s a good lookout spot where you can view the river far below. We opt for lunch on the outdoor porch of the Tusten Cup, a café with a view of the bridge that connects this part of New York to Pennsylvania
Roebling’s Delaware Aqueduct
Lastly, we drive south along the Delaware to Roebling’s Delaware Aqueduct, the oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the U.S. Originally designed to help transport Pennsylvania’s highly prized anthracite coal to New York City and environs, the bridge, now restored, serves as a one-lane roadway across the Delaware. It also makes for an enjoyable walk above the river.
