An Ode to the Irish Catskills

The swimming pool at O’Neill’s Cozy Corner. Photo courtesy of www.flickr.com

March is a good time to celebrate the Irish cultural and historical heritage of the Catskill Mountains. What had been fondly called “Ireland’s 33rd County,” the Irish Alps, or Irish Catskills, was the prime summer destination for thousands of Irish immigrants living in the dense cultural neighborhoods of New York City. Many would take refuge in the lush, rolling green hills of the Catskills away from the heat and dust of NYC summers. Whether by bus, train, or car, hundreds of Irish New Yorkers would make the annual trip to the Catskill Mountains from the 1920s to the early 1970s. The PBS documentary, “The Irish Catskills: Dancing at the Crossroads,” referenced for this blog post, takes viewers on a tour of not only Irish cultural heritage but a sweeping history of the annual migration of Irish-American families to keystone towns of the Irish Catskills, like East Durham, Leeds, and South Cairo.

The Catskill Mountains became synonymous with summertime and the leisure of the middle and upper classes by circuitous means. According to Michele Herrmann, writer of “The Borscht Belt Was a Haven for Generations of Jewish Americans,” for Smithsonian Magazine, Jewish aid societies in New York created programs that encouraged Jewish immigrants to earn a living via agriculture as a way of supporting Jewish communities in the States. The Catskill Mountains, however luscious in its greenery, are not conducive to farming given their rocky terrain. New inhabitants of the area quickly learned that they were better off using the land to attract borders for the summer months. The mountains were a major draw for New Yorkers, initially, as doctors at the time often advised tuberculosis patients to get fresh mountain air and (literal) breathing room; the disease was easily contracted in the tightly packed neighborhoods and tenement houses of New York City. Advertising also helped direct attention to the Catskills’ resorts and hotels, such as the guidebook series “Summer Homes” published by New York and Ontario Railway. As Herrmann writes, “...one Jewish farmer named Yana “John” Gerson listed one of the publication’s first advertisements for a Jewish boarding house in the 1890s.” 

As tens of thousands of Irish immigrants made their way to the United States, they sought a lucrative opportunity to renovate old barns and boarding houses (previously owned by German immigrants up until World War II) into modest hotels for the typical urbanite looking for the fresh mountain air of upstate New York. Many Irish immigrants were also motivated by homesickness, and sought out the familiar surroundings, familiar accents and cultures that made home not feel so far away. The Irish Echo, the oldest Irish-American Newspaper in the United States, established in 1928, and later the Irish Voice were written for Irish audiences, as well as word of mouth, may have advertised these Irish-founded bars, restaurants and hotels bolstered the weary Irish-American city-dweller to explore upstate New York. 

Hotels like O’Neill’s Cozy Corner in East Durham, NY, later named The O’Neill House, were among the first Irish-owned establishments in the area and sported the latest trends in hotel hospitality. Far more humble than the free wi-fi and complimentary gym access that are the bare minimum of hotel standards today, hotels in the 1920s and 1930s were still writing the “blueprint” that the hospitality industry uses today. A top choice hotel like O’Neill’s Cozy Corner would include such amenities as private toilets, hot and cold running water, electric lights, and East Durham’s first concrete swimming pool. Converted barns acted as dance halls for patrons who would dance along to the musical styles of famous Irish musicians living in New York City who would come up to East Durham and play traditional Irish music. A fun night out in the Irish Catskills would be incomplete if it didn’t have “Stack of Barley/ Little Stack of Wheat,” playing at least a few times that evening.

View over North-South Lake in the Catskills Mountains. Caption and photo courtesy of www.planetware.com

The newfound leisure of the working class came on the heels of harsh working conditions of Irish transit workers in New York City, who worked primarily in subway, bus and railroad industries. At this time in American history, there were no laws that dictated the quality of working conditions or for how long people worked or whether or not they were allowed to take time off, so work hours depended upon the generosity of one’s boss, who was usually not very generous. It was common for a transit worker to have 12 hours-long, grueling shifts, every single day with no vacation time. In fact, transit workers were regularly fired for taking off on a Sunday to go to church. ​

Michael J. Quill, founder of the Transit Workers Union (TWU) in 1934. Photo courtesy of www.twu.org

That is, until Michael J. Quill, from County Kerry in Ireland, co-founded the Transit Workers Union of America in 1934. He advocated on behalf of over 34,000 transit workers for higher wages, a 40-hour work week, and paid vacation time. These changes introduced leisure time to the lives of many transit workers and their families. With higher wages and paid vacation time, Irish families could now afford to travel and stay at resorts and hotels for extended periods of time. Predominantly working class families could now experience rest and what it felt like to be waited on for a change. 

Photo courtesy of www.shamrockhouse.com

Of the over 40 Irish-owned hotels and resorts in the Catskills at the height of their popularity, only a handful are in business today. As one contributor reflects in “The Irish Catskills” documentary, “Air conditioning, airlines, and assimilation were the three A’s that killed the Catskills.” As the 1960s and 70s came to a close, the majority of Irish immigrants were no longer working class but were upper middle class. They could not afford the luxury of their own backyards and larger homes that made escaping to the mountains redundant. When the Irish Catskills first came into prominence, most immigrants could not afford to go back home to Ireland, which is what made resort life in the Catskills feel so welcoming. Around the time of the Catskills’ decline in popularity, upper middle class Irish-American families could afford to travel to the real Ireland whenever they wanted, so an analogue of Ireland was no longer necessary. Air conditioning went from a luxury to a summertime necessity, so spending one’s free time in a hot wooden cabin in the middle of the woods was no longer as appealing as it once had been. 

However, there are places in upstate New York that are doing their part to keep the Irish musical and cultural history of the Catskills alive. Shamrock House, an inn/restaurant/bar holds Traditional Irish Sessions every Sunday afternoon, in which musicians can bring their own instruments and play alongside each other, or simply come and be a joyful spectator. Annual events like Irish Arts Week have also taken on the mantle of maintaining Irish traditional music and dance for the next generation of young artists. Each summer, famous musicians teach middle school and high school aged kids the traditions and cultures that have become synonymous with the Catskills Mountains and Irish communities abroad. 

External Links:
​To watch the full “Irish Catskills” documentary: WMHT Specials | The Irish Catskills: Dancing at the Crossroads | PBS

• To learn more about the hotel and resort history of the Catskills: Borscht Belt Museum ; The Borscht Belt Was a Haven for Generations of Jewish Americans | Travel| Smithsonian Magazine
  
• To find Irish cultural events in the tri-state area: Irish Cultural Events & Sport | East Durham, NY (mjqirishcentre.com) ; Irish Echo Tri-State events
  
•  To watch a full performance of “Stack of Barley”: Stack of Barley/Little Stack of Wheat | Will Woodson & Caitlin Finley, Irish Flute and Fiddle - YouTube
  
• To find more info on historically Irish inns and hotels in the Catskills, take a gander at these: Northern Catskill Mountain Resort (blackthorneresort.com) ; The Shamrock House | East Durham Hotel Resort | Catskill Accommodation
  

Author

Carissa Scantlebury is a volunteer researcher at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. She graduated from Hunter College with a degree in Classical Archaeology. She loves getting lost in a cozy fantasy novel, watching Doctor Who (David Tennant is her favorite), and learning new languages.  ​

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