Sullivan County’s history as one of America’s premier summer vacation spots considerably predates its formation in 1809.

Historians believe the Lenepae (pronounced Len - ahh’ - pay) first visited the area 1300 years ago. The tribe spent their summers here, hunting, fishing, farming and enjoying the beauty of the majestic mountains, rivers and streams. They considered the area blessed by the gods.

The arrival of European settlers in the 18th century displaced the Lenape. Soon the area was abuzz with industry. Timber was lashed into rafts and floated to Philadelphia for use in the shipbuilding industry or dragged by oxen over rough roads, then hauled by mule and barge on the Delaware & Hudson Canal to the Hudson River for shipment to New York City for use in construction. The bark of the hemlock tree was used in the tanning industry, which peaked during the Civil War.

When the landscape had been drastically altered by the timber industry, and the demand for lumber began to wane, the area turned to tourism as its principle industry. Summer hotels began to replace logging camps and farmhouses became boarding houses. When the railroads provided easy access to the county for the first time, tourism boomed. The area along the Delaware River developed first with the construction of the Erie Railroad in 1850. With the completion of the New York Oswego & Midland Railroad (later the Ontario & Western) in 1872, resorts began to spring up elsewhere, as well.

From 1890 to about 1915, the county enjoyed an unparalleled prosperity. Vacationers who flocked here during this Silver Age came for the same reasons the Lenape visited several hundred years before–to enjoy the fresh air, clean water, and magnificent scenery.

When the Jewish immigration to America began in earnest in the early 20th century, Jewish owners built new hotels. By the 1940’s over

300 hotels were in operation here. Among these Golden Age resorts were two of the most famous in the world: Grossinger’s and The Concord. These hotels offered golf, tennis, and heated swimming pools in addition to the fresh air and clean water of days gone by. Still, hardly an afternoon would pass without thousands of tourists taking to the country roads for a stroll in the magnificent countryside.

Even as our landscape continues to evolve with the disappearance of most of the hotels, vacationers continue to flock here to enjoy the beauty of the area. Whether hunting or fishing, playing golf or tennis, or looking for bald eagles, these visitors have discovered what the Lenape knew 1300 years ago. Sullivan County is a special place indeed, blessed by the gods.

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