Join JFS on Monday, January 29 at 11 am for a virtual tour to learn about the Borscht Belt Historical marker Project.

The goal is to interpret and designate places important to the vibrant history and consider its impact on American Jewish life, the legacy of the Catskills, and the ways in which the era’s rich history is enduringly present and woven into the fiber of the region.

Borscht Belt is recalled through the nostalgic lens of summer swims, Saturday night dances, and comedy performances. But its current state, like that of many other formerly glorious regions, is nothing like its earlier status. Forgotten about and exhausted, much of its structural environment has been left to decay.

This illustrated lecture features Marisa Scheinfeld’s photographs of abandoned sites where resorts, hotels and bungalow colonies once boomed in the Catskill Mountain region of upstate New York. The images were shot inside and outside locations that once buzzed with life as year-round havens for generations of people.