Spring Glen is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of the Town of Wawarsing in

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. It is located just off

US 209 U.S. Route 209 (US 209) is a long U.S. Highway in the states of Pennsylvania and New York. Although the route is a spur of US 9, US 209 never intersects US 9, coming within five miles of the route and making the short ...

just north of the Sullivan County line. It sits along the

Sandburg Creek Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

and has a direct access point for parking and hiking to the highest point of the Shawangunk Ridge Trail at over 1800 feet. It has the ZIP Code 12483.

History

It has been settled since the early 19th century, first as a farming village. Later, the

Delaware and Hudson Canal The Delaware and Hudson Canal was the first venture of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, which would later build the Delaware and Hudson Railway. Between 1828 and 1899, the canal's barges carried anthracite coal from the mines of northeaster ...

made it a key stop. Spring Glen is its third name. Originally established as Red Bank, it became Homowack (

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

for "where the stream begins") in 1851. Later in the century, the residents changed the name again, this time to Spring Glen, to attract more tourist business. That tourism brought

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

to the region, coined the

Borscht Belt The Borscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange, and Ulster counties in the U.S. state of New York, straddling both Upstate New York and the north ...

and in 1917 they built Spring Glen Synagogue, the first Jewish place of worship in the Catskill region. The community became a concentration of 5 hotels and over 30 vacation rental bungalow properties, most of which occupied only during the summer months. Many of the bungalow colonies became

co-ops A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

in the 1960s and 1970s when tourism to the Catskills declined due to the growth of cheap air travel to international destinations. Most bungalows passed ownership between families, yet in the past decade, there has been an explosion in popularity of bungalows amongst New York City dwellers as second homes, many have been sold to new owners, while most communities have wait list

Since 2012 there has been a solid cult following by the blogger community, young families and hipsters alike about bungalow colonies and rehabilitating cooperative living in the country. As of 2015, Ulster & Sullivan counties began changing zoning code so that new bungalows and bungalow colonies could no longer be built. Thus, current bungalow colonies are the last of their kind.

Development

Spring Glen Resort - The Beautiful Earth Group, which now owns the old Homowack properties in Spring Glen, has plans to develop a family-oriented and environmentally sensitive resort, powered with the renewable energy sources the New York-based company is known for promoting and building nationwide. A sports oriented family resort and sports camp facility is planned for the site of the Nevele, just outside Spring Glen.

Houses of worship

Temple of Oriyana - a holy place for followers of the religion of

RUNVira The Native Ukrainian National Faith ( uk, Рі́дна Украї́нська Націона́льна Ві́ра, ; widely known by the acronym , RUNVira), also called Sylenkoism () or Sylenkianism (), and institutionally also known as the Chur ...

RUNVira at CFAR
/ref> which houses one of the

Ukrainian Ukrainian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Ukraine * Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe * Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine * So ...

relics. Spring Glen Synagogue - the first Jewish place of worship in the Catskill region. It still holds

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

services on

High Holy Days The High Holidays also known as the High Holy Days, or Days of Awe in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim ( he, יָמִים נוֹרָאִים, ''Yāmīm Nōrāʾīm''; "Days of Awe") #strictly, the holidays of Rosh HaShanah ("Jew ...

, though any denomination is welcome.

References

{{Ulster County, New York Hamlets in New York (state) Catskills Shawangunks Wawarsing, New York Hamlets in Ulster County, New York

History

Development

Houses of worship

See also

References