Swan Lake (formerly Stevensville) 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 ...

(and census designated place) in the town of

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

in Sullivan County,

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. The community is located along

New York State Route 55 New York State Route 55 (NY 55) is a east-west state highway in southern New York, running from the Pennsylvania state line at the Delaware River in Barryville to the Connecticut state line at Wingdale. It is the only other state hi ...

, south-southwest of

, located at the eastern end of a lake called "Swan Lake". Swan Lake has a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

with ZIP code 12783, which opened on January 2, 1849. Swan Lake is the destination of

New York State Route 17 New York State Route 17 (NY 17) is a major state highway that extends for through the Southern Tier and Downstate regions of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in Mina and follows the Souther ...

's exit 101.

History

Swan Lake was originally called Stevensville, named after the Stevens brothers who built a large sole leather tannery there. The tannery was in existence until about 1873. Since the 1880s the Swan Lake area has been noted for its hotel and tourist industry. Many of the local farm girls found jobs there in the early 1900s. The lake has always had an abundance of fish and brings sportsmen into the area. Alden S. Swan arrived there from New York about 1895 and by the time of his death in 1917 owned much of the land and all of the lake. The name was changed to Swan Lake in January 1927. The Swan estate was purchased by Siegel and Kretchmer and the Siegels went on to build the Commodore and Stevensville the latter developing into a large sprawling hotel run by the Dinnerstein family. The

Bikur Cholim B'nai Israel Synagogue Bikur Cholim B'nai Israel Synagogue is an historic synagogue in Swan Lake, Sullivan County, New York. It was built about 1926 and is a small, -story wood-frame building with a stucco finish. ''See also:'' It was added to the National Registe ...

was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1999.

Jewish summer camps

Swan Lake is home to many Jewish summer camps. Some of these are Camp Chipinaw, Silver Lake Camp,

Pupa A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

and Camp Toras Chesed.

References

Hamlets in Sullivan County, New York Hamlets in New York (state) {{SullivanCountyNY-geo-stub