When the weekly newspaper column known as Retrospect made its debut in July of 1987, it was a much different column than it is today. Although there was an occasional foray into formal local history, the majority of those early columns were nostalgic looks back at some aspect of life in Sullivan County during the era of the big hotels. 

Sometime shortly after that first column ran, it became apparent that readers wanted to learn more about their local history, and questions started flooding in. By far the most often asked query was, “What was the very first hotel in the county and where was it located?” And so it was that an in-depth study of the Sullivan County resort industry began—a study that is still underway today, more than 35 years later. 

Long before this columnist was named the official Sullivan County Historian in February of 1993, one of the weekly columns was dedicated to the unveiling of a timeline depicting the evolution of tourism in the county, beginning before the construction of the first summer hotel—in White Lake—in 1845 and continuing through 1965.

 Among other things, the timeline introduced the idea of the Silver Age (1890 – 1915) and the Golden Age (1940 – 1965), terms that have now entered the mainstream when discussing Sullivan County resorts. 

Many are now familiar with the concept: beginning while the county’s economy was still dominated by extractive industries such as timber, tanning and bluestone, a large number of fishermen began to arrive here in response to a world record sized trout having been caught in White Lake, and soon the first summer hotel was built there to accommodate them. Then another was built, and another. 

By the time the Civil War ended in 1865, and the tanning and timber industries had started to wane, the county began a long transition to a tourism economy. 

By 1890, the railroads had helped the tourism industry to take hold and to grow. Thousands of summer visitors flocked to the county each year, and 200 or so hotels and more than a thousand farms provided them with a place to stay. 

That Silver Age of prosperity lasted until about 1915, when myriad factors precipitated the demise of tourism here, at least temporarily. Again, the county had to reinvent itself, and another 25-year long transition period ensued. The Golden Age was next, and at its peak there were 538 hotels, 1,000 rooming houses, and 50,000 bungalows for vacationers to choose from. But the Golden Age would end as well, and by 1965 it all began to come crumbling down. 

For many years, the timeline was discussed and dissected, but as the new century arrived in 2001, those learning about the timeline and the evolution of the resort industry here began to wonder—and to ask—about what happened after the timeline ended in 1965. Surely, life went on in the county, and just as certainly tourism continued here, but what form did it take? For that matter, did the premise depicted by the timeline hold up at all if one were to extend the study after the end of the Golden Age in 1965? Was there a Platinum Age? 

In other words, what happened in Sullivan County after the hotel industry collapsed? Did another transition occur, and if so where did it lead? Were there efforts to revive the exiting hotel industry, and if so, what form did those efforts take? Was the county ever able to move on? 

Those and many other questions will be answered during an upcoming presentation by this columnist, your Sullivan County Historian, at the Ethelbert B. Crawford Public Library in Monticello on Thursday, October 13. The program is titled “After the Fall” and will include not just a continuation of the timeline to the present and beyond, but also a look at some of the missteps the county took in an effort to revive its economy in the panicked days after the demise of the great hotels. 

The program gets underway at 6:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Contact the library for more information. 

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian. Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com. He will present the program “After the Fall” at the Ethelbert B. Crawford Public Library in Monticello at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 13.