The Recreation Farm Society, later called The Meadows, is an abandoned convalescent home in the Catskill Mountains of New York.
The Recreation Farm Society 2 began as a convalescent home circa 1880, 4 operated by the Workmen’s Benefit Fund for the underprivileged who could not afford the often high costs of a sanitarium. 5 Rates were listed as low as $3.50 per week for tuberculosis patients, $7 per week for others, including room, board, and professional care in the 1950s. 5
Improvements were made with new buildings in 1960 and 1974. 4 The Recreation Farm Society was closed by 2000. 4
The Meadows resort later reopened the site and offered shuffleboard and other outdoor activities, and cocktails and refreshments in the lounge, and family-style meals in the dining room. 1 Lodging included The Maples, a motel-style building with 20 rooms, The Juniper, a country-style inn with 12 rooms, The Sycamore, with four rooms, and The Birches, with three rooms.
In 2004, Simon Gelb brokered a deal to turn the closed Recreation Farm into a synagogue with a hotel and food on behalf of the Satmar community of Hasidic Jews. 3
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Sources
- “The Meadows Fosterdale.” BestLodging.com, 2013. Article.
- Kuttner, Paul. “A Scary Summer Day in Windham.” An Engless Struggle, Vantage Press, 2009, p. 546.
- Scullion, Beth. “Kiryas Joel Developer Proposes 2,000 Homes in 3 Towns.” Catskill Mountainkeeper, 10 Oct. 2007.
- “Property Description.” Sullivan County Tax Map and Records System.
- “Recreation Farm Society Stresses Patients’ Normalcy.” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 29 Jan. 1950. p. 28.
