Nevele Grand Hotel (closed 2009)

The Nevele Grand Hotel’s recent fires are only the latest chapter in a centuries-long story. As long as there have been resorts in the Catskills, fire has been a constant companion—sometimes accidental, often suspicious, and almost always final.

Wood-frame construction, kerosene lamps, inadequate water supply, and remote mountain locations made the earliest hotels extraordinarily vulnerable. By the mid-20th century, declining tourism left hundreds of shuttered properties—perfect tinder for arson when insurance payouts or land clearance became more valuable than the buildings themselves. Historian John M. Ham once noted that, in the old days, local fire companies even ran betting pools on which hotel would burn next.

What follows is a working, reverse-chronological timeline of documented Catskills hotel and resort fires. It is far from exhaustive—once Sullivan County alone boasted 500 hotels—but it illustrates the relentless pattern.

2025

• November: Two successive nights of fires on the Nevele property, Ellenville; the former Slutsky family residence destroyed on the second night. Ulster County Arson Task Force investigating.
• January 11 & 15: Major suspicious fires heavily damage the abandoned Nevele Grand Hotel (closed 2009). The century-old winter lodge had already burned in March 2024.

2024

• October & June 2023: Repeated major fires at the abandoned Pines Resort, Fallsburg (closed late 1990s). Its predecessor, the Daisy View, burned in 1931.
• Woodbourne: Former Regal Hotel (latterly Kossoner Shul) destroyed by fire.
• Callicoon: Structure fire at operating Villa Roma Resort extinguished (also fires in 2020 and major damage in 2006; rebuilt and still open).

2023

• July: Multiple fires heavily damage the derelict Homowack Lodge, Wurtsboro (closed 2005). A 72-room addition under construction had burned in 1964.

2022

• Grossinger’s, Liberty: The very last standing building burns, 36 years after the resort’s 1986 closure and four years after demolition of the main complex. (A 1954 fire in staff quarters killed 7.)

2021

• Kaaterskill Inn, Catskill (origins 1850s) destroyed by fire.

2014

• Rexmere Hotel, Stamford: Seven-story 1955-closed hotel lost in a six-alarm fire while under contract to a buyer.

2012

• Tamarack Lodge, Wawarsing: Owner burning debris accidentally destroys 30 buildings.
• Brown’s Hotel, Loch Sheldrake (converted to condos) destroyed; residents evacuated safely.
• Gibber Hotel, Kiamesha Lake: Five-alarm fire guts main building while 270 yeshiva students were away.

2011

• Arrowhead Ranch, Parksville: Main building lost (top floor had burned in 1972).

2010

• Mountain Spring Hotel, East Durham (Irish Catskills mainstay) burns; now operates as Blackthorne Resort.

2008

• Heiden Hotel, South Fallsburg (1906–1986, featured in Sweet Lorraine) destroyed in suspicious early-morning blaze.

2007

• Phoenicia Hotel, Main Street, Phoenicia burns (legendary Dutch Schultz hangout).
• Hunter Village Inn destroyed by electrical fire.

2006

• Antrim Lodge, Roscoe (closed 1994) burns while under renovation.

2003–2000s

• Concord Resort, Kiamesha Lake: After 1998 closure, the massive complex becomes a firefighter training ground because only concrete and steel remained after repeated burns.

Earlier Notable Fires (selected)

• 2004 Windsor Hotel, Fallsburg (dormitory use) burns unoccupied.
• 2002 Lake Jefferson Hotel (72 years old) destroyed in “raging and suspicious” nighttime blaze shortly before scheduled demolition.
• 1986 Wildmere House, Accord (1881) burns hours after owners fought state condemnation.
• 1980 Laurels, Sackett Lake: Suspicious fire six years after closure.
• 1978 Cliff House, Gardiner: 99-year-old mountain house burns when snow blocks fire-truck access.
• 1977 Kelley’s Hotel, Fleischmanns: Fire destroys hotel and downtown businesses; leads to creation of the MARK Project.
• 1976 Olympic Hotel, Fallsburg burns while full of guests (all escaped).
• 1975 Schenk’s Paramount, Monticello burns shortly after sale to Orthodox group (criminal investigation).
• 1975 Fleischmanns sees multiple suspected arson fires: New Arlington, Hotel Lorraine annex, Crystal Brook, Grand Gorge, etc.
• 1973 Shawanga Lodge, High View burns one year after closure; water tower feeding sprinklers had been drained.
• 1973 Pine Grove Inn, Kerhonkson: Employee building collapse kills 7 young workers.
• 1971 Columbia Farm Hotel, Hurleyville (oldest continuously operating hotel when it closed 1969) burns Christmas Eve after sale to Concord Hotel owner.
• 1969 Diamond Horseshoe, Woodstock burns the day before the festival (hippies extinguish it when fire trucks can’t reach).
• 1967 Wayside Inn, Ellenville: 4-story wood building kills 2, 24 elderly guests escape.
• 1966 Green Acres, Lake Huntington struck by 11 lightning bolts; sprinklers were scheduled for 1967.
• 1965 Prospect Inn, Parksville: 4 dead spurs stricter fire codes that help doom many smaller hotels.
• 1963 Kutsher’s main building burns (rebuilt; resort lasted until 2013).
• 1963 Catskill Mountain House, America’s first resort hotel (1824), deliberately burned by NYS Conservation Department as a “decaying wreck.”
• 1953 Williams Lake Hotel, Rosendale: 4 killed; passing freight train sounds horn to wake guests.
• 1943 Victoria Mansion, Loch Sheldrake destroyed in <20 minutes; guests lose everything.
• 1926 Twilight Inn, Haines Falls: At least 19 dead; only wooden fire escape.
• 1926 Schindler Prairie Hotel, Hurleyville chimney fire kills 9.
• 1924 Hotel Kaaterskill (1881), largest hotel in the world when built, burns (laundry plant had burned 1904).
• 1875–1933 Multiple fires claim Palenville Hotel (3 times), Overlook Mountain House (twice), etc.

From the 1870s lamp explosions to the 2025 arson investigations, the story remains the same: fire has been the Catskills resorts’ most faithful customer—and usually the last one through the door.