The Summer of 1919: A Love Story

The people of New York City have one thing in mind during summer: ESCAPE.

In an environment consisting mainly of glass, metal, brick and concrete, the blistering heat and humidity of July and August is exponentially amplified. Naturally, residents of this fine city become preoccupied with leaving town. People of greater means can venture farther out of the city and enjoy longer stays away. This luxury, however, is not equally afforded to all New Yorkers. Indeed, most of New York’s population remains in town over the summer.

For those lucky enough to escape the city in the hot months, weekend resorts in the Catskills, accessible by the New York, Ontario and Western Railway trains from Weehawken, New Jersey, became wildly popular.

It was in one such resort that Evelyn Wallach’s life changed forever.

“I had never gone to the country before, on a vacation. And then my boss and his wife and family was going to this place up in Parksville, New York. And my mother thought it would be a good idea if I went with them. She thought I was too naïve to be going away alone.”

Her memory of Morris as a lifeguard is interesting, because it suggests that he might have been employed for the summer by one of the Parksville resorts. Perhaps selling furs was harder in the summer, and Morris had to look elsewhere to make ends meet; or maybe the seasonal work up in Parksville was more lucrative. While Morris’ employment status remains unclear at this point, there can be no disputing Parksville’s popularity in 1919. By then there were dozens of resorts to choose from. These hotels were surrounded by open spaces, mountains, forests, and local farms. During an organized excursion to a farmhouse, Evelyn made her move on Morris.

That was the start of it all. A year and a half later the two were married, and their 1919 summer escape turned into a lifelong adventure.

The success of these Catskill resorts was largely a result of their catering to the Jewish population, at a time when the slightest Jewish signifier could be enough to deny a person or family from renting a room elsewhere. With kosher offerings at mealtime and synagogues nearby, these Borscht Belt resorts were safe spaces for Jews – a place where they could escape both the summer city heat, and (at least for a weekend or week) the violence and humiliation of anti-Semitism. In this way, Morris and Evelyn were brought together by the desire for a safe summer escape.

The Catskill resorts remained popular even during the Great Depression. It wasn’t until the 1950s that they started to wane. A combination of forces contributed to the slow demise of this once-vibrant summer business: The O&W Railways ceased operating, New Jersey and Long Island beaches became more accessible, interstate highways bypassed many towns like Parksville, and hotels and resorts elsewhere began turning away from anti-Semitic practices.