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Sullivan County, New York
Shallow Stream in Rock Hill, NY
Stream in the hamlet of Rock Hill
Flag of Sullivan County, New York
Flag
Seal of Sullivan County, New York
Seal
Map of New York highlighting Sullivan County
Location in the state of New York (state)
Map of the U.S
New York's location in the U.S.
Founded 1809
Named for John Sullivan
Seat Monticello
Largest city Monticello
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

997 sq mi (2,582 km²)
968 sq mi (2,507 km²)
29 sq mi (75 km²), 2.9
Population
 - (2020)
 - Density

78,624
81.2/sq mi (31/km²)
Congressional district 19th
Time zone Eastern: UTC-5/-4
Website co.sullivan.ny.us

Sullivan County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 78,624.[1] The county seat is Monticello.[2] The county's name honors Major General John Sullivan, who was labeled at the time as a hero in the American Revolutionary War in part due to his successful campaign of genocide against the Iroquois (see Sullivan Expedition).

The county was the site of hundreds of Borscht Belt hotels and resorts, which had their heyday from the 1920s through the 1970s.

In 2010, the state's center of population was at the southern edge of Sullivan County.[3]

History[]

Major General John Sullivan, a distinguished officer in the Continental Army (NYPL NYPG94-F149-419970)

John Sullivan, general in the Continental Army, delegate in the Continental Congress, Governor of New Hampshire, and namesake of Sullivan County

When the Province of New York established its first twelve counties in 1683, the present Sullivan County was part of Ulster County. In 1809, Sullivan County was split from Ulster County.[4]

In the late 19th century, the Industrial Revolution and the advent of factories driven by water power along the streams and rivers led to an increase in population attracted to the jobs.[5] Hamlets enlarged into towns. As industry restructured, many of those jobs left before the middle of the twentieth century. The economy changed again after that, shifting to a more tourist-based variety and benefiting from resorts established by European Jewish immigrants and their descendants in what became called the Borscht Belt of the 20th century. Resort hotels featured a wide variety of entertainers, some nationally known. At the beginning of this period, visitors traveled to the area by train, and later by automobile.[6] The area's natural resources also provided a setting for numerous summer camps frequented by the children of immigrants and their descendants.

Geography[]

Swan Lake in Upstate New York

Swan Lake

SR 17 NY

New York State Route 17 (Future Interstate 86) in Liberty

Grahamsville, NY

Hamlet of Grahamsville

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 997 square miles (2,580 km2), of which 968 square miles (2,510 km2) is land and 29 square miles (75 km2) (2.9%) is water.[7]

Sullivan County is in the southern part of New York State, southeast of Binghamton and southwest of Albany. It is separated from Pennsylvania along its southwest boundary by the Delaware River.

The county, which starts about 70 miles northwest of New York City, is in the Catskill Mountains. Its northeastern corner is within the Catskill Park.

The highest point in the county is a 3,118-foot (950 m) peak unofficially known as Beech Mountain, near Hodge Pond, a subsidiary summit to Mongaup Mountain[8] across the Ulster County line. The lowest point is along the Delaware River.[9]

Adjacent counties[]

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1810 6,108
1820 8,900 45.7%
1830 12,364 38.9%
1840 15,629 26.4%
1850 25,088 60.5%
1860 32,385 29.1%
1870 34,550 6.7%
1880 32,491 −6.0%
1890 31,031 −4.5%
1900 32,306 4.1%
1910 33,808 4.6%
1920 33,163 −1.9%
1930 35,272 6.4%
1940 37,901 7.5%
1950 40,731 7.5%
1960 45,272 11.1%
1970 52,580 16.1%
1980 65,155 23.9%
1990 69,277 6.3%
2000 73,966 6.8%
2010 77,547 4.8%
U.S. Decennial Census[10]
1790-1960[11] 1900-1990[12]
1990-2000[13] 2010-2020[1]
Central Callicoon

Hamlet of Callicoon

As of the 2000 Census,[14] there were 73,966 people, 27,661 households, and 18,311 families residing in the county. The population density was 76 people per square mile (29/km2). There were 44,730 housing units at an average density of 46 per square mile (18/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 85.31% White, 8.51% Black or African American, 0.27% Native American, 1.12% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.89% from other races, and 1.87% from two or more races. 9.25% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 16.6% were of German, 13.9% Irish, 12.5% Italian, 7.3% American and 6.2% English ancestry according to Census 2000. 86.6% spoke English, 7.4% Spanish and 1.0% German as their first language. A small population of Russians, late twentieth-century immigrants, live in the villages. There are a few persons in Sullivan and nearby counties who are of mixed Dutch and Mohawk or Lenni-Lenape ancestry in this region of upstate New York, the legacy of indigenous peoples in the region and the New Netherlands colonial era in the 17th century.

There were 27,661 households, out of which 31.30% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.10% were married couples living together, 11.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.80% were non-families. 27.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.90% under the age of 18, 7.30% from 18 to 24, 28.10% from 25 to 44, 25.40% from 45 to 64, and 14.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $36,998, and the median income for a family was $43,458. Males had a median income of $36,110 versus $25,754 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,892. About 11.60% of families and 17.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.60% of those under age 18 and 10.70% of those age 65 or over.

National protected area[]

  • Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River (part)

Government and politics[]

United States presidential election results for Sullivan County, New York[15]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 18,665 53.87% 15,489 44.71% 493 1.42%
2016 15,931 53.18% 12,568 41.96% 1,456 4.86%
2012 12,705 44.71% 15,268 53.73% 442 1.56%
2008 13,900 44.58% 16,850 54.04% 433 1.39%
2004 15,319 49.47% 15,034 48.55% 613 1.98%
2000 12,703 44.53% 14,348 50.29% 1,477 5.18%
1996 9,321 33.00% 15,052 53.29% 3,871 13.71%
1992 11,396 36.02% 13,717 43.36% 6,522 20.62%
1988 15,713 57.00% 11,635 42.20% 220 0.80%
1984 18,037 63.09% 10,475 36.64% 78 0.27%
1980 15,089 55.44% 9,553 35.10% 2,576 9.46%
1976 13,709 48.79% 14,189 50.50% 198 0.70%
1972 17,035 63.24% 9,847 36.55% 56 0.21%
1968 11,657 48.17% 10,860 44.88% 1,681 6.95%
1964 8,006 32.31% 16,728 67.52% 41 0.17%
1960 13,744 54.37% 11,486 45.44% 49 0.19%
1956 15,845 63.94% 8,937 36.06% 0 0.00%
1952 14,926 63.26% 8,421 35.69% 247 1.05%
1948 11,253 53.20% 7,654 36.19% 2,245 10.61%
1944 11,258 55.82% 8,836 43.81% 73 0.36%
1940 11,877 54.64% 9,785 45.01% 76 0.35%
1936 9,757 48.83% 9,908 49.58% 317 1.59%
1932 8,294 44.79% 9,656 52.15% 567 3.06%
1928 10,331 61.27% 6,207 36.81% 323 1.92%
1924 7,734 56.85% 4,057 29.82% 1,813 13.33%
1920 8,029 64.45% 3,623 29.08% 806 6.47%
1916 4,340 53.05% 3,659 44.73% 182 2.22%
1912 3,039 37.56% 3,864 47.75% 1,189 14.69%
1908 4,593 52.52% 3,911 44.72% 242 2.77%
1904 4,452 54.37% 3,582 43.74% 155 1.89%
1900 4,393 53.92% 3,625 44.49% 130 1.60%
1896 4,589 58.35% 3,073 39.08% 202 2.57%
1892 3,664 48.28% 3,567 47.00% 358 4.72%
1888 3,860 49.66% 3,757 48.33% 156 2.01%
1884 3,332 45.31% 3,607 49.05% 415 5.64%



Sullivan County is a swing county, backing the national winner in all but three presidential elections from 1952 to the present. In 2004, Republican George W. Bush defeated Democrat John Kerry by a margin of 49.47% to 48.55%, or a difference of 285 votes.[16] In 2008, however, it was won by Democrat Barack Obama over Republican John McCain by a margin of 54% to 45%.[17] Then, in 2016, the county voted for Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton by a margin of 53% to 42%.[18] In 2020, the county didn't back the winner nationally for the first time since 2000. Incumbent Republican President Donald Trump won the county with 54% of the votes that year compared to the national winner Democrat Joe Biden's 45%.[19]

There are thirty-six town and village courts in Sullivan County.[20]

Legislative authority is vested in the county legislature which consists of nine members, each elected from single member districts. Currently, there are six Republicans and three Democrats.

Sullivan County Legislature
District Legislator Title Party
1 Robert Doherty Chair Democratic
2 Nadia Rajsz Democratic
3 Michael Brooks Vice Chair Republican
4 Bicholas Salomone, Jr. Republican
5 George Conklin III Republican
6 Luis Alvarez Democratic
7 Joseph Perrello Republican
8 Ira Steingart Minority Leader Democratic
9 Alan Sorensen Majority Leader Republican

Education[]

Public school districts[]

Higher education[]

  • Sullivan County Community College is located in the hamlet of Loch Sheldrake in the town of Fallsburg.

Transportation[]

Sullivan County has services provided by Short Line to New York City. It also has some local service provided by the county itself, as well as community organizations.[21][22][23]

Sullivan County International Airport is located in Bethel.

Tourism[]

Sullivan County has been a popular vacation spot since the 19th Century, with mountain climbing, boating, and other outdoor activities, as well as the Monticello Raceway being among the attractions. The majority of the tourism occurs in the summer months. It was the site of the hundreds of resort complexes of the Borscht Belt (with their golf courses, social events, and entertainers), between the 1920s and 1970s.

Borscht Belt hotels, bungalow colonies, summer camps, and kuchaleyns (a Yiddish name for self-catered boarding houses). The bungalows usually included "a kitchen/living room/dinette, one bedroom, and a screened porch" with entertainment being simple: bingo or a movie.[24] The kuchaleyns were also visited often by middle and working-class Jewish New Yorkers. Because of the many Jewish guests, this area was nicknamed the Jewish Alps and "Solomon County" (a modification of Sullivan County) by many people who visited there.[25]

Many famous comedians tested their material and performed regularly at Borscht Belt hotels, including Milton Berle, Mel Brooks, and Henny Youngman. Eddie Fisher performed often at Grossinger's, where in 1955 he married Debbie Reynolds.

By the late 1950s, many began closing with most gone by the 1970s, but some major resorts continued to operate, a few into the 1990s. Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel closed in 1986[26] and the Concord Resort Hotel struggled to stay open until 1998.[27] By that time, the business owed millions in back taxes to Sullivan County, but the property was sold "for $10.5 million" and a new resort was eventually built.[28][29]

Sullivan County was the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival located at the present-day Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. During the period August 15–18, 1969, approximately 500,000 people gathered in Sullivan County's Town of Bethel at Max Yasgur's farm to attend the Woodstock Festival. The entertainers included The Who; the Grateful Dead; Jefferson Airplane; The Band; Canned Heat; Joan Baez; Arlo Guthrie; Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Janis Joplin; Santana; Sly and the Family Stone; Blood, Sweat and Tears; Jimi Hendrix; and Richie Havens. The state and the town of Bethel council subsequently passed laws prohibiting future mass event types of festivals. In 2019, a 50th celebration of Woodstock was organized: "Sullivan County ... finally embracing the ultimate symbol of peace and love, the 1969 Woodstock festival".[30] The Woodstock 50 festival, scheduled for August, was canceled months earlier so it did not take place.[31] The Bethel Woods Center for the Arts did organize of weekend of "low-key" concerts.[32]

Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, which also includes a museum of the sixties and Woodstock, holds many concerts and other events throughout the year.

Other notable cultural destinations include the CAS Arts Center, a multi-arts exhibit space and education center run by the Catskill Art Society in Livingston Manor, New York, the NaCl Theatre, a professional regional theater company focusing on experimental work in Highland Lake, and the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance (DVAA) which serves as the Arts Council for Sullivan County and is located in Narrowsburg. DVAA offers two art galleries, performing arts and cultural programming, grant opportunities for artists and nonprofits, the Big Eddy Film Festival, and Riverfest.

Communities[]

WurtsburoNY

Village of Wurtsboro

Monticello-raceway

Monticello Raceway in Monticello

Towns[]

  • Bethel
  • Callicoon
  • Cochecton
  • Delaware
  • Fallsburg
  • Forestburgh
  • Fremont
  • Highland
  • Liberty
  • Lumberland
  • Mamakating
  • Neversink
  • Rockland
  • Thompson
  • Tusten

Villages[]

  • Bloomingburg
  • Jeffersonville
  • Liberty
  • Monticello (county seat)
  • Woodridge
  • Wurtsboro

Census-designated places[]

  • Barryville
  • Bridgeville
  • Callicoon
  • Eldred
  • Fallsburg
  • Grahamsville
  • Hankins
  • Hortonville
  • Hurleyville
  • Kauneonga Lake
  • Kiamesha Lake
  • Lake Huntington
  • Livingston Manor
  • Loch Sheldrake
  • Mongaup Valley
  • Mountain Dale
  • Narrowsburg
  • Rock Hill
  • Roscoe
  • Smallwood
  • South Fallsburg
  • Swan Lake
  • White Lake
  • Woodbourne
  • Wurtsboro Hills

Hamlets[]

  • Debruce
  • Ferndale
  • Glen Spey
  • Handsome Eddy
  • Harris
  • Haven
  • Hazel
  • Lew Beach
  • Long Eddy
  • Minisink Ford
  • Spring Glen
  • Summitville
  • White Sulphur Springs

See also[]

  • Upstate New York
  • Hudson Valley
  • Catskill Mountains
  • List of counties in New York
  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Sullivan County, New York
  • Borscht Belt
  • Woodstock Festival

References[]

Notes
  1. ^ a b "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Sullivan County, New York". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sullivancountynewyork/PST120221#PST120221. 
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx. 
  3. ^ "Centers of Population by State: 2010". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/docs/cenpop2010/CenPop2010_Mean_ST.txt. 
  4. ^ "Sullivan County, NY - History & Nostalgia Gallery" (in en-US). https://www.hudsonvalleysojourner.com/hudson-valley-history/sullivan-county-ny-history-nostalgia/. 
  5. ^ Administrator. "Sullivan Life" (in en-gb). http://www.scnyhistory.org/index.php/about-us-sp-71491338/museum/exhibits/656-sullivan-life. 
  6. ^ Roberts, Sam (2017-05-25). "Guides for Exploring New York" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/25/nyregion/catskills-borscht-belt-new-york.html. 
  7. ^ "2010 Census Gazetteer Files". United States Census Bureau. August 22, 2012. https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/docs/gazetteer/counties_list_36.txt. 
  8. ^ "Beech Mountain - Peakbagger.com". https://www.peakbagger.com/peak.aspx?pid=7330. 
  9. ^ "Sullivan County". https://www.dianebutlerrealestate.com/region.asp. 
  10. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html. 
  11. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. http://mapserver.lib.virginia.edu. 
  12. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/population/cencounts/ny190090.txt. 
  13. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/briefs/phc-t4/tables/tab02.pdf. 
  14. ^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov. 
  15. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS. 
  16. ^ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/statesub.php?year=2004&fips=36105&off=0&elect=0&f=0
  17. ^ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/statesub.php?year=2008&fips=36105&off=0&elect=0&f=0
  18. ^ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/statesub.php?year=2016&fips=36105&off=0&elect=0&f=0
  19. ^ http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/statesub.php?year=2020&fips=36105&off=0&elect=0&f=0
  20. ^ Sullivan County Evaluation, National League of Defenders Association, January 2009, pp. 8, https://www.mynlada.org/files/NY%20Sullivan%20County%20Report.pdf#search=%22sullivan%20county%20legal%20aid%20panel%22 
  21. ^ "Archived copy". http://www.communityalliance.net/?page_id=137. 
  22. ^ County, Sullivan. "Sullivan County > Departments > Transportation". http://www.co.sullivan.ny.us/Departments/Transportation/tabid/3387/Default.aspx. 
  23. ^ http://www.coachusa.com/CoachUsaAssets/files/98/HudsonSL.pdf Template:Bare URL PDF
  24. ^ Borscht Belt staff reminisce about the glory days of the Jewish Alps and their part in making it happen
  25. ^ Did Jew Know?: A Handy Primer on the Customs, Culture & Practice of the Chosen People, page 160
  26. ^ Ruins of Grossinger's Resort
  27. ^ The Bygone Era of the Jewish Catskills Resorts
  28. ^ The Concord over the years: a timeline
  29. ^ "Finally it's here: Sullivan's casino opening Thursday". Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY). February 7, 2018. http://www.recordonline.com/news/20180207/finally-its-here-sullivans-casino-opening-thursday. Retrieved March 9, 2021. 
  30. ^ 50 years later, Sullivan County shows love for Woodstock festival
  31. ^ Woodstock 2019: Bethel Woods ready for party 50 years in making
  32. ^ Woodstock Gets a Low-Key 50th Party With Ringo, Santana and That Album Cover Couple

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This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Sullivan County, New York. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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