Sometimes ugliness breeds something beautiful. And so it was with the “Borscht Belt” – the ugly anti-Semitism of 100 years ago brought forth the beautiful social phenomenon that was the constellation of hotels and resorts that entertained generations of Jewish tourists.

It got its start in a way we’d recognize today – people from New York City taking advantage of new transportation options, in this case the passenger railroads of the late 19th century, coming upstate to enjoy nature and get away from the city. (If you think a hot summer day in the city is bad in 2024, and it is, imagine how bad it must’ve been in the time when manure-dropping horses, not automobiles, ruled the streets.) It didn’t take long for hotels and resorts to start popping up. It also didn’t take long for prejudice to pop up as well: Many of these new spots were off-limits, either explicitly or implicitly, to Jewish people.

Driven by the kind of anger and determination which rises in a people who had the door slammed in their face, Jewish entrepreneurs soon built hotels and resorts of their own. Wildly popular, the establishments of Ulster and Sullivan counties provided warm memories for thousands of families. But they also served as a launch pad for many of that era’s biggest stars: Mel Brooks. Joan Rivers. Woody Allen. Sid Caesar. Henny Youngman. Jerry Lewis. Eddie Fisher. Buddy Hackett. Jean Carroll. To name a very few. In retrospect, the Borscht Belt was a cultural incubator without equal in this country.

But things change. Another transportation revolution, the passenger plane, made it a lot easier to get to other places in the country, and the world. Social forces brought change as well: In the post World War II era, excluding Jewish people from hotels, country clubs and other institutions, thankfully, declined. Before long, the 1,000 stars of the Borscht Belt’s galaxy, including our own Nevele Hotel, began to dim, then flicker out. As the 20th century ended and the 21st began, there was left fond memories of a simpler time to reminisce about.

Back to that list for a second: Jean Carroll isn’t well-remembered today as herself, but she has gained recognition by proxy, as the inspiration for the Amazon Prime mega-hit “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Over five seasons, the series returned to glory, in exquisitely evocative Mid-Mod detail, the times and places of the Borscht Belt. It brought that era to a whole new audience, and to a whole new level of appreciation.

Enter the Catskills Borscht Belt Museum. Opened last year in the heart of Ellenville in the old Home National Bank, the museum is off to a great start to its mission: “The Borscht Belt Museum will not solely focus on entertainment, glamour and design. Its curatorial mission will include weightier themes and narratives embodied by the era; the antisemitism that spurred the creation of a Jewish vacationland, the refuge the Catskills provided to African-Americans, Irish-Americans, L.G.B.T.Q. and other communities, and the forces of assimilation and tolerance that eventually helped fuel the grand resort era’s decline.”

By all accounts, it’s done a great job of spotlighting an under-heralded chapter of American history for both the Hudson Valley and the larger world. We urge everyone to check it out and support it if you can.

That brings us to this weekend. The second annual Borscht Belt Festival will take place from Friday, July 26, through Sunday, July 28, with vendors, food, comedy and entertainment. It’s going to be a great time in Ellenville, kicking off with the unveiling on Friday of a new historical marker commemorating the era.

“It’s all part of our plan to turn the village into a regional cultural hub and tourist draw that leverages our natural beauty and cultural anchors like Shadowland Stages,” said museum President Andrew Jacobs.

We hope to see you at the party. Ulster has always cashed in on its natural splendors to draw visitors to town. With the entire county’s industrial base barely hanging on, tourism has been, is now and will be a way for us to make money. In a larger sense, the many aspects of the Borscht Belt phenomenon deserve to be celebrated: How less funny would all our lives have been if Mel Brooks never became a comedian?

We all owe the Borscht Belt a debt of gratitude. Celebrating it is the only way to pay it off.