The Catskill Mountain House was a famous hotel near Palenville,
New York in the Catskill Mountains overlooking the Hudson River
Valley , built in 1824. In its prime, from the 1850s to the turn
of the century, it was visited by three U.S. presidents (U.S.
Grant , Chester A. Arthur and Theodore Roosevelt ) and the power
elite of the day. The Mountain House's site, the "Pine Orchard,"
had long been famous for its panoramic views up and down the
Hudson Valley and even beyond to the east. John Bartram and
James Fenimore Cooper had both written about it in different
contexts. Artists and writers had discovered the Catskills some
time earlier. Shortly after it was constructed, the Mountain
House and its surroundings became a favorite subject for
Washington Irving and artists of the new Hudson River School ,
most notably Thomas Cole . Cooper advised his European audience,
"If you want to see the sights of America, go to see Niagara
Falls , Lake George and the Catskill Mountain House." The hotel
was built in 1823 and