Budapest Hotel:  Portrayed below are purple lythrum along the upper Esopus Creek at the site of the old Budapest Hotel waters, still home to wild trout.

Many a trout fisher erroneously referred to this location as the “Budapest Lodge”, but a review of historical records indicates such was never the case.  The grounds and building--- currently known as the Baptist Camp--- are now owned by the Missions Board and operated as a summer camp.  However, this old hotel has an interesting and rich history; it was once a premier Big Indian guesthouse

Originally built in 1872 by the Donahue family it was first called the Forest Home.  Then in 1921 it was sold to Eugene Grossman who operated it as Grossman’s Forest House until repossessed by a bank.   Eventually other owners reopened the old landmark hotel.

The June 5^th, 1949 issue of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle ran a full page add sponsored by the Big Indian Valley Business Men’s Association highlighting lodging in the immediate area.  At the time Louis Green was the proprietor of Hotel Budapest which featured Hungarian cuisine and gypsy music.  Andrew Rohaly, another owner, would call the building and grounds Rohaly’s Budapest Rest.  The guesthouse had at least one other owner, Mr. Feynes, but apparently was never known as the Budapest Lodge.

The particular scene below also once housed a bridge over the Esopus that the Town of Shandaken closed to traffic in 1967.  This angler remembers tangling his leader on that bridge with errant casts over feeding trout during the early 1970s.  And, today if the astute angler looks carefully, he/she will still see the stone remains of old bridge abutments as well as the old historic hotel.

Budapest Hotel waters and purple lythrum, 11x14:

This landscape was originally painted on a 16x20 canvas and called, 

Budapest Lodge, Esopus Creek (Sold):