For most of tourism's history on the Shawangunk Ridge, the Mohonk Mountain House was one of three Smiley family-owned vacation destinations for the well-heeled. All were set above pristine, glacially- formed lakes and astride the Shawangunk white conglomerate cliffs, each hotel's magic drawing parched thousands every year to "take the air."The other two hotels, the Lake Minnewaska houses, Cliff House and Wildmere, suffered the fate of many of the state's "mountain houses" and large 19th century hotels—hard times and hot fires. This is part of their story, the memory of their last "care-taker," Sam Lewit.
Wildmere and Cliff House had gone out of the hands of the Smiley family in 1955 when the hotels and about 10,000 acres were sold to the property's general manager, Kenneth Phillips, Sr. The new owner had big plans to modernize the hotels' offerings, including building a ski center (Ski Minne), and serving alcohol—a departure from the hotels' Quaker-run first century of operation. The new owners could not stem the flow of vacationers to exotic places as air and auto travel became common. Cliff House was abandoned in 1972 and burned in January 1978. It was uninsured. Wildmere burned in 1986.
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