About My Retreat

My Retreat offers writers, poets, and "artists of life" a tranquil environment to write, read, paint, think, walk or just breathe.

Guests are reminded that MY RETREAT is a short 18 mile drive to Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. Enjoy a glorious concert at Bethel and return to your quiet retreat away from the crowd.

The retreat was founded in the spirit of Olga Kobylyanska, a famous Ukrainian writer. May Olga's talent for the lyrical, her gift of observation, sensitivity and artistic taste live on at My Retreat.

Cora Schwartz, the owner of My Retreat, is a published writer and editor.

We welcome both men and women, singles, couples and small groups. There are no applications or qualifications for coming to My Retreat.

The retreat is UNHOSTED. Guests use secret keys and find kitchens stocked with light breakfast foods, emergency phone numbers and help-yourself supply closets. In an effort to keep rates down guests are requested to leave their units the way they would want to find them. This includes stripping beds and towels before leaving. Accommodations vary from shared to private units.

Our writers retreat is located in South Fallsburg (Sullivan county) in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, 90 miles northwest of New York City. Though My Retreat is on a quiet, dead end road surrounded by woods, the town of South Fallsburg is within walking distance. We are serviced by the Shortline Bus Company from Port Authority in NYC. The closest airport is Stewart International in Newburgh, New York. See directions to our writers retreat.

Unlike many small towns in America, South Fallsburg has not been rediscovered, repainted, renovated or replanted. It is a real town, complete with peeling paint and an old fashioned Summer Play House, an artifact of Americana with a marquee comprised of bare light bulbs. One will not find boutiques or gourmet shops in the town of South Fallsburg.

In the winter one can ice skate or cross-country ski at Morningside Park or go downhill skiing at Holiday Mountain. During the Summer months, the town is a diverse multi-ethnic community with a town park, (5 minute drive), a lake for rowing and a town pool.

Still have questions about My Retreat?

...the new countertrend is for rustic living. People want to be in a setting where they feel they don't have to do anything. They want to be part-time peasants; want to undo being jaded by round-the-clock creature comforts; to experience another side of the downscale one, the simple life...rustic living is the perfect PC antidote to the ‘90's excess and that a back-to basics retreat has a restorative effect.

See our guest comments or read more about My Retreat in Catskills Alive, the source for information on the Catskills' four counties.