Western Catskills: What to check out in Sullivan County along the Delaware River

Until the 1980s, the Catskills was a real boon for New Yorkers with “Dirty Dancing”-style resorts and summer camps. The area has revived over the last decade, primarily along its eastern edge near easy access routes — I-87 and Metro-North — that hug the Hudson River.

And now, change is afoot throughout the western flank in Sullivan County, where Route 97, an often overlooked route through the Catskills, runs along the Delaware River. Entrepreneurs are tapping into the rural escape, opening chic inns and restaurants in a string of hamlets, such as Barryville, Narrowsburg and Callicoon, that make for charming pit stops.