Mt. Cathalia

Mt. Cathalia stood on a mountain above Ellenville also called Mt. Meenagha, where the Terwilliger family had run one of the town of Wawarsing's first summer resorts in the late 1800s. In the 1950s Joseph Tso, a Chinese American attorney, businessman and Army veteran, took over the property and named it Mt. Cathalia. It became the country's only Chinese American-owned and operated ski resort and hotel, open to Chinese Americans and other guests turned away by many resorts of the time.^1,3,4

Skiing began in January 1960 by Skikabbalah's account, or in 1961 by a CUNY history blog's. A double chairlift, three T-bars, snowmaking and night skiing served about 500 feet of vertical on a northwest-facing slope, with a hotel joined to the base lodge. The chair's maker differs: Riblet for Skikabbalah, Mueller in a 2010 report on its chairs being sold by Ski Butternut. The hotel burned in 1963 and was rebuilt, and the first run of skiing ended on February 11, 1963. Two later owners ran it on and off until March 1978.^2,4,5,6

The Open Space Institute bought the 440-acre property in August 2026 to add to Minnewaska State Park Preserve; the old ski runs have grown into meadows.^1,3

TodayThe former ski runs are meadows on land bought to join Minnewaska State Park Preserve. (2026)¹