May 15, 2026

How Foster Supply Hospitality Remade Sullivan County

Sullivan County, NY, is the part of the Catskills most weekenders drive past. Ulster and Greene counties have Woodstock and Phoenicia and Hunter Mountain. Sullivan has Liberty, Livingston Manor, Callicoon, Jeffersonville — towns that collapsed when the Borscht Belt collapsed in the '70s and didn't have an obvious second act.

The second act, it turns out, was hospitality. And one family drove most of it.

Sims and Kirsten Foster run Foster Supply Hospitality. Five hotels, all in Sullivan or adjacent Delaware counties, all restored historic buildings, all independently owned. They're the closest thing the Catskills has to a proper homegrown hospitality group, and the fact that they exist is the reason Sullivan County reads on a map the way it does now.

This is the story, plus the short list of their properties and which one to book first.

The moat: "independent" is a definition question

We write about independent hotels and the ≤5-property rule. Foster Supply has five properties, which means they're right at the line. What puts them on the "independent" side of the line, in our view:

Every property is in one region (Sullivan and Delaware counties, all within an hour of each other)
Every property is a restored historic building — no new-build, no conversions of non-hospitality inventory
Sims and Kirsten actually run the business. They're on the property regularly. Staff know them. Guests meet them.
No private-equity or venture capital. Family money and operator labor.
No plans to franchise, license, or export the brand

This is not Lark (now 30+ properties across the Northeast, private-equity-backed). This is not Main Street Hospitality (5 properties, but clearly a scaling operation). This is a family business that happens to own five hotels, all of them within a day's drive of each other.

The five properties

The Arnold House — Shandelee

The Arnold House is the first. A former tavern on Shandelee Mountain near Livingston Manor, restored by the Fosters when the building was effectively abandoned. Fourteen rooms plus a handful of cabins. A restaurant that takes itself seriously, a bar that locals actually drink at, a pool in summer.

This is the starter Foster Supply — the one to book if you're trying the group for the first time.

The DeBruce — Livingston Manor

The DeBruce is the flagship. A 1890 lodge on 600 acres above the Willowemoc River, with two private mountains and genuine fly-fishing credentials. Thirteen rooms, a Michelin-noted restaurant, a library, a sauna, trails on the property.

This is the one for a milestone weekend. The rate reflects it — $700+ in shoulder season, $1,000+ in peak.

Kenoza Hall — Kenoza Lake

Kenoza Hall is a whitewashed 1880 boarding house overlooking Kenoza Lake. Fifty-five acres, ten bungalows, a main-house restaurant, swimming and kayaking on the lake in summer. More kid-friendly than the rest of the group. The quietest of the five.

Callicoon Hills — Callicoon

Callicoon Hills is the group's biggest property — 23 acres, a bar, a proper restaurant, a pool, tennis courts, more rooms than any of the others. This is the Foster Supply property for a group of friends or a multi-generational family weekend. Callicoon itself is a river town on the Delaware, walkable, with a weekend farmers market that's been running since 2010.

Seminary Hill — Callicoon

Seminary Hill is the newest and the oddest. A working cidery, orchard, and hilltop hotel five minutes from Callicoon Hills. Six rooms plus a tasting room, a restaurant, and 56 acres of heritage apple trees that actually produce the cider served on the menu. Michelin Key. This is the most distinctive of the five and the one to book if you already know Foster Supply and want to see what they do when they start from scratch on a working farm.

What Foster Supply did to Sullivan County

Before The Arnold House opened in 2012, Sullivan County had effectively zero boutique hotel inventory. The old Borscht Belt resorts had closed. The motels along Route 17 were functional at best. Anyone driving through Livingston Manor or Callicoon for the fly-fishing or the whitewater kayaking stayed in Ulster County or drove home.

Twelve years later, Sullivan County has a dozen+ small hotels, two working cideries with rooms attached, a serious farm-to-table restaurant scene that survives the off-season, and a weekender economy that wasn't there before. Not all of that is Foster Supply's doing — but Foster Supply is the visible anchor that gave other operators the cover to bet on the region.

The Phoenicia Diner rebirth, the Arnold House reopening, the DeBruce restoration, Kenoza's renovation, Callicoon Hills' relaunch, Seminary Hill's buildout — they added up to a narrative that Sullivan County was on the map again. The rest of the region's operators followed.

Which one to book first

If you've never been to a Foster Supply property: start with The Arnold House. Lowest nightly rate, easiest to get a room, the most forgiving introduction to how the group operates.

If you want the flagship experience: The DeBruce.

If you're bringing kids or a group: Callicoon Hills or Kenoza Hall.

If you want the most distinctive single stay in the Catskills: Seminary Hill.

All five are independently owned, family-operated, and as good an argument as any that the ≤5-property rule can still produce a coherent hospitality group when the operators actually operate.