Graham & Co.
Reimagined Catskills motor lodge with a wood-fired sauna, lawn games, and a Pendleton-blanket aesthetic — 20 rooms in Phoenicia.
A reimagined 20-room Catskills motor lodge in the village of Phoenicia, off Route 28 in Ulster County. The building was a 1960s motel; the renovation kept the bones — a long single-story arc of rooms around a courtyard — and replaced everything else with Pendleton-blanket aesthetics, a wood-fired sauna, and a heated saltwater pool. It's playful, dog-friendly, and about as Catskills as the Catskills get without being a private compound.
Graham & Co. opened in 2013, just before the Catskills tourism wave really hit. It set the template a lot of the new properties up here have followed since.
The setting
Phoenicia is a Stony Clove and Esopus Creek village in the Central Catskills — population a few hundred, walkable in 15 minutes. The motel sits on Old NY-28, a few minutes' walk from the brewery (Phoenicia Diner is across the road, more or less). It's halfway between Woodstock (25 minutes) and Hunter Mountain (20). Hike-in trails, tubing on the Esopus, and the Catskill Forest Preserve are all close.
The drive in from NYC is two and a half hours up I-87 to Kingston, then west on NY-28 along the Esopus. It's the standard Catskills weekend approach.
The building
A 1960s motor lodge, the building runs in a single-story L around a courtyard with the pool, fire pit, lawn games, and Adirondack chairs. The exterior is dark-stained vertical board with white trim. Inside, rooms get pine paneling, wool throws, simple millwork, and the much-photographed Pendleton-blanket-on-a-bunk look. The shared lobby has a record player, a small library, and the kind of art that nods at upstate without overplaying it.
It's a designed property without trying to look like Brooklyn upstate. Grass and gravel, not concrete.
The rooms
Twenty rooms in standard double, queen, king, and family-bunk configurations. Pine plank floors, white-painted board walls, custom millwork beds. Bathrooms are tiled, simple, and modern. From around $245; family bunks and weekends run higher. Some rooms open directly to the courtyard. Dog-friendly rooms are available.
Food & drink
There's a continental breakfast service in the lobby, but no restaurant. You walk to Phoenicia Diner across the road for the ambitious diner breakfast, or up Main Street to Mama's Boy, the Sportsman's Alamo Cantina, or Brio's. For dinner, Peekamoose Restaurant in Big Indian is 15 minutes west.
On the property
The amenity stack is small but well-thought-out:
- Heated saltwater outdoor pool (seasonal)
- Wood-fired sauna
- Outdoor fire pit, hammocks, lawn games (cornhole, bocce)
- Bicycles for guests
- Dog-friendly
- Open year-round
Who it's for
- Brooklyn-and-Manhattan couples on a two-night Catskills weekend
- Dog owners — this is genuinely dog-friendly, not a fee-and-policy stunt
- Friends groups in adjoining rooms doing a tubing-and-sauna weekend
- Anyone who likes the motor-lodge bones with the design layer
Who it's not for
- Travelers wanting a hotel-style amenity stack — there's no on-site restaurant, no spa, no concierge
- Light sleepers — the rooms share walls and the courtyard is the social center
- Anyone expecting Woodstock-style nightlife from Phoenicia village
Nearby
Phoenicia Diner across the road, Mama's Boy in town. Tube the Esopus from Town Tinker Tubing in summer. The Catskill Mountain Railroad runs heritage train rides on weekends. Hunter Mountain (skiing, mountain biking) is 20 minutes north over the pass. Woodstock and the Center for Photography are 25 minutes south. Kaaterskill Falls is 30 minutes. Peekamoose Restaurant in Big Indian and the Spruceton Inn just east in West Kill are both worth the drive for dinner.
