{"nrhp_refnum":"98001619","name":"Bikur Cholim B'nai Israel Synagogue","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Old White Lake Turnpike at NY 55","address_restricted":false,"city":"Swan Lake","county":"Sullivan County","state":"NY","lat":41.71516061500006,"lon":-74.79933893999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1999-01-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small one-and-one-half story wood-frame synagogue with a stucco finish, built c1926-27 at Old White Lake Turnpike and NYS Route 55 in the town of Bethel, near Swan Lake, Sullivan County, New York. Carpenter Sam Goodman built it.","why_significant":"It is an intact example of an early twentieth-century Sullivan County synagogue, and unusual because a rural farming community built it rather than a village or hamlet. Its design combines eastern European orthodox features with the domestic architecture of regional hotels and bungalow colonies. It also documents the Jewish farm and boarding-house community that settled the area from 1918-19.","narrative":"Bikur Cholim B'nai Israel Synagogue is a small stucco-covered wood-frame house of worship built about 1926-27 on an open rural site in the town of Bethel, south of Swan Lake. Forty-five Jewish men, mostly dairy and poultry farmers who also took in summer boarders, joined to build it on land donated by Jacob Rotterman. Sam Goodman, a Swan Lake carpenter who also built nearby bungalow colonies, constructed it. The facade is marked by a curving, Spanish Baroque-inspired parapet with tower-like corners, round-arched openings, and Star of David motifs. Inside are a barrel-vaulted sanctuary and a ladies gallery, reflecting orthodox tradition, along with stock moldings and folding chairs like those in local hotels. It also served as the community hall for forty-seven families in the area. Although the hotels and farms have largely vanished, the building remains highly intact and is used for special occasions by the families' descendants.","period_of_significance":"c1926-27","architect_builder":"Sam Goodman","architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Used only for special occasions since the 1960s, mainly by descendants of the original congregants; the form reports an outstanding level of integrity and rehabilitation work around 1996.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:51.057168-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/98001619.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001619/1b4ea3e904-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/98001619/1b4ea3e904-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Rebekah6386","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bikur_Cholim_Synagogue,_Swan_Lake,_NY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Rebekah6386</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bikur_Cholim_Synagogue,_Swan_Lake,_NY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322339","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikur_Cholim_B%27nai_Israel_Synagogue","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4907464"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/sullivan-county/bikur-cholim-bnai-israel-synagogue-98001619/"}