Erica Keberle
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erica@anatolehouse.com
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Long before an Upstate weekend became a genre unto itself, Erin Lindsey was documenting the places worth leaving the city for. As founder of Escape Brooklyn, she has spent more than a decade chronicling the inns, cabins, swimming holes, restaurants, shops, and small towns that helped turn a weekend away into something of a movement. Shandelee Cottage is where she landed. Set just above Livingston Manor, the 1940 cottage became Lindsey's own version of the escape: close enough to town for dinner or a great cup of coffee, and far enough away for gardens, long views, outdoor showers, fires under the stars, and mornings that could easily turn from a hike into a day spent writing. For someone who made a career out of going places, Shandelee Cottage became basecamp - a place to come home to, work from, garden in, entertain at, and occasionally do absolutely nothing. Over the years, the house has evolved. The kitchen and bath were renovated, gardens planted and expanded, outdoor spaces created, and a detached garage given a workout. Inside, the house remains unmistakably a cottage: intimate, relaxed, and full of small surprises rather than grand gestures. [ERIN QUOTE — Why this house? What did you see in it when you first arrived, and what made you stay?] Having spent close to a decade here has meant establishing some pretty good rhythms. Consider your itinerary already planned.
A heart-shaped key latch suggests you might not be able to help falling for this one. Just inside, an entry made for weekend bags, winter boots, and your Saturday farmers market haul has a wonderfully oversized rustic bench waiting to take the lot. From there, things get cozy quickly.
The living room centers around a stone-surround wood-burning fireplace that makes a convincing argument for staying put. Morning sun finds the sofa; a good read waits patiently on the shelves; and there's enough room to gather without losing the intimacy that makes a cottage feel like a cottage. By afternoon, the light has moved to the dining room, where the table can just as easily host six for dinner as one laptop and a half-finished cup of tea. The adjacent kitchen was renovated from the studs and updated again with newer appliances - compact, cheerful, and properly equipped for cooking, with plenty of nearby takeout options for when you'd rather not. Botanical wallpaper brings the garden inside and adds a sophisticated pattern for a reminder that restraint can also be charming.
Two bedrooms sit on the main floor, along with a freshly renovated full bath, where a tub and shower beside a window keep even the practical spaces connected to the landscape outside. And then there's the hidden surprise. An unassuming paneled door conceals a staircase winding up to an attic sanctuary with vaulted ceilings, a reading nook, bedroom, and an unexpected amount of storage built into closets and the eaves. Part guest quarters, part hideout, it's the kind of secret room that makes you wonder what else the cottage isn't telling you.
At the side of the house, a little potting porch provides a landing spot for whatever has just come out of the garden. Downstairs, the full unfinished walk-out basement provides plenty of room for the practical elements of country life: laundry, tools, a workshop, and space to tinker with the latest vintage flea-market find. Best of all, Shandelee Cottage is offered fully furnished (less a few select items). A collected mix of furniture and objects stays behind, leaving a place that already feels settled, with plenty of room to evolve over time.
The gardens aren't an afterthought here. They're part of the story. Years of planting and tending have created mature beds for flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Dahlias, poppies, sunflowers, lettuces, tomatoes, and other seasonal plantings have all had their turn, giving the grounds that layered, I just woke up like this quality that only comes with time. Behind the house, the landscape opens up.
From the deck, long pastoral views stretch across neighboring fields, where horses and cows occasionally graze in the distance. Rabbits, deer, wild turkeys, and even the occasional bald eagle make unscheduled appearances. It's a remarkably bucolic backdrop for a house just seven minutes from the restaurants, shops, and the creative energy of Livingston Manor. Outside, some very good habits have taken hold.
The day starts on the deck. Bare feet in the garden. A hot tub within easy reach when the temperature drops. And an outdoor shower because - once you've had one, getting naked in the garden just seems to make sense. Farther into the lawn, a stone fire pit provides another excuse to howl at the moon after dark.
Here's the catch: for all the gardens, grazing animals, and outdoor showers, you're not actually in the middle of nowhere. Shandelee Cottage sits just above Livingston Manor, approximately seven minutes from the center of town. The result is that increasingly elusive Catskills combination: enough country to feel away, with groceries, dinner, drinks, and the inevitable forgotten ingredient still within easy reach. Livingston Manor earned its reputation first as a fly-fishing destination, but these days the pull extends well beyond the river. Restaurants, breweries, specialty food shops, wine, art, and independent retail have turned the village and its surrounding roads into one of the liveliest little pockets in the Western Catskills. The Arnold House and Upward Brewing are especially close, while Main Street Farm, The Walk-In, Stumble Out, Sunshine Colony, Catskill Brewery, Kaatskeller, and the rest of Livingston Manor are only a short drive away. Love the outdoors? Rotate the nearby hikes into your schedule: Frick Pond, Round Top, and Russell Brook Falls are all within easy reach, along with miles of Catskill Park trails, rivers, swimming holes, and public lands for when the day's agenda calls for fewer people and more trees. And if the mood strikes, New York City is less than two hours away; then escaping Brooklyn - again - is a pretty good reason to come back home.
Escape Brooklyn like an OG. The woman who helped show Brooklyn how to escape to the Catskills had an escape of her own.
Erica Keberle
/
erica@anatolehouse.com
/
Long before an Upstate weekend became a genre unto itself, Erin Lindsey was documenting the places worth leaving the city for. As founder of Escape Brooklyn, she has spent more than a decade chronicling the inns, cabins, swimming holes, restaurants, shops, and small towns that helped turn a weekend away into something of a movement. Shandelee Cottage is where she landed. Set just above Livingston Manor, the 1940 cottage became Lindsey's own version of the escape: close enough to town for dinner or a great cup of coffee, and far enough away for gardens, long views, outdoor showers, fires under the stars, and mornings that could easily turn from a hike into a day spent writing. For someone who made a career out of going places, Shandelee Cottage became basecamp - a place to come home to, work from, garden in, entertain at, and occasionally do absolutely nothing. Over the years, the house has evolved. The kitchen and bath were renovated, gardens planted and expanded, outdoor spaces created, and a detached garage given a workout. Inside, the house remains unmistakably a cottage: intimate, relaxed, and full of small surprises rather than grand gestures. [ERIN QUOTE — Why this house? What did you see in it when you first arrived, and what made you stay?] Having spent close to a decade here has meant establishing some pretty good rhythms. Consider your itinerary already planned.
The gardens aren't an afterthought here. They're part of the story. Years of planting and tending have created mature beds for flowers, herbs, and vegetables. Dahlias, poppies, sunflowers, lettuces, tomatoes, and other seasonal plantings have all had their turn, giving the grounds that layered, I just woke up like this quality that only comes with time. Behind the house, the landscape opens up.
From the deck, long pastoral views stretch across neighboring fields, where horses and cows occasionally graze in the distance. Rabbits, deer, wild turkeys, and even the occasional bald eagle make unscheduled appearances. It's a remarkably bucolic backdrop for a house just seven minutes from the restaurants, shops, and the creative energy of Livingston Manor. Outside, some very good habits have taken hold.
The day starts on the deck. Bare feet in the garden. A hot tub within easy reach when the temperature drops. And an outdoor shower because - once you've had one, getting naked in the garden just seems to make sense. Farther into the lawn, a stone fire pit provides another excuse to howl at the moon after dark.
Here's the catch: for all the gardens, grazing animals, and outdoor showers, you're not actually in the middle of nowhere. Shandelee Cottage sits just above Livingston Manor, approximately seven minutes from the center of town. The result is that increasingly elusive Catskills combination: enough country to feel away, with groceries, dinner, drinks, and the inevitable forgotten ingredient still within easy reach. Livingston Manor earned its reputation first as a fly-fishing destination, but these days the pull extends well beyond the river. Restaurants, breweries, specialty food shops, wine, art, and independent retail have turned the village and its surrounding roads into one of the liveliest little pockets in the Western Catskills. The Arnold House and Upward Brewing are especially close, while Main Street Farm, The Walk-In, Stumble Out, Sunshine Colony, Catskill Brewery, Kaatskeller, and the rest of Livingston Manor are only a short drive away. Love the outdoors? Rotate the nearby hikes into your schedule: Frick Pond, Round Top, and Russell Brook Falls are all within easy reach, along with miles of Catskill Park trails, rivers, swimming holes, and public lands for when the day's agenda calls for fewer people and more trees. And if the mood strikes, New York City is less than two hours away; then escaping Brooklyn - again - is a pretty good reason to come back home.
