Narrowsburg, NY

Narrowsburg is a Sullivan County hamlet on the eastern shore of the Delaware River, with 379 residents in the 2020 census. New York Routes 52 and 97 meet here, between the Catskill and Pocono mountains, and the Narrowsburg Bridge crosses to Pennsylvania at one of the river’s tightest points. The Big Eddy, a deep bend and well-known fishing spot, sits below the hamlet. The river is the first thing to understand about Narrowsburg: it shaped travel, work, recreation, and the town’s name.

The settlement was first called Homans Eddy after Benjamin Homan, an early settler. River commerce later brought log rafts and raftsmen through the Big Eddy, while rail travel brought summer visitors to local inns and boarding houses. The Arlington Hotel, built in 1894 and now home to the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance’s Delaware Arts Center, is listed on the National Register. The Tusten Theatre began as a 1926 community hall built by the Narrowsburg fire department, became a movie house, and reopened as an arts venue in 1990 after work by the town, the arts alliance, and Sullivan County. Narrowsburg is a New York river hamlet where old lodging, working water, and year-round performances occupy the same main street.