A pristine Queen Anne style synagogue with elaborate interior woodwork.

The Hunter Synagogue is a wood frame building on Main Street in Hunter, a town in the Catskill Mountains area of New York State. It was constructed between 1909 and 1914 through the efforts of, among others, the noted Jewish-American businessman and philanthropist Harry Fischel.

The synagogue’s woodwork is remarkable and closely resembles that of the home built for Fishel before the construction of the synagogue. That house sits directly across the street from the synagogue. The Queen Anne style synagogue was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Two and a half stories tall, its floorplan is organized seven bays long by 3 bays wide with a balcony for women upstairs.

Such luminaries as the author Howard Fast and composer Oscar Hammerstein have been members of the congregation. The Hunter Mountain Sky Bowl was started by Oscar Hammerstein and some of his music buddies in the 1930s. The venture proved unprofitable. After World War II, when Isaac and Orville Slutsky returned from the war, they bought the property from Hammerstein. It was in the family until January 2016 when it was sold to Peak Resorts which owns many mountain ski resorts on the East Coast. The synagogue’s stained glass windows were designed by Carol Slutsky, the present day historian for the synagogue.