Catskill Game Farm, a beloved and long-closed local zoo turned destination hotel that was recently thrust into the spotlight by links to a Nazi-tied breeding program, is up for sale – with two options.
The entire 203-acre property, including the Long Neck Inn at its heart, is being offered for $2,995,000, while 89 unused wooded acres are for sale for $899,000. Owner Gale Blauner said she’d rather sell only the unused area, allowing her to keep the inn, four campsites, and the buildings that housed thousands of animals before the zoo closed in 2006.
“Millions of people have great memories of being at the farm,” she said. “Everybody who stays there comes there initially because of their memories of the game farm. Most guests are repeat guests.”
Blauner’s brother, Sidney Blauner, bought the game farm for $1.86 million in 2019, seven years after it had been renovated, with dreams of restoring at least a flicker of its history. After the pandemic flat-lined the global tourism market, he listed it in 2023 and found a buyer, only to have that sale fall through. Sidney Blauner died that same year.
“If someone buys the unused land I hope they make something beautiful out of it, beautiful land for families,” said the farm’s manager and self-titled “guardian of the memories,” Shawn Johnson. “Memories that can be shared. New memories from the old that can be recreated and reincarnated. The spirit of the land continues.”
Johnson has become the face of the farm, greeting guests from Airbnb, checking in campers at the four tent sites and navigating the many hurdles the farm has faced since its reopening.
“I consider it a privilege every day just to be here now, you know? If I could die on this land, I would, and become a permanent part in the end,” said Johnson.
When Johnson joined the team in 2019, the destination spot became a second home, his passion, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Propelled by preserving the memories of visitors at the zoo, Johnson has dedicated his years to becoming their guardian.
His biggest concern is the possibility that the buildings could be destroyed by a new owner, erasing the farm’s history – something that isn’t in the cards, according to at least one of the brokers involved in the sale.
“No one discussed tearing down the buildings,” said Ted Banta, a broker at RVW Select Properties, with the exception of those that are too far gone to be saved. One potential buyer for the 89 acres previously bought land at 287 Game Farm Road, according to Banta and Blauner.
The game farm opened in 1933, became America’s first privately owned zoo in 1958 and eventually housed more than 2,000 animals in its 73 years. Shortly before it closed, the farm listed about 100 animal species housed there, from alligators to yaks. The Long Neck Inn was once the Old Giraffe Barn.
It gained notoriety of a different sort in June with the premiere of “American Zoo” at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film recounts the story of German scientist Heinz Heck Jr., who joined the zoo in 1959 and sought to bring extinct animals back to life. His experiments, which left many animals with serious birth defects, weren’t disclosed to visitors.
Whatever happens next, Blauner and Johnson hope it retains its history and impact on the region.
“They can’t bulldoze those memories, my dreams of the place, the fun I’ve had here, the memories I’ve helped people make. That’s the one thing they can’t bulldoze away,” Johnson said.
Mia Quick is an editorial assistant at The Overlook. Send correspondence to mia@theoverlooknews.com.
