Indoor Pool 1, Grossinger’s Catskill Resort and Hotel, Liberty, N.Y., 2011. (Marisa Scheinfeld)

With her photo series on the ghost hotels of New York’s Catskills Mountains, photographer MarisaScheinfeldcaptures eerie remnants of her hometown in the Catskills, and the crumbling and decaying structures that were once vacation destinations.

These hotels, once bustling with activity, are now silent and overtaken by nature. The elements have taken their toll on the buildings after years of neglect. "As structures deteriorate, rainfall entering buildings can cause extensive water damage, including significant flooding," according to weather.com Meteorologist Christopher Dolce. In addition to rain, freeze and thaw cycles also cause the buildings to crack and crumble, and strong winds can peel away at roofing and siding, he explained.

(MORE:No Vacancies: 10 Abandoned Hotels and Resorts (PHOTOS))

PhotographerScheinfieldstill remembers the Borscht Belt of her youth. Borscht Belt is the name given to the area, which became a popular vacation spot for New York’s Jewish families from the1920sup to the70s.

“It was always unavoidable to hear a story of the Borscht Belt in its heyday, especially as a kid growing up in the area,” explained Scheinfeld.

“When I was a child, I went to some of the hotels, and worked at the Concord as a lifeguard in 1995, shortly before the hotel closed,” said Scheinfield. “When I was in graduate school, was given the advice to ‘shoot what I know’ and the idea of doing a project about my hometown, its history and contemporary, evolved.”

She then began researching and reading about the Borscht Belt, pinpointing where the hotels were located so she could start looking for their remains. Scheinfeld started with hotels she knew of or had been to when they were open and then expanded to hotels she’d never visited.

“In total, there were once 600 hotels, so I had a lot to work with, look into and seek out,” she said. “Sometimes I trespassed, other times I knew someone and other instances, I met someone who told me about the hotel (maybe they owned it, or visited it) and I then went to find it, often using Google Earth – as some hotels no longer have ‘entrances’ and might just be a broken pillar on the side of the road.”

(MORE:Resort in Ruins: Abandoned Hotel in Croatia (PHOTOS))

For Scheinfeld, it was important to photograph the hotels in all four seasons, because when they were open they were open year-around. Also, the different seasons brought a different feel to each photo.

“In winter, floors were like ice skating rinks, in spring, objects and remnants thawed, in the late spring and into the summer, plants that were growing inside the hotel spaces bloomed, in fall, leaves and colorful adornments were scattered around - all creating a colorful and layered narrative - infused with weather and nature - whose powerful and inevitable force has reclaimed most, if not all of these former hotels."

It this natural force that intrigues Scheinfeld. “Nature has and still continues to be the force that bring me back into the hotels time and again – to see the changes that occur over mere months, or a year. In addition, destruction and activity from people who have entered, destroyed, scrapped, squatted, and the like, have all provided additional layers and colors.”

To see more of her work visit herwebsite.Scheinfeld’s work is currently on display at Yeshiva University Museum till April 12, 2015.

(For More Travel, Follow us on Facebook)