About

Spillian: A Place to Revel is a portal for imagining, grounded deeply both in a sense of place and of play. The estate is an events center and lodge in the Catskills, with the mission of becoming an internationally recognized force with global influence on personal, cultural, and regenerative imagination, bringing energy, visitors, and opportunities to the Catskill Mountains.

It is housed on a thirty plus acre historic estate in a superbly restored 19th Century mansion built by the founders of Fleischmanns Yeast as a family summer compound, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since opening in 2013, Spillian has brought thousands of visitors to the area for workshops, retreats, special events, and weddings. It has worked in close partnership with local, regional, and international organizations on innovative programming and campaigns designed to celebrate the history and future of the Catskills as a place of natural beauty and creative possibility.

The word Spillian is Old English for “to play, to jest or to revel.” Co-founders, cultural mythologist Leigh Melander, PhD and theater designer Mark Somerfield, MFA, have brought to life a deep vision that revels in the essence of what Spillian is and can be for all of its stakeholders, from co-creators, to audience, to investors, to neighbors, and even to the landscape itself.