Yehudayonas description is quite accurate! There’s an entire culture that surrounds this phenomenon.
I will paint a more descriptive picture for you:
A bungalow is a (very) small and simple dwelling. I wouldn’t say it’s a shack, but it’s a pretty basic set-up: Built of wood, un-insulated, with a small kitchen with appliances that may actually date back to the 1950’s. 1, 2 or even three Bedrooms (Very large bungalow)and often a porch that is enclosed with screens. Shared kitchens probably were prevalent in the 1950’s and ’60s; I think today each would have their own. The inside of the bungalow is for sleeping and keeping your stuff dry!
The idea is, you are going there so the kids can freely play outdoors in relative safety compared to the city. Also, Brooklyn, aside from not having much in the way of grass and trees, is hot and humid in the summer. The bungalow colonies are situated in an area that has a higher elevation, and therefore cooler temperatures. There is almost always a swimming pool with a solid mechitza, with separate hours for men and women. Sometimes there is a basketball, or racket ball court or other amenities on the premises. There is a laundry room (shack) with coin-operated washers and dryers. Most also offer a small day camp program for younger children; from age 2 up to about 10 or so. There is usually also some sort of communal building which doubles as a shul. During the week, there may not be a minyan of men, But from Friday through Sunday, there are plenty of fathers/husbands around. And more separate-swim hours for men.
The properties are grassy, surrounded by natural forests, that certainly are home to wildlife native to the area. They are owned by private individuals, or small groups. The owners rent out the bungalows to individuals – usually family oriented – for the summer months when the Jewish schools are closed. This period is from the last week(s) of June until the end of August, or even until Labor Day. Some colonies are owned by a particular organized community, in conjunction with their own set of schools and shuls in the New York City area.
A bungalow colony can have anywhere from 10 to a few hundred bungalows. Usually a few families that are acquainted will rent bungalows in the same colony. Additionally, the same friends will often repeat their specific arrangement for many Summers. It is common for a larger group to develop with adults and children that become quite tightly knit friends, having spent many Summers together, (in tight quarters) and maintaining their relationships throughout the year, sharing occasions such as weddings and other simchas.
These days, there are less and less of the type of bungalow structures I described. Many colonies have become co-ops, with individuals owning their own bungalows. Some of these slowly get more modernized, and expanded to include additional rooms, and are even “winterized”. New appliances, proper floors, private washers and dryers are added. So it develops into a very basic Summer home. There are “colonies”, that were first built in the last 25 years, in which the bungalows are really basic houses, with modern amenities, electricity, heating and air-conditioning. In a different setting, you would just refer to it as a housing development. With very small, quaint houses.
But there are quite a few hold-outs of the basic dwellings I described above, which you would see if you drive down the roads in the area of the Catskill Mountain Region being referred to. Most of these places are in towns or townships close to a stretch of Route 17 in South Eastern New York State. There are some additional areas a bit farther North East within the Catskill Mountain Region.
The colonies are largely in the same areas where most of the religious Jewish Summer camps are located. There are a number of Lakes in the area too, some of which offer rowboat, canoe, and even speedboat rentals. Since this is the Yeshiva World News website, I am describing the set-up (and culture) in the Yeshivish/Chassidish world. There definitely are additional bungalow colonies and co-ops where the crowd is modern orthodox, and may be in areas I am not familiar with. But the non-religious crowd has pretty much abandoned this destination.
There are also flourishing commercial businesses; mostly small supermarkets, that have sprung up in the area for the Summer months. There are Brooklyn based pediatricians who have opened offices in the area, all but moving their entire medical practices to the area for the Summer months. Some of the towns have a commercial street with a few stores, which likely includes a Pizza Shop and/or Ice Cream Parlor. In the Summer, the emergency volunteer corps, Hatzolah has a full fledged division operating up there. For safety reasons, they have actually created a fairly accurate map listing and locating almost every known bungalow colony and summer camp. There are a few towns that are actually home to local residents all year long. (They live in normal houses). National chains such as Walmart, Walgreens and Supermarkets exist in those towns. These are highly popular destinations when it rains!
One humorous note you have to know to be an insider:
For some reason, many people who speak primarily Yiddish, actually call these bungalow colonies “countries”. That evolved from the term countryside, which morphed into the country, as in “for the summer, we go to the country”. This further evolved among some Yiddish speaking groups, to simply call the individual colony where they rent their bungalow, ‘the country’. If you follow this logic, there are numerous bungalow colonies which some people actually call “countries”. If you go into a kosher grocery up there, a friendly person may seriously inquire “Which country are you in?”!!!!