Woodstock is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

in Ulster County,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of Kingston, NY. It lies within the borders of the Catskill Park. The population was 5,884 at the 2010 census, down from 6,241 in 2000.

History

The first non-indigenous settler arrived around 1770, and the town of Woodstock was established in 1787. Later, territory from Woodstock was contributed to form the towns of Middletown (1789), Windham (1798), Shandaken (1804), and

Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ' ...

(1853). Woodstock played host to numerous

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

painters during the late 1800s. The Arts and Crafts Movement came to Woodstock in 1902, with the arrival of

Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead (1854–1929) was the founder and chief benefactor of the "Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Colony" located in Woodstock, New York. Early life and influences He was born in 1854 in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England. He was the ...

Bolton Brown Bolton Coit Brown (November 27, 1864 – September 15, 1936) was an American painter, lithographer, and mountaineer. He was one of the original founders of the Byrdcliffe Colony in Woodstock, NY, part of what is now referred to as the Woodstock A ...

and Hervey White, who formed the

Byrdcliffe Colony The Byrdcliffe Colony, also called the Byrdcliffe Arts Colony or Byrdcliffe Historic District, was founded in 1902 near Woodstock, New York by Jane Byrd McCall and Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and colleagues, Bolton Brown (artist) and Hervey Whit ...

. In 1906, L. Birge Harrison and others founded the Summer School of the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may st ...

in the area, primarily for landscape painting. Ever since, Woodstock has been considered an active artists colony. From 1915 through 1931, Hervey White's Maverick Art Colony held the Maverick Festivals, "in which hundreds of free spirits gathered each summer for music, art, theater and drunken orgies in the woods." A series of

Woodstock Sound-Outs Woodstock Sound-Outs or soundouts were mini-festivals held outside Woodstock, NY from 1967 to 1970. They were the brainchild of John "Jocko" Moffitt, a roofer and drummer. He had heard about a number of folk festivals in his native California, and h ...

were staged at Pan Copeland's Farm just over the town line in Saugerties from 1967 to 1970. These featured folk and rock acts like

Richie Havens Richard Pierce Havens (January 21, 1941 – April 22, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music encompassed elements of folk, soul (both of which he frequently covered), and rhythm and blues. He had a rhythmic guitar styl ...

, Paul Butterfield,

Dave van Ronk David Kenneth Ritz Van Ronk (June 30, 1936 – February 10, 2002) was an American folk singer. An important figure in the American folk music revival and New York City's Greenwich Village scene in the 1960s, he was nicknamed the "Mayor of M ...

and

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

and were identified with Woodstock's reputation as a summer arts colony. The Sound-Outs inspired the original

Woodstock Festival Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

's organizers to plan their concert at the Winston Farm in Saugerties. ‘’The Sound-Outs just had a great feel,” said Woodstock Festival producer Michael Lang. “And it was in the country and it provided all the guidelines that I needed." However, the town turned down their permit, and the "Woodstock" Festival was actually held almost away at Max Yasgur's Farm in the town of

Bethel Bethel ( he, בֵּית אֵל, translit=Bēṯ 'Ēl, "House of El" or "House of God",Bleeker and Widegren, 1988, p. 257. also transliterated ''Beth El'', ''Beth-El'', ''Beit El''; el, Βαιθήλ; la, Bethel) was an ancient Israelite sanc ...

. Woodstock is also home to the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Buddhist monastery, situated at the top of Mead's Mountain Road.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.80%, is water. The northern town line is the border of Greene County.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2000, there were 6,241 people, 2,946 households, and 1,626 families residing in the town. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 92.5 people per square mile (35.7/km²). There were 3,847 housing units at an average density of 57.0 per square mile (22.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.25%

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...

, 1.30%

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.21% Native American, 1.57% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.79% from other races, and 1.87% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 2.56% of the population. There were 2,946 households, out of which 21.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.2% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 7.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.8% were non-families. 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.71. In the town, the population was spread out, with 18.0% under the age of 18, 3.7% from 18 to 24, 23.0% from 25 to 44, 38.0% from 45 to 64, and 17.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 48 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.1 males. The median income for a household in the town was $49,217, and the median income for a family was $65,938. Males had a median income of $41,500 versus $33,672 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the town was $32,133. About 6.9% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 12.8% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

Music and art

The town is famous for lending its name to the

, which was actually held at Max Yasgur's dairy farm almost away in

in Sullivan County. The festival was never planned to be held in or near the town of Woodstock; instead, it was first planned for

Wallkill, New York Wallkill is the name of some places in the U.S. state of New York: *Wallkill, Orange County, New York, a town *Wallkill, Ulster County, New York Wallkill is a hamlet (and census-designated place), generally identified as coterminous with ZIP c ...

, but was relocated to Bethel after Wallkill withdrew. The 1903 Byrdcliffe

art colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

is one of the nation's oldest Arts & Crafts colonies. It brought the first artists to Woodstock to teach and produce furniture, metal works,

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

, and

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

and established Woodstock's first

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...

school. Byrdcliffe forever changed the

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the ...

of the Town of Woodstock. In 1916,

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island socie ...

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

Hervey White built a "music chapel" in the woods. This became the home of the Maverick music festival, the longest-running summer

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small nu ...

festival in the country, still held annually as of 2019.

Composers A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

such as Henry Cowell,

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading f ...

, Robert Starrer and

Peter Schickele "Professor" Peter Schickele (; born July 17, 1935) is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist, best known for comedy albums featuring his music, but which he presents as being composed by the fictional P. D. Q. Bach. He also hosted ...

created works that were premiered there. Today, this hand-built

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention centres that ma ...

with perfect

acoustics Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acousticia ...

is a multi-starred attraction on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

with world-class musicians playing there from June to September. Hervey White also hosted numerous young artists at the Maverick colony, including

Lucile Blanch Lucile Esma Lundquist Blanch (December 31, 1895 – October 31, 1981) was an American artist, art educator, and Guggenheim Fellow. She was noted for the murals she created for the U.S. Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts during the Great ...

Arnold Blanch Arnold Blanch (June 4, 1896 – October 3, 1968), was born and raised in Mantorville, Minnesota. He was an American modernist painter, etcher, illustrator, lithographer, muralist, printmaker and art teacher. Life His modernist paintings are ...

, John Bernard Flannagan, Eugene Ludins, and Hannah Small. The town is home to the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum (WAAM), founded in 1919 by

John F. Carlson John Fabian Carlson (May 5, 1875 – May 19, 1947) was a Swedish-born American Impressionist painter. Background John Fabian Carlson was born in Kolsebo in Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, in Småland, Sweden. The Carlson family immigra ...

Frank Swift Chase Frank Swift Chase (12 March 1886 – 3 July 1959) was an American Post-Impressionist landscape painter and a founder of the Woodstock Artists Association in Woodstock, New York, the art colony at Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the Sarasota Schoo ...

, Andrew Dasburg, Carl Eric Lindin, and

Henry Lee McFee Henry Lee McFee (April 14, 1886 – March 19, 1953) was a pioneer American cubist painter and a prominent member of the Woodstock artists colony. Biography McFee was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1886. From 1902 to 1905, he attended Kemper Mil ...

. The WAAM Permanent Collection features work by important American artists associated with the region, including

Milton Avery Milton Clark Avery (March 7, 1885 – January 3, 1965Haskell, B. (2003). "Avery, Milton". Grove Art Online.) was an American modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City. He was the husba ...

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art, "the most acclaimed Ame ...

Edward Leigh Chase Edward Leigh Chase (1884–1965) was an American painter and illustrator, and an early member of the Byrdcliffe experiment which gave rise to the artists' colony at Woodstock, New York. A gifted sketch artist and watercolorist, he was one o ...

, Florence Ballin Cramer,

, Doris Lee, Marion Greenwood, Philip Guston, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Paul Meltsner, and many others. The

's summer school was in Woodstock from 1906 until 1922, and again after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, from 1947 until 1979
The Woodstock School of Art
has been operating since 1980. The Woodstock Guild, founded by Byrdcliffe artists in 1939, is now the steward of the Byrdcliffe Colony. It is a

multicultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

organization which sponsors exhibitions, classes, concerts, dance and theatre events and runs the oldest craft shop in Woodstock, the Fleur de Lis Gallery, which features over 60 artists. Voice Theatre currently has permanent residency at the Byrdcliffe Theater, which they renovated in 2015. Byrdcliffe is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a haven for today's artists. In 1981, the town hosted the Woodstock Jazz Festival, a celebration of the

Creative Music Studio The Creative Music Studio (CMS) was a premier study center for contemporary creative music during the 1970s and 1980s, based in Woodstock, New York. Founded in 1971 by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, and Ornette Coleman, it brought together leading in ...

, an organization founded in 1971 by Karl Berger and

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Coll ...

. The show featured

Jack Dejohnette Jack DeJohnette (born August 9, 1942) is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer. Known for his extensive work as leader and sideman for musicians including Charles Lloyd, Freddie Hubbard, Keith Jarrett, Bill Evans, John Abercrombie ...

Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz composer, pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain", " 500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba", and ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progr ...

, Anthony Braxton,

Lee Konitz Leon Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist. He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool j ...

, and Miroslav Vitouš, among others. On April 19–22, 2012, Woodstock hosted the Woodstock Writers Festival.

Ann Hood Ann Hood (born 1956) is an American novelist and short story writer; she has also written nonfiction. The author of fourteen novels, four memoirs, a short story collection, a ten book series for middle readers and one young adult novel. Her essa ...

, Augusten Burroughs, Shalom Auslander, Kurt Andersen and Ned Leavitt spoke and offered workshops on a variety of topics related to literature.

Notable people

The town has long been a mecca for artists, musicians, actors, and writers, even before the music festival made the name "Woodstock" famous. The town has a separate "Artist's Cemetery". Film and art festivals attract big names, and hundreds of musicians have come to Woodstock to record.

Local communities and landmarks

*Artists' Cemetery – A cemetery for Woodstock artists and luminaries on Rock City Road. * Ashokan Reservoir – A New York City

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...

under which lies nine lost towns. * Bearsville – A hamlet at the junction of Routes 212 and 45, west of Woodstock village. * Byrdcliffe – Site of the original

east of the junction of Routes 212 and Glasco Turnpike (County Road 33), northwest of Woodstock village on the lower slopes of Mount Guardian above Glasco Turnpike. At one time it was home for the Turnau Opera and now the Byrdcliffe Theater. *

Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ-on-the-Mount The Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ on the Mount is a modest, single-room, hand-built wooden church near the summit of Meads Mountain in Woodstock, New York, originally constructed c. 1891 by William Mead and his wife, Anna Della Me ...

. * Cooper Lake – Kingston reservoir located south of Lake Hill, northwest of Bearsville and west by northwest of Shady. *Daisy – A hamlet east of Woodstock in Saugerties associated with Woodstock through the Woodstock Jewish Congregation, sometimes called East Woodstock;Vernon Benjamin, ''The History of the Hudson River Valley 1865-2015'' here it is said are the most "documented" stone

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehi ...

mound A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically highe ...

s and other possible ancient sites associated with Woodstock folklore traditions. Many of those are threatened by development. * Echo Lake – A mountain lake within the Indian Head Wilderness of the Catskill Mountains. * Judge Jonathan Hasbrouck House listed on the

in 2013. *Lake Hill - A hamlet just west of Shady *Mead's Meadow (Woodstock) – Formerly a cow pasture, "The Magic Meadow" is a quarter mile past the summit of Mead Mountain Road and the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Tibetan

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

. It is an entrance to the Devil's Path. *Montoma – A hamlet south of Woodstock near the town line with the Town of Hurley. *Mount Guardian – A mountain to the west of Overlook Mountain, below which is the hamlet of Shady. *Mount Tobias – A mountain in the central part of the town. * National Youth Administration Woodstock Resident Work Center *Ohayo Mountain – A mountain to the south, between the Ashokan Reservoir and Woodstock village, bordering West Hurley. *

Opus 40 ''Opus 40'' is a large environmental sculpture in Saugerties, New York, created by sculptor and quarryman Harvey Fite (1903—1976). It comprises a sprawling series of dry-stone ramps, pedestals and platforms covering of a bluestone quarry. '' ...

– a large free-form sculpture carved out of the local bluestone by Harvey Fite in the Saugerties hamlet of High Woods, four miles from the central Woodstock hamlet.Vernon Benjamin, ''The History of the Hudson River Valley: 1865-2015'' *

Overlook Mountain Overlook Mountain is the southernmost peak of the Catskill Escarpment in the central Catskill Mountains near Woodstock, New York. The centerpiece of the Overlook Mountain Wild Forest area of Catskill Park, the mountain is the site of one of the r ...

– A mountain to the northeast, on whose lower slopes much of Woodstock is situated. *

Saugerties, New York Saugerties () is a town in the northeastern corner of Ulster County, New York. The population was 19,038 at the time of the 2020 Census, a decline from 19,482 in 2010. The village of the same name is located entirely within the town. Part o ...

– A nearby town that includes the 800-acre Winston Farm, a proposed site for Woodstock '69 and home to Woodstock '94, and host to the Garlic Festival and Horse Shows In The Sun (HITS) north of the village. * Saw Kill – A stream that rises in Echo Lake, flows west through Shady, then south to Bearsville, east to Woodstock, and southeast to Zena on the way to its confluence with the Esopus Creek near Kingston. * Shady – A hamlet northwest of Byrdcliffe, past the intersection of Glasco Turnpike and Route 212. * Vosburg Turning Mill Complex *Willow – A hamlet in the northwest part of the town on Route 212. *Wittenberg – A hamlet at the junction of Routes 40 and 45, southwest of Bearsville. It contains Yankeetown Pond and Kenneth Wilson State Campground. *

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

– The hamlet of Woodstock and the principal center of local services for the town. * Zena – A hamlet east of Woodstock hamlet in the southeast part of the town.

Gallery

File:Dutch Reformed Church, Woodstock.jpg, Dutch Reformed Church (1799) File:Church-transfiguration-woodstock.jpg,

(

NRHP The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

) File:WoodstockNY JudgeJonathanHasbrouckHouse 20170723.jpg, Judge Jonathan Hasbrouck House (NRHP} File:Vosburg-turning-mill.jpg, Vosburg Turning Mill Complex (NRHP) File:Tinker Street, Woodstock, looking SW.jpg, Tinker Street File:Woodstock Playhouse.jpg, Woodstock Playhouse

References

External links

*
Woodstock Library

{{authority control 1770 establishments in the Province of New York Populated places established in 1770 Towns in New York (state) Towns in the New York metropolitan area Towns in Ulster County, New York