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 ori ...

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

, New York, United States, in the northern part of the county, northwest of

Kingston, NY Kingston is a city in and the county seat of Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grouped with the New York metropolitan area around Manhattan by the United ...

. It lies within the borders of the

Catskill Park The Catskill Park is in the Catskill Mountains in New York in the United States. It consists of of land inside a Blue Line in four counties: Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, and Ulster. As of 2005, or 41 percent of the land within, is owned by ...

. 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 (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, Bolton Brown 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 White ...

. In 1906,

L. Birge Harrison Lovell Birge Harrison (October 28, 1854, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1929) was an American genre and landscape painter, teacher, and writer. He was a prominent practitioner and advocate of Tonalism. Life Born in Philadelphia, Birge Harrison w ...

and others founded the Summer School of the Art Students League of New York 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 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,

Paul Butterfield Paul Vaughn Butterfield (December 17, 1942May 4, 1987) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and band leader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his n ...

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 Ma ...

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. Billed as "an Aquar ...

'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 Max B. Yasgur (December 15, 1919 – February 9, 1973) was an American farmer who was the owner of a dairy farm in Bethel, New York, where the 1969 Woodstock musical festival was held from August 15–18, 1969. He sold his farm in 1971 and ...

's Farm in the town of Bethel. 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 t ...

, 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 in ...

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: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

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 o ...

, 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 ...

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 Other often refers to: * Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy Other or The Other may also refer to: Film and television * ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack * ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...

, 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 forme ...

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 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 t ...

, 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

's dairy farm almost away in Bethel 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, but was relocated to Bethel after Wallkill withdrew. The 1903 Byrdcliffe art colony 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 ai ...

school. Byrdcliffe forever changed the cultural landscape 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 society ...

philosopher 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 wri ...

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

such as Henry Cowell, John Cage, 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 with perfect acoustics 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, Arnold Blanch,

John Bernard Flannagan John Bernard Flannagan (April 7, 1895 – January 6, 1942) was an American sculptor. Along with Robert Laurent and William Zorach, he is known as one of the first practitioners of direct carving (also known as ''taille directe'') in the Unite ...

, 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,

Andrew Dasburg Andrew Michael Dasburg (4 May 1887 – 13 August 1979) was an American modernist painter and "one of America's leading early exponents of cubism". Biography Dasburg was born in 1887 in Paris. He emigrated from Germany to New York City wit ...

, 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 Mi ...

. The WAAM Permanent Collection features work by important American artists associated with the region, including Milton Avery, George Bellows, Edward Leigh Chase, Frank Swift Chase, Florence Ballin Cramer, Arnold Blanch,

Doris Lee Doris Emrick Lee (February 1, 1905 – June 16, 1983) was an American painter known for her figurative painting and printmaking. She won the Logan Medal of the Arts from the Chicago Art Institute in 1935. She is known as one of the most successf ...

Marion Greenwood Marion Greenwood (April 6, 1909 – August 20, 1970) was an American social realist artist who became popular starting in the 1920s and became renowned in both the United States and Mexico. She is most well known for her murals, but she also pra ...

Philip Guston Philip Guston (born Phillip Goldstein, June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980), was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. Early in his five decade career, muralist David Siquieros described him as one of "the most promising ...

Yasuo Kuniyoshi was a Japanese-American painter, photographer and printmaker. Biography Kuniyoshi was born on September 1, 1889 in Okayama, Japan. He immigrated to the United States in 1906, choosing not to attend military school in Japan. Kuniyoshi original ...

, Paul Meltsner, and many others. The Art Students League of New York'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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, 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 i ...

, an organization founded in 1971 by

Karl Berger Karl Hans Berger (born March 30, 1935 in Heidelberg, Germany) is a German jazz pianist, composer, and educator. Career Berger played piano in Germany when he was ten and worked in his teens at a club in Heidelberg. He learned modern jazz from v ...

and Ornette Coleman. The show featured Jack Dejohnette, Chick Corea,

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 progre ...

Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Ch ...

, Lee Konitz, and

Miroslav Vitouš Miroslav Ladislav Vitouš (born 6 December 1947) is a Czech jazz bassist. Biography Born in Prague, Vitouš began the violin at age six, switching to piano after about three years, and then to bass at age fourteen. As a young man in Europe, ...

, among others. On April 19–22, 2012, Woodstock hosted the Woodstock Writers Festival. Ann Hood,

Augusten Burroughs Augusten Xon Burroughs (born Christopher Richter Robison, October 23, 1965) is an American writer best known for his ''New York Times'' bestselling memoir '' Running with Scissors'' (2002). Early life Christopher Richter Robison was born in ...

, Shalom Auslander,

Kurt Andersen Kurt Andersen (born August 22, 1954) is an American writer and was the host of the Peabody-winning public radio program ''Studio 360'', a production of Public Radio International, ''Slate'', and WNYC. Early life and education Andersen was bo ...

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 The Ashokan Reservoir (; Iroquois for "place of fish") is a reservoir in Ulster County, New York. It is at the eastern end of the Catskill Park, and is one of several in the region created to provide the City of New York with water. It is the ci ...

– 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 contro ...

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 art colony 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. * 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 cairns,

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 higher ...

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 whi ...

. 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 – 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 ...

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

Saugerties, New York Saugerties () is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in the northeastern corner of Ulster County, New York, Ulster County, New York (state), New York. The population was 19,038 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 C ...

– 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, Church of the Holy Transfiguration of Christ-on-the-Mount ( NRHP) 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