Organized as a town in 1787, Woodstock has since been defined by a triangle of three distinct and powerful influences, weaving an uneasy balance: the legacies of the arts and crafts colony established at Byrdcliffe, the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival held in Bethel, and the people who live and work and raise families in the community. Woodstock provides a fascinating look at the community from the 1890s through the 1980s. With more than two hundred stunning images, it revisits the days when the center was simply a sleepy grass-covered village square. Shown are many buildings that no longer exist: the boarding homes, the icehouses, the bowling alley. The story captures the community as it passes through the arts-colony and music-festival years to become the busy tourist town it is today.
Woodstock Revisited is an invitation to do what people have been doing for over 200 years: take another look at Woodstock. The summer visitors of the 19th century and the artists and weekenders of the early 20th century began the trend of exploring the Woodstock area. Eventually, many who revisited Woodstock time and again decided to pull up roots and make this small upstate New York town their permanent home. In todays world, Woodstock has become a refuge for a new generation of people looking for a balance between the rural, physical landscape of Woodstock and the benefits of nearby metropolitan areas.
Located at the foot of Overlook Mountain and at the gateway to the Catskill Mountains, Woodstock has long been both a place and an idea calling to the individual spirit within those seeking a better life. That call was answered in the 18th and 19th centuries by settlers unafraid of hard work and sacrifice striving to carve a community and a living from the challenges of a rugged countryside. The same call was heard in the 20th century by artists, musicians, and free-thinking individuals who, drawing inspiration from Woodstock's natural landscape, fashioned a cultural climate unique in the history of small-town America. From political leaders such as Elias Hasbrouck, Albert Cashdollar, and Val Cadden to cultural visionaries such as Ralph Whitehead, Hervey White, and Albert Grossman to men and women like Mescal Hornbeck, John Pike, Dr. Norman Burg, and Sam Mercer, who worked to sustain Woodstock's spirit of community, Legendary Locals of Woodstock offers a unique reflection on the road Woodstock has traveled.
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