Woodstock, New York

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Woodstock, New York
—  Town  —
Town hall on NY 212
U.S. Census Map
Woodstock, New York is located in New York
Woodstock, New York
Location within the state of New York
Coordinates: 42°2′26″N 74°7′44″W / 42.04056°N 74.12889°W / 42.04056; -74.12889
Country United States
State New York
County Ulster
Area
 - Total 67.9 sq mi (175.8 km2)
 - Land 67.5 sq mi (174.8 km2)
 - Water 0.4 sq mi (0.9 km2)
Elevation 1,444 ft (440 m)
Population (2000)
 - Total 6,241
 - Density 92.5/sq mi (35.7/km2)
Time zone Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
 - Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code 12498
Area code(s) 845
FIPS code 36-83052[1]
GNIS feature ID 0979655[2]

Woodstock is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 6,241 at the 2000 census.

The Town of Woodstock is in the northern part of the county. Woodstock is northwest of Kingston, New York and lies within the borders of Catskill Park.

Contents

[edit] History

The first non-indigenous settler arrived around 1770. The Town of Woodstock was established in 1787. Later, Woodstock contributed some of its territory to form the Towns of Middletown (1789), Windham (1798), Shandaken (1804), and Olive (1853).

The Woodstock Elgin Creamery was established in 1898 at a site now located on the corner of Maple Lane and Deanies Alley.

Woodstock played host to numerous Hudson River School painters during the late 1800s. The Arts and Crafts Movement came to Woodstock in 1902, with the arrival of Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead and Hervey White. 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."[3][4] A series of Woodstock Sound-Outs were staged at Pan Copeland's Farm on the outskirts of the village from 1967 to 1970. These featured folk and rock acts like Richie Havens, Paul Butterfield and Van Morrison. Together with the areas's reputation as an arts center, these inspired the original Woodstock Festival's organizers to plan their concert in the town.

Woodstock is also home to the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Buddhist monastery.

[edit] Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 67.9 square miles (175.8 km²), of which, 67.5 square miles (174.8 km²) of it is land and 0.4 square miles (0.9 km²) of it (0.53%) is water.

The north town line is the border of Greene County.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 6,241 people, 2,946 households, and 1,626 families residing in the town. The population density was 92.5 people per square mile (35.7/km²). There were 3,847 housing units at an average density of 57.0/sq mi (22.0/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 94.25% White, 1.30% Black or African American, 0.21% Native American, 1.57% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.79% from other races, and 1.87% from two or more races. Hispanic 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 for the town was $32,133. About 6.9% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.8% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Woodstock Music and Art

The town is famous for lending its name to the Woodstock Festival, actually held at Max Yasgur's dairy farm 43 miles (76 km) away in Bethel, New York in Sullivan County.

The 1903 Byrdcliffe art colony is the nation's oldest Arts & Crafts colony. It brought the first artists to Woodstock to teach and produce furniture, metal works, ceramics, weaving and established Woodstock's first painting school. Byrdcliffe forever changed the cultural landscape of the Town of Woodstock.

In 1916, utopian philosopher and poet Hervey White built a "music chapel" in the woods. It was the Maverick Concert Series, the beginning of what is now the oldest, continuous chamber music festival in America. Composers such as Henry Cowel, John Cage, Robert Starrer and Peter Schickele 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 with world-class musicians playing there from June to September.

The town is home to the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum (WAAM), one of the oldest artists organizations. 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, Arnold Blanch, Doris Lee, Marion Greenwood, Philip Guston, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, and many others. WAAM founders were John Carlson, Frank Swift Chase, Andrew Dasburg, Carl Lindin, and Henry Lee McFee. The Art Students League of New York's summer school was in Woodstock for nearly fifteen years from 1906 until 1922, and again after the end of World War II from 1947 until 1979. The Woodstock School of Art has been operating since 1980.

The Woodstock Guild, also founded by Byrdcliffe artists in 1939 is now the steward of the 350-acre Byrdcliffe Colony. It is a multicultural 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. 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, an organization founded in 1971 by Karl Berger and Ornette Coleman. The show featured Jack Dejohnette, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Anthony Braxton, Lee Konitz, and Miroslav Vitouš, among others.

[edit] Famous Inhabitants

The town has long been a mecca for artists, musicians, 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. The list below contains the names of significant artists who actually lived (or still currently live) in the town.

[edit] Musicians

[edit] Artists

[edit] Writers

[edit] Film Directors

[edit] Actors

[edit] Others

[edit] Local communities and landmarks

  • Artists Cemetery - A cemetery for Woodstock artists and luminaries on Rock City Road.
  • Ashokan Reservoir - A New York City reservoir under which lies nine lost towns.[6]
  • Bearsville - A hamlet at the junction of Routes 212 and 45, west of Woodstock village.
  • Byrdcliffe - Site of the original art colony near the junction of Routes 212 and County Road 33, northwest of Woodstock village along Rock City Road.
  • Cooper Lake - Kingston reservoir located south of Lake Hill and Shady.
  • Daisy - A hamlet east of Woodstock village near the east town line. Currently the site of a municipal road works gravel dump/parking lot. Due southeast of Overlook Mountain, Daisy is the Woodstock hamlet with the most documented stone cairns, mounds and other possibly ancient sites within 10 minutes walking distance. Many of those are threatened by development.
  • Church On The Mount (Woodstock) http://www.myspace.com/churchonthemount
  • Echo Lake - A mountain lake within the Indian Head Wilderness of the Catskill Mountains.
  • Meads (Woodstock) - A meadow north of Woodstock village, site of the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Tibetan Buddhist monastery and entrance to the Devil's Path.
  • Montoma - A hamlet south of Woodstock near the town line with the Town of Hurley.
  • Mount Tobias - A mountain in the central part of the town.
  • Ohayo Mountain - A mountain to the east, between the Ashokan Reservoir and Woodstock village
  • Overlook Mountain - A mountain to the northeast, on the slope of which Woodstock is situated.
  • Radio Woodstock - Woodstock's online community and global Internet radio channel
  • Shady - A hamlet north of Byrdcliffe on Route 212.
  • 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.
  • Woodstock - 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.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  2. ^ "US Board on Geographic Names". United States Geological Survey. 2007-10-25. http://geonames.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  3. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/nyregion/13towns.html?_r=1&hp
  4. ^ http://www.newpaltz.edu/museum/exhibitions/maverick/index.htm
  5. ^ Heylin, Bob Dylan: Behind the Shades Revisited, pp. 267.
  6. ^ retrieved online July 21, 2008

[edit] External links

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