About Woodstock
A lot has changed since the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969, but the world’s most famous small town maintains its rep for arts, music and eccentricity.
Woodstock achieved worldwide fame thanks to the generation-bending, spectacularly successful 1969 Woodstock Music Festival held at Max Yasgur’s dairy farm some 43 miles away. But before “Woodstock” there was Woodstock: a sleepy village and artist colony with no paved sidewalks but plenty of music, food and tolerance for all kinds of eccentric behavior.
The sidewalks are paved now, but that Woodstock vibe continues today. Locals, visitors, second-home owners, celebrities, artists and musicians bask in the laid-back attitude and the splendor of surrounding mountains and streams. In fact, Overlook Mountain has one of the best views of the Catskills.
Woodstock boasts the nation’s oldest arts and crafts colony, Byrdcliffe, which dates back to 1903, as well as Maverick Concerts, home to the oldest chamber music festival in America. Although you can still get Woodstock-era beads and glitter, these days you’re more likely to find modern art, jewelry and clothing in Village Green, at the center of town, as well as restaurants catering to all taste buds and plenty of live music venues that keep the scene thriving.
Stay for a day or a lifetime. Woodstock is ready for you to experience its charms.