Woodstock, New York

The north town line is the border of Greene County.

Demographics

As of the census 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/km?. There were 3,847 housing units at an average density of 57.0/sq mi (22.0/km?. 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.

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, 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.

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.

Musicians

[edit] Artists

• Alexander Archipenko - sculptor
• George Ault - painter
• Milton Avery - painter
• George Bellows - painter
• James Brooks - painter
• Edward Leigh Chase - painter
• Frank Swift Chase - painter
• Andrew Michael Dasburg - painter
• Richard Diebenkorn - painter
• Harvey Fite - sculptor
• Milton Glaser - graphic designer (creator of the ‘I Love New York' logo)
• Mary Frank - painter
• Philip Guston - painter
• Sam Henderson - cartoonist
• Robert Henri - painter
• Eva Hesse- sculptor
• Yasuo Kuniyoshi - painter
• Doris Lee - painter
• Ronnie Landfield - painter
• Elliot Landy - photographer
• Lyn Ott - painter
• Anton Refregier - painter
• Eugene Speicher - painter
• Bradley Walker Tomlin - painter

Writers

• Robert Duncan - poet
• Alf Evers - historian & author
• Paul Hoffman - author & TV Host
• Barney Hoskyns - author & music journalist
• Howard Koch - screenwriter who wrote 1938 radio drama The War of the Worlds and won Academy Award for Casablanca
• Sean Lahman - historian & sportswriter
• Henry Morton Robinson- novelist
• Ed Sanders - author & publisher
• Anita Miller Smith - historian, painter and herbalist
• Robert Thurman - Buddhist scholar, father of actress Uma Thurman
• Gail Godwin - author
• Heywood Hale Broun Author TV commentator
• David Robison - author
• Shalom Auslander - author
• Larry Beinhart - author of American Hero, which was adapted for the political-parody film Wag the Dog
• Jeff Cohen- media critic

Actors

• Jennifer Connelly - actress, for several years during her childhood
• Ethan Hawke - actor
• Piper Laurie - actress
• Lee Marvin - actor
• Uma Thurman - actress, for several years during her childhood. Still seen frequently in Woodstock, to visit her parents including Robert Thurman.
• Chevy Chase - actor

Others

• John Burroughs, naturalist
• John Dewey, educator, a founder of the philosophical school of Pragmatism.
• Albert Grossman - manager/producer and founder of Bearsville Records. His Bearsville Recording Studio has attracted hundreds of well known musicians to record in Woodstock.
• Steven Hager - chief editor, High Times magazine
• Phil Jackson - basketball coach and former NBA player
• Philippe Petit- famous funambulist, best known for walking a tightrope between the World Trade Center twin towers.
• Josephine McKim Chalmers - Olympic swimmer, a medal winner in the 1928 and 1932 summer Olympics and an actress, and the sister-in law of artist Philip Guston.

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 lie three lost towns.
• 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.  
• 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 village of Woodstock and the principal center of local service for the town.
• Zena - A hamlet east of Woodstock village in the southeast part of the town.