Woodstock: History of an American Town

Few small towns in America have as colorful a history as that of Woodstock in Ulster County, New York. Set in a countryside of exceptional natural beauty, Woodstock from the first embodied the most enduring characteristics of the Catskills and the Hudson Valley. From the early days of Indians, trappers, farmers, and land barons, to the present day of rock musicians, craftspeople, and refugees from the urban scene, Alf Evers’s extraordinary history tells the tale of a very special American place. Long before the Woodstock Festival put the name of Woodstock Village on the map and drew young people from all over the world, Woodstock had an earlier incarnation in which free-thinking ideas held sway. In 1902, inspired by the social philosophy of John Ruskin and William Morris, three men?Hervey White, Ralph Whitehead, and Bolton Coit Brown? brought their Utopian vision to the Catskills, looking for a place to settle. With a number of requirements in mind, they came upon this small hamlet set in the mountains on a tract of land given to Robert Livingston. They decided unanimously that it was here that “man’s mightiest creative energies might be released,” and they would feel free to pursue their talents while living in a self-sufficient community. The “earthly paradise” they discovered was, of course, the cheerful, industrious, and well-kept town of Woodstock, and in it they built their historic new society.