Traveling home to Woodstock

Traveling home to Woodstock

I grew up in a time warp, a tourist trap, a parallel universe, a throw back to the 60’s, a town whose name defined a generation, Woodstock, NY. The town originally founded by Dutch settlers in the 18th century as an artisan community it made it self famous with the Woodstock Aquarian Arts Festival in 1969. While the festival it self or any of the ones that have followed have never been held in Woodstock it self the town still provided the seed that started the idea. Even prior to the concert the town had characters like Bob Dylan and Ritchie Havens calling it home and adding to a solid folk culture that established it self firmly during the 1960’s. While Dylan moved on the town has never abandoned this time period and still seems like a time warp the 60’s and hippies that came with it have never left.

These days Woodstock located a little over 100 miles north of New York City it is a very popular weekend destination for New Yorkers. Second homes are very common around the area. It also can boast some famous residents like Brad Pit, Phil Jackson, and Uma Thurman whose father the Buddhist scholar was attracted to the area by the Buddhist Temple and western home of the 13th Karmapa, a spiritual leader on plain with the Dali Lama.

The music seen is still alive and well with 2 major recording studios providing state of the art facilities and a privet secluded country setting. Act like Metallica, The Dave Mathews Band, members of the Wu Tang Clan, and David Bowie have all recorded albums in the area over the last few years.

Over this Thanksgiving weekend I will be adding some of the tings to do and see in and around the Woodstock area.