Woodstock Festival Land is For Sale
I was too young for Woodstock. I was 11. My whole association with the music festival was spending many hours beside the stereo listening to my older sister’s Woodstock albums. My favorite performances were the amazing “Soul Sacrifice” (Santana) drum solo, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin, and Sly & The Family Stone.
Woodstock was held at Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel (not Woodstock), New York, from August 15-18, 1969. About 400,000 people packed the festival, which drew the biggest names in music at that time.
I have a tiny little personal connection to Woodstock. My mom went to college at Cornell with a guy from a corn farming family from upstate New York. In the 1960s, he was approached to host the festival before Yasgur was. He turned them down, and the rest is history.
The land has been put up for sale by current owner Roy Howard. For $8 million, you can own a piece of history.
That’s a picture of the original brochure. It’s really cool. Click on it to enlarge it.
Baby boomers, did you go to Woodstock? Do you have any Woodstock stories?
August 13th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Oh, how I wish! But eight mill for 600 acres is ridiculous, history or not. I was too young by a year (17), otherwise, I’d have been there with bell(bottom)s on! When I saw the documentary a year later, I knew exactly what I would do with my life… and I managed to screw it up pretty well for the next twenty years. I have decided I now have more than enough stories to tell my grandchildren. Nevermind that none of them are appropriate for kids.
August 13th, 2007 at 11:36 am
WOW! I’m not sure I could come up with anywhere close to that amount, but I wonder who will want to!?
August 13th, 2007 at 11:58 am
I saw that article too! I think the Sunday NY Times had it. I too was too young for Woodstock – about 4 years older than you, but not adventurous for my age. So I just listened to reports about it on the radio. The music. The drugs. The mud. The traffic. The Turnpike having to be closed due to the jams.
I always felt I was born a couple of years too late for the 60’s. I went up to college in 1971 and that first spring in 1972 I marched on Boston Common in an anti-war, Earth Day march. And then they never had one again. And I felt as if I just missed all the excitement!
August 13th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I wasn’t there but I should have been. I was living in Ontario, Canada dating Neil Young’s cousin and when she told me about her relationship to Neil, I couldn’t believe it because I was a huge Buffalo Springfield fan and Neil was just doing solo after they broke up. (His father was a very famous Canadian journalist)
He joined Crosby Stills and Nash and when my girlfriend told me about their scheduled appearance at Woodstock and who else was going to be there, I was all set to go but her father said she couldn’t go so she just assumed I wouldn’t go. I had to make a choice, her or Woodstock. I ended up not going to Woodstock and marrying her, 2 decisions I have regretted to this day. 10 years after we got divorced I met her and she said “You never forgave me for Woodstock did you?” Exactly!!
August 13th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I was 23 and serving in the Air Force at the time of Woodstock. I was stationed in New Hampshire, so going to the festival would have been possible. As I recall, however, the base commander issued an order prohibiting attendance. Anyone, I am one of maybe six Boomers I have ever talked to about this through all the years since 1969 who will admit to not having been there.
Going to Woodstock, getting caught up in all that went with it, may seem foolish in retrospect. But I’ve always been astonished by the fact that the older generation (e.g., my base commander) thought that it was downright unpatriotic!
August 13th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Rick: I would love to hear how you screwed up yer life.
24Crayons: Especially with all the annual pilgrimages that I am sure are made each year to the Woodstock site.
Maui: I remember those traffic reports, too. Earth Day has been revived in the last decade or so.
The Savvy: What a tale!!
Pete: I guess they were afraid of hair, long beautiful hair.
August 13th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
I went to the second Woodstock back in college. That wasn’t the one where they set everything on fire, but the one that got rained on and became a big mud bowl.
Its a nice area; prime real estate. I hope someone nice buys it and makes it into a park or something.
August 13th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I was too young for Woodstock but remember people in rural Indiana saying it was full of hippies.
August 13th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
I was only 14, and my parents thought Woodstock was the most evil event in history. So….no….I didn’t go.
August 13th, 2007 at 4:53 pm
I was too young, too. Woodstock is about the only thing that I would “wish my age the other way” for.
August 13th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
I was a tot of all of 3 years old in 1969. My best friend’s sister-in-law went though. My cousin went when they had it most recently. Guess that is as close as it gets for me.
Here, let me pull the 8 mil out my…..
August 13th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
My date had tix for him and I to attend the Sunday concerts at Woodstock. We never even left our homes because of the traffic tales on the radio.
Right now, I don’t live too far from Woodstock. It’s a great place to be. Fellow Baby Boomers abound and all. We’ve all dropped out, tuned in and thrive off our retirement porfolios! LOL!
It’s funny ’cause I was watching Easy Rider on the AMC channel today to see how far we’ve come. Same old, same old. We’re just older. Still trying to find the meaning of life. At least now we have the money to pick up where we left off. You still can’t shake the establishment.
Peace, bro. Peace and love.
August 13th, 2007 at 8:34 pm
I’m surprised to read the responses. I thought everyone would SAY they went to Woodstock.
August 13th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Rhea, I have a Woodstock story. I live 15 minutes outside the town (different than the the music site in Bethel) but closer to the second one in Saugerties. My kids attended Woodstock elementary. By the time the Woodstock festival happened, the counter culture had become a commodity. I think you see in the Woodstock film Jerrry Garcia saying he wouldn’t play until the money was in the bank or upfront cash. The original hippie ethic was blowing in the wind like the black smoke from a coal furnace polluting the air for future generations.
August 13th, 2007 at 11:35 pm
I was 12 when Woodstock was held – so I guess that ruled me out!
Would have been great to be a blogger at Woodstock, though …..
August 14th, 2007 at 2:30 am
Only 13 years of age and on the wrong continent at the time so no, I didn’t go – I did get to sneak in the cinema the following year at age 14 (I seem to recall it was an 18 certificate in the UK because of all that nudity – yeah, sure) and watch the whole 3 hour experience with assorted hippie stylee students, probably the only film that the under 30’s wouldn’t go to see.
I now have it on dvd and agree with your comment about Santana’s set, but am also amazed every time I watch it at just how small the crowd was for Jimi Hendrix, I have read about how Hendrix really only found fame when he came to the UK and maybe thats true, anyone ?
Again from a UK point of view the sets by Joe Cocker (who I recall watching 3 or 4 years earlier when he won a tv talent contest – Joe Cocker vs a ventriloquist and a tap dancer) and The Who – they tell the story of how their booking was very last minute, so last minute that the only instruments they took with them were Keith Moons drumsticks, I always wonder just who’s guitar Pete Townsend smashes up at the end because he maintains it was just one that he picked up backstage.
August 14th, 2007 at 7:03 am
I was too young and I was in Canada… But I spent lots of time listening to the albums too.
August 14th, 2007 at 7:22 am
I think all the Boomers who attended Woodstock and have made a successful life for themselves, should chip in to purchase and preserve this piece of property.
August 14th, 2007 at 8:10 am
I was 22. A bunch of our gang decided to go and I was all for it. Unfortunately, I was living at home. I was recovering from a really severe car accident in which I had fractured two cervical vertebrae and wearing this huge neck brace. My mother threw a fit and told me I wasn’t going anywhere. I never forgave her for that even though she was probably right. Sigh. As it turned out, my friends went but couldn’t get in so it was just as well.
My daughter, on hearing this story,said, “You prolly made a lousy hippie anyway, Mom!” She was right. lol
It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have enjoyed the music and though.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:41 am
I nominated you for a ‘rockin blogger girl’ award! Come check it out!
August 14th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Lots of good stories here. Thanks, friends!
August 14th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Now here’s a thing…
Had a good read on Wikipedia on the subject of Woodstock and the author there cites Crosby Stills and Nash as having a huge hit with the Jonie Mitchell song “Woodstock” – was that the case in the US ?
It was Mathews Southern Comfort who had the huge hit with “Woodstock” in the UK – I bought it
August 14th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Nope, too young. I was 12. My favorite performance has always been the Hendrix version of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
August 14th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
I was 12 years old in 1969 so a bit young for it too, although I remember my older brother buying the album and listening to it. It was very cool.
One of my favourite tunes was Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix.
August 14th, 2007 at 6:50 pm
Naaa. Like you, I was born too late. I learned to love the music from having an older sister, and from growing up in the 70s, when that music filled the airwaves. Love it still. The best era in music, hands down.
August 14th, 2007 at 9:07 pm
I was old enough to go but not cool enough. I didn’t know anything about it till months later. Saw the movie a couple of times, loved the music. Went to one of the smaller regional copycat festivals that sprung up over the next year or two – some poorly-attended thing at a dragrace track near New Orleans.
August 17th, 2007 at 11:52 am
We missed Woodstock. We had a baby instead, 8/8/69. Then off to get my first professional job! (clergyman). I am technically just ahead of the baby boomer being born during WWII and not after. Perhaps, I am the last of the Beat Generation. I sure like to revisit that movement.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
I Really, Really, Really wanted to go but also had no one to go with.
October 22nd, 2007 at 9:27 am
[...] check the full story here [...]
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:07 pm
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