BethelWoods and the Woodstock Festival Museum

Hurd Road, Bethel, New York • 866-781-2922

By the time we got to Woodstock we were half a million strong

and everywhere there were song and celebration

Joni Mitchell

I remember it well. I was there. Well, I was in Sullivan county - Narrowsburg to be exact - but I remember it well. My Dad bitchin' that those hippes had jammed all the roads up and how tough it was going to be to drive back to Queens - even though it was Mom who'd be actually driving; leaving Dad free to vent his anger at anything different than his world.... ahh, good times my friends.

Being all of 11 that year, I wasn't really a '60s guy, I really didn't have a chance or desire to go to the festival, but since then many have come to think of Woodstock as a weekend that seemed to define a generation.  Or, at least that is how it's portrayed these days. Some would say it was a zoo, others a life-changing experience. To others it was just a great weekend of music and fun, if a bit on the muddy side!

These days you can take a ride up to what is now the Bethel Woods Art Center, take a few hours strolling around the Festival's Museum and get a feel for what really did happen on our friend Mr. Yasgur's farm.

First off the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is a superbly designed and created place. We have been to a few concerts up there and can honestly say we have never been to a nicer, more people-friendly venue for a show. The grounds are ample and beautifully landscaped and the 15,000 seat amphitheatre has spot on sound and there is not a bad seat in the house. Early this season we rode up to see the Doobie Brothers and Chicago and it was a '70s guys' concert for sure.

Before the show we took a tour of the Museum and found it to be a wonderfully crafted experience. Truly more than just a collection of memorabilia it is a journey through the entire 1960's, all of which led up to that historic weekend. The Civil Rights struggle in the United States, the Space Race, the Cold War, Hippes and the Counterculture and, of course, Vietnam all come into play as you wander around the museum; along with it all is the soundtrack of the '60s generation. Each part of the museum touches on a different event or happening and it is well worth your time to take it all in.

In the past we have brought many a ride up to the small memorial at the base of Yasgur's Farm and have had the great pleasure of riding around the region with Sam Yasgur, son of the famous Max. But, now there is so much more to see and we know that Bethel Woods and their hip new Museum will be visited again and again when we are riding through the area.