"Wisteria at Alf's House", circa 1950 | "Overlook Mountain", 1914 | "Portrait of Hervey White", 1910 |
Note cards from the collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock Winter 2013 Events:
Exhibit: "Winter in Woodstock" Opening Exhibit and Holiday Sale Book Launch & Tastings for the ALL NEW "Woodstock Party Fare" cookbook Friday, December 6, 4-8 pm
Exhibit and Holiday Sale continues
Saturday & Sunday, December 7 & 8, 14 & 15, 12-4:00 pmExhibit and Sale - Extended Saturday, December 21, 12-3:00 pm
The
Historical Society of Woodstock unveils its annual holiday exhibit and sale
this Friday evening, December 6th, from 4:00 to 8:00 pm. Along with vintage
photographs from Woodstock's snowy past, this year's exhibit, Winter in Woodstock, presents paintings from the HSW art collection
and an all new display of original holiday cards created by Woodstock's most
noted artists, This year's celebration of the holidays also features the launch
of a new cookbook compiled by HSW, titled, Woodstock
Party Fare. Offering recipes for any festive occasion, Woodstock Party Fare is a collection of hometown recipes and
personal remembrances gathered from Woodstockers and Woodstock families.
Samples of selected recipes will be featured during the Friday evening opening.
Also available for sale will be tins of the best in homemade cookies, handmade
ornaments, knitted mittens, local history books and DVDs, candles, vintage
postcards and much more.
The
exhibit and sale continues on Saturday and Sunday, December 7, 8, 14 and 15
from 12:00-4:00 pm. On Saturday, December 14th at 2:00 pm, Janine Fallon-Mower
and Richard Heppner, authors of Legendary
Locals of Woodstock, will discuss their new book and offer thoughts on
local history. Refreshments will be served. The
Historical Society of Woodstock is located on lower Comeau Drive in
Woodstock. Parking is available in the
lower Comeau parking lot. As always, admission is free. For more on Woodstock
history visit Historical Woodstock on
Facebook. Your support of local history is appreciated. Fall 2013 Events:
Righteous Rebellion - America's Anti-Rent War on PrivilegePlease join us for a screening and discussion of a documentary film with the filmmaker Bruce Kennedy.
Saturday, November 2, 4:00 - 6:00 pm
Historical Society of Woodstock
20 Comeau Drive
Refreshments will be served
On
November 2 at 4:00 p.m., The Historical Society of Woodstock will host
filmmaker Bruce Kennedy for a viewing of his work-in-progress film
"Righteous Rebellion," an examination of the Anti-Rent War that once
gripped upstate New York, including Woodstock.
During the 19th century, 300,000 farmers remained controlled by wealthy landowners and an archaic, 200-yer old, semi-feudal form of land and social authority. As a result, without hope of ever securing the right of ownership to the lands they worked and developed, local farmers took up the cause of resistance against the 1% of their day. To tell this unique story, Mr. Kennedy has enlisted the thoughts and commentary of 30 local historians and descendants of those who participated in the rebellion, ensuring that this piece of largely forgotten history remains truly local. As a descendant of Dr. Smith Azer Boughton, aka Big Thunder, a principal leader of the rebellion, Mr. Kennedy will also share his family's stories and reveal new and never before offered interpretations and insights into the Anti-Rent War.
The
Historical Society of Woodstock is located on Comeau Drive, just off Tinker
Street and directly across from the Woodstock Town Hall. Admission to this
event is free and refreshments will be served.
For
more on Woodstock history visit 'Historical
Woodstock' on Facebook
Spring - Summer 2013 Exhibitions/Events: Glenn Kreisberg: Lithic Alignments in the Northeast: Natural, Native or Nonsense?
On Saturday August 31, the Historical Society of Woodstock will welcome
Glenn Kreisberg for a talk titled, Lithic
Alignments in the Northeast: Natural, Native or Nonsense? The talk will
begin at 3:00 p.m. and is open to the public free of charge. Kreisberg is a writer and researcher who currently serves as Vice
President of the New England Antiquities Research Association. He has
researched and published articles and interviews on electromagnetism and the
ancients, historic bluestone quarrying in upstate New York and lithic sites and
alignments in the northeast U.S., among others. Kreisberg is also the founder
and editor of the alternative science and history web site www.ASHnews.org. He
has edited and contributed to the anthologies “Lost Knowledge of the Ancients”
and “Mysteries of the Ancient Past”, published in 2010 and 2012 by Inner
Traditions - Bear & Co.
During the course of his
presentation, Kreisberg will address such questions as: was observational astronomy practiced by ancient native populations in
northeast America and has our area been
totally and inappropriately marginalized by the mainstream when it comes to
archaeoastronomy and landscape archaeology? The talk will also demonstrate that
the Northeast and our region is right up there with the Southwest, Midwest,
Effigy Mounds, Lower Mississippi Valley, and other traditions in terms of
archaeoastronomical alignments, sensitivity to landscape features, and
cosmological understandings.
Exhibition: Woodstock Builds a Library: Past, Present, Future June 29 - September 2, 2013
Saturdays and Sundays, 1:00-5:00 pm
Woodstock Library 1913-2013
Opening receptionFriday, June 28, 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Historical Society of Woodstock
20 Comeau Drive
Refreshments will be served
In 1913,
ten years after his vision for an art colony found reality in Woodstock, Ralph
Whitehead turned that same vision towards the future of Woodstock as a
community. As related by Frances Rogers in her wonderful history of the
Woodstock Library, "The Story of a Small
Town Library", "Whitehead now began to think about and plan a civic
program of a very different nature."
A project, as Rogers quotes Whitehead, that "the villagers and the
rest of us, the outsiders, could share."
 So it was
that Whitehead assembled those individuals he thought essential to developing
his plans for what would become the Woodstock Club. Making their way to White
Pines in the summer of 1913 were the artist Carl Lindin and his wife Louise,
Woodstock’s doctor, Mortimer Downer and
Lillian Downer, and the writer Walter Weyl and his wife Bertha. It was a
meeting that began inauspiscially, however, as Weyl, owner of one of the few
cars in Woodstock at the time (according to Rogers, a "high,
speedy-looking 'touring car' that had a top that could be rolled back and side
curtains with isinglass windows to be snapped on when it rained") arrived,
with the Lindins in the back seat, nursing an "overheated radiator
spouting steam."
Library Fair book stall, 1940s (collection of the Historical Society of Woodstock)
The
result of that Byrdcliffe meeting, 100 years ago this summer, would lead to the
formation of the Woodstock Club and, ultimately, the Woodstock Library and
other civic-related organizations. While much work lay ahead as efforts to
build the Club were intensified, including the formation of a library committee
headed by Margaret Carlson and joined by Marion Eames (future wife of Martin
Comeau), Birge Harrison and John Carlson, the Woodstock Library was moving
towards its future.
That future, now an integral part of Woodstock history, will be celebrated beginning
this Friday evening, June 28, as the Historical Society of Woodstock in
collaboration with the Woodstock Library unveils its summer exhibit, "Woodstock Builds a Library: Past, Present
and Future – 1913-2013" with an opening night
reception. Featuring reflections on a century of service by the Woodstock
Library, the exhibit offers a unique look back at the librarians who served,
the expansion of the library, chidren’s programming (even Peter the
carousel horse by Maud and Miska Petersham, pictured above, will make an appearence) and Woodstock’s venerable rite of summer, the Library Fair.
The
Friday evening reception will feature the music of jazz guitarist and vocalist
Perry Beekman and runs from 7:00 pm till 9:00 pm at the Historical Society of
Woodstock on lower Comeau Drive. Visitors are urged to park in the lower Comeau
parking lot and walk the newly rennovated trail (thanks to the Comeau Trails
Committee) to the Historical Society. In addition to the Friday evening
opening, the exhibit will be open to the public throughout the summer on
Saturdays and Sundays from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. As always, all events are free of
charge.
Perry Beekman, is a guitarist and vocalist deeply rooted in the classic tradition of jazz. Perry's swinging, melodic guitar playing beautifully complements his easy-going vocals. Now based in Woodstock, New York, Perry has been playing in jazz clubs, and at private and corporate events throughout New York City for the past 25 years. He has performed at such prominent venues as the Palm Court at the Plaza Hotel, The JVC Jazz Festival, and the Maverick Concert Hall.
Installation view: "Woodstock Builds a Library" photo credit: Richard Heppner Deborah Heppner, President of HSW, welcomes "Peter, the carousel horse", on loan from the Woodstock Library.
Legendary Locals of Woodstock  Book Signing and Exhibit Honoring the
Publication of Legendary Locals of Woodstock
Saturday, May 11, 2:00-5:00 pm Presentation and discussion by authors
3:00-3:30 pm Sunday, May 12, 1:00-5:00 pm
Exhibit will be open
Historical Society of Woodstock
20 Comeau Drive
Refreshments will be served
Located at the foot of Overlook Mountain and at the gateway to the Catskill Mountains, Woodstock has long been both a
place and an idea calling to the individual spirit within those seeking a better life. That call was answered in the 18th and
19th centuries by settlers unafraid of hard work and sacrifice striving to carve a community and a living from the challenges of a rugged countryside. The same call was heard in the 20th century by artists, musicians, and free-thinking individuals who, drawing inspiration from Woodstock's natural landscape, fashioned a cultural climate unique in the history of small-town America. From political leaders such as Elias Hasbrouck, Albert Cashdollar, and Val Cadden to cultural visionaries such as Ralph Whitehead, Hervey White, and Albert Grossman to men and women like Mescal Hornbeck, John Pike, Dr. Norman Burg, and Sam Mercer, who worked to sustain Woodstock's spirit of community, Legendary Locals of Woodstock offers a unique reflection on the road Woodstock has traveled.
Woodstock town historian Richard Heppner and local historian Janine Fallon-Mower have drawn upon Woodstock's distinct history to offer a look at those individuals who have engraved their names in the foundation of Woodstock's ever-evolving story. Fallon-Mower is the author of Woodstock and Woodstock Revisited. Heppner is the author of Remembering Woodstock and Women of the Catskills. Proceeds from book sales will be donated to the Historical Society.
HSW Kids History Club: One Day History Happening (ages 5 and up)
Saturday, May 18, 10:30 - 1:00 pm
Rain date May 19Please help us plant three local history gardens: A three sisters garden, a colonial herb garden, and a "Victory
garden" as people did during World War II. Hear garden stories as you plant. Then have your family join us for a picnic lunch at mornings end. Bring a sandwich ... cookies and drinks will be provided.
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