Blueprints for a Festival Framed in Woodstock Wood
These three maps are in fact original working copies of an architect's drawings, created for Woodstock Ventures in the weeks leading up to the festival. These maps were included with the original, official documents Woodstock Ventures filed with the Sullivan County sheriff's office prior to the event. They were tossed out as trash in the mid 1980's and salvaged by a long time DPW employee who routinely checked for recyclables, before recycling became a source of revenue.
These full size blueprints were archivally mounted by Michael Fitzsimmons of Westwood Gallery, Westwood, NJ., who also framed them in wood salvaged from the festival site. They were subsequently hung in the lobby of the Museum at Bethel Woods, NY during the summer of the festival's fortieth anniversary in 2009.
Detailed and enlarged versions of these Blueprints can be seen exclusively on my website created to exhibit the most remarkable Woodstock related objects - WoodstockArtifacts.com
I got a good story for you. I told you before I've been a musician most of my life. I live about thirty miles north of NYC. About thirty miles north of me is where we recorded almost all our studio stuff. But anyway - soon after we found Far & Away Studios in Chester NY, we made friends with their friends, pickin' and grinnin' and singin' during our time in the country. We would laugh as we drove north - the city in our rear view mirror and hay bales in the fields as we made our way to our recording sessions.
One of the friends we made was Tim Diltz, who had a frame shop near by, sang harmony, shook a tambourine and always had a smile. So time passes - I visit Tim's shop to frame a poster. I say how about a black frame? he sez - No - I only do barn wood frames. Huh? Yeah - look around - I got shades of gray and brown, that's it. OK Tim hit my poster up with a shade of gray. Tim salvages wood siding from dilapidated barns and sheds he scouts while traveling the back roads of New York State. Can you guess where this is going? In the mid eighties Tim found himself next to a roadside shed in Bethel NY., took some photos, harvested some planks and stored them in his shop. Years passed, I acquired some valuable items and the Woodstock Wood Frames were revealed.
Postcard Captures Source of Woodstock Wood
I was excited to find this postcard after years of having only Tim’s photos of the dilapidated structure taken when he salvaged the siding. You can clearly see the shed as it was in 1969, just right of center with a towel hung over the eave to dry. Just up the road to the left is a truck trailer parked behind the stage which is also visible through the trees. If you look closely you can make out the artist’s walkway over West Shore Road, which took them from the “Performers’ Pavilion” to the stage approx. 25 feet off the ground. Amazingly I recently found a photo that Tim’s brother Henry took from behind the stage looking down West Shore Road from the opposite direction showing the shed on the left. That photo appears at 1:30 of the video below, and the artist’s walkway appears at 1:45. Cool eh?
And of course, the back of the card:
