Museum At Bethel Woods — Attraction in Town of Bethel

My wife and I went to see the Young Person's Chorus of New York City at the Performing Arts Center on the Bethel Woods campus yesterday. My wife bought those tickets almost 2 years ago but the concert was postponed a bazillion times for Covid. The concert was beautiful and well worth the wait. But this is about the venue at Bethel Woods.

What a beautiful place and experience!

We didn't tour the museum to any great depth as we were there for the concert and had driven over 2.5 hours so didn't have a lot of time but we spent some time walking the property for a little bit and had lunch in the small museum Cafe in the lobby (overpriced, dry, and uninspired btw).

It's an odd setting in some regards. First, it seems they embrace the Woodstock '69 experience with near reverence given it's culturally transformative "free-love" and peace message and the inherent messy, human, counter-culture vibe but package it all up in a polished and architecturally impeccable museum and campus. I guess I expected black light posters and wet extension cords, or something more...I don't know...muddy. The guest (I) almost feels like an anthropologist studying a lab experiment. Not bad at all. Just not what I expected.

The staff seemed to be mostly volunteers and were super helpful and pleasant. Very professional. Again, I suppose I was expecting them to be puffy eyed in tie-dyed kaftans but it was matching polo's, chinos, and name badges. I admit, it gave me a little chuckle.

It's definitely worth a day trip, maybe an overnight if there's an event happening and if you can find accomodations, if for no other reason than to see the grounds, see where one of the most important culturally transformative moments took place, and to see the place that all the talk is about when your old hippie aunts and uncles get together and drop blotter. I'd go in warmer weather though. Unless it will just be about seeing a performance in the center or touring the museum, you'll want to be outside walking the well maintained paths and taking in the grand views. There was a market set up in one of the other buildings on the campus. I walked through it. Just some plastic overpriced trinkets and then some nicer artisan jewelry and soap kind of stuff. Nothing to drive over a half hour for but the vendors seemed friendly for the most part.

The outside sculptures are amazing! I want to know more about those. How they were curated/commisioned, who were the artists, why this media, etc. The balance of static monolithic - almost brutalist - sculptures inspired by such a freeform, spontaneous and empathetic communal experience is a really cool perspective.

Fun...

Fast forward fourty five years from August 16, 1969, when I attended The Woodstock Music And Art Fair, to August, 2014. A buddy of mine and I decided to take a motorcycle ride to see the Museum At Bethel Woods. He was too young at age 15 to have attended the 1969 festival, but was intrigued having heard about it at the time. We turned onto Hurd Road from a different direction off of 17-B than we did 45 years earlier, so nothing looked familiar to me. We rode down to the Woodstock monument at the corner of Hurd Rd. & West Shore Rd. As I looked at it & read the plaque, I still couldn't get a fix on where I was. We rode back up Hurd Road, and parked in the parking lot across from the Museum. We walked across the road, and entered the museum building. We were about to purchase tickets when the woman at the window told us the the electricity was out, so the Museum was on emergency lighting only. Story of my life!!! LOL! She allowed us and others to go through the self guided tour anyway, free of charge since none of the interactive exhibits were operational with the electricity out. That was ok, because we got a good sense of the exhibits anyway. Upon exiting the building, I followed the sidewalk that leads toward the outside amphitheater where concerts are now performed. I decided to step over the low rope guide along the sidewalk to see if I could get a sense of what I saw on that August afternoon & evening of 1969. As I walked toward a large tent set up on the lawn, I came to the edge of the hill looking down toward where the stage was set up for the 1969 performances. A whole flood of visual memories suddenly overcame me. THIS was where I stood those several hours, 45 years earlier. I'm so glad that the site wasn't bought up by developers to build condos or something on such a historic piece of property. The Museum is very tastefully done, and is interesting and informative to anyone curious about that incredible "Three Days Of Peace And Music". They bring in a wide variety of musical artists to perform at the covered theater with lawn seating. I'll return someday to see one of those shows and hopefully tour the Museum with the power on! The opening of this review is found on my review of The Bethel Woods Center For The...

This place is amazing. They have preserved and tell the history of Woodstock in an interesting way. We spent well over four hours visiting the museum and walking around outside.

When we first arrived there was a band outside playing Beatles songs. I wish we would’ve went to see them first. By the time we finished in the museum they were gone.

The museum itself is chock full of exhibits to read as well as various videos and interactive exhibits. It is really well organized. They have a variety of docent led tours as well which we did not do. I have limited mobility and move slowly so I didn’t want to hold them up. We did a self guided tour.

Speaking of mobility, they are accessible for those with limitations. The handicap parking is far from the building and I would not have been able to make it with my cane or walker, it’s just too far. I had my scooter so it wasn’t an issue. However, I noticed that they have a shuttle that does go back and forth from the parking lot to the building. I didn’t see it but I saw signs for it.

The bathrooms are accessible and they also have a single bathroom for families or handicap needs. My only complaint is that they had a chair in there that was difficult for me to move out of the way. The museum itself had very few benches, definitely not enough for those of us that need to take breaks with standing or walking.

Overall, this place is a gem. We will be back for a concert and to revisit the museum. There is something for everyone in the gift shop, I spent way too much in there! They do have a small cafe that had limited options for food and drink. I did enjoy my ham and cheese croissant even though they put egg on it after clearly asking for it...