The rural New York dairy farm that hosted the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair for a weekend in August 1969 was named to the State Register of Historic Places this week nearly a half-century after 400,000 concertgoers congregated there to participate in one of the era’s most iconic moments.
New York’s Board for Historic Preservation has recommended that the original Woodstock site in Bethel, New York, be added to both the State and National Registers of Historic Places, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday, paving the way for the 600-acre Catskills farm to potentially become eligible for various public preservation programs and services.
The Woodstock site was made famous by the weekend-long rock festival and its legendary performances by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and The Who.
The farm appeared on a list of 26 properties, resources and districts nominated by the preservation board this week for historic landmark status alongside more than two-dozen other locations within the Empire State ranging from the 126-year-old Offerman Building in Brooklyn to a 2,589-acre hydroelectric power plant in western New York.
“New York’s history is this nation’s history, and we are leading the way to preserve the sites of significant events for future generations,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement. “The nominations of these sites will help ensure that these parts of this state’s rich heritage remain viable and able to serve as destinations to attract visitors to every corner of this state.”
A monument and small museum currently exist at the dairy farm where owner Max Yasgur agreed in 1969 to let festival organizers hold a three-day rock concert. The event eventually hosted 32 performers over the course of four days, and concluded with Hendrix, only 26 years old at the time, playing a nearly two-hour set early Monday morning that contained an iconic rendition of the “Star Spangled Banner.”
Memorialized by the Academy Award-winning documentary, “Woodstock,” the concert also boasted legendary performances from artists including Joan Baez, Santana, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane and Joe Cocker, among others, and instantly became recognized as a defining moment for 1960s counterculture.
Locations nominated by the New York Board for Historic Preservation require final approval from the state’s historic preservation officer, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Commissioner Rose Harvey, before they can be added to the State Register, and from there can be nominated to the National Register of Historic Place.
Attempts to reach Ms. Harvey for comment Wednesday were not immediately successful.
Pending her approval, however, the Woodstock site may soon become eligible for various grants and historic rehabilitation tax credits from the state and federal governments, as well as other potentially unlimited vitalization efforts. Developers invested $550 million statewide last year towards properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Mr. Cuomo’s office, compared to only $12 million invested statewide by private homeowners toward revitalizing historic neighborhoods.
More than 120,000 historic buildings, structures and sites across New York are currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the governor’s office said.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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