Historical Woodstock

06/02/2026

Deputy Ulster County Clerk Christopher Tappen
On October 16th, 1777, in the space of three hours, British forces burned the entire town of Kingston down, save one house, a barn and, accordingly to local legend, a brewery. All else was lost.

Fortunately, Christopher Tappen, then Deputy Ulster County Clerk and member of New York's Council of Safety, had removed, on October 12, the records, administrative papers, ledgers and documents of the county and state governments, including historic Dutch records going back as far as 1658, to the neighboring town of Rochester (a small village near Accord, New York), at the expense of Tappen's own house and personal belongings, destroyed by the British.

(Pictured - reenactors of Christopher Tappen and his wife Annatje Wynkoop at the 2017 Burning of Kingston)

05/30/2026

HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WOODSTOCK PRESENTS GLENN KREISBERG
SPEAKING ON ESOTERICA AMERICA AT 250 YEARS

Date: Sunday, June 14, 3 pm
Location: Historical Society of Woodstock, 20 Comeau Dr., Woodstock NY 12498
Admission: Free

The Historical Society of Woodstock will host a talk by author Glenn Kreisberg on “Esoterica America at 250 Years.” This will take place on Sunday, June 14 at 3:00 pm at the Historical Society’s Eames House Museum at 20 Comeau Drive, Woodstock NY. Admission is free.

With the premise “all history is local”, Glenn Kreisberg will explore how esoteric traditions from around the world are expressed in the context of local American history and culture. In many cases the common
denominator is Freemasonry and archaeoastronomy, as shown in architectural alignments found in churches, temples and ceremonial sites. As an example: we might discover why the church on the Woodstock Village Green may be oriented to the winter solstice sunrise.

Glenn Kreisberg is an author, outdoor guide, and radio engineer, who researches archeoastronomy and landscape archaeology in the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains of New York. His books include Spirits in Stone, Mysteries of the Ancient Past, and Lost Knowledge of the Ancients. He served two terms as vice president of the New England Antiquities Research Association (NEARA) and studied archeoastronomy at SUNY and archaeoacoustics on Malta. He is co-founder of the non-profit Overlook Mountain Center (www.overlookmountain.org) in Woodstock, NY, where he was raised and currently resides with him family. Glenn can be seen on The History Channel, as a guest on The UnXplained with William Shatner, and Ancient Aliens.

05/27/2026

Date: Sunday, June 7, 3 pm
Location: Historical Society of Woodstock, 20 Comeau Dr., Woodstock NY 12498
Admission: Free

The Historical Society of Woodstock will host a talk and book signing by author and art historian John P. Murphy of Vassar College on “A New Deal for Woodstock Artists,” about the role of Woodstock artists in New Deal art. He will also be signing copies of his book New Deal Art: Culture and Crisis in the Great Depression. This will take place on Sunday, June 7 at 3:00 pm at the Historical Society’s Eames House Museum at 20 Comeau Drive, Woodstock NY. Admission is free.

At the height of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal turned crisis into opportunity. Through unprecedented federal funding for the arts, the New Deal launched the careers of artists such as Philip Guston, Jacob Lawrence, Alice Neel, Jackson Po***ck, and Mark Rothko. State-sponsored murals, paintings, sculptures, prints, and posters appeared across the country in public buildings to nurture what FDR called a “more abundant life” for American citizens.

Compared to similarly sized communities, Woodstock enrolled a disproportionate number of artists on the federal art programs. Artists like Harry Gottlieb, Doris Lee, Eugene Ludins, Austin Mecklem, and Arnold Wiltz all worked on the New Deal programs, and many received high-profile commissions. This talk will consider the significant role of the Woodstock art colony during an unprecedented moment in American cultural history. The author will be signing copies of his recent book, New Deal Art: Culture and Crisis in the Great Depression, the first survey in decades of the New Deal art programs.

John P. Murphy is the Philip and Lynn Straus Curator of Prints and Drawings at The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College. He received his PhD in Art History from Northwestern University, where he co-curated the exhibition "The Left Front: Radical Art in the “Red Decade," 1929-1940" at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum. Murphy is currently working with the Philadelphia Museum of Art on an exhibition exploring Depression-era prints and politics.

05/25/2026

Great time honoring our veterans.

05/25/2026

all gave some, SOME GAVE ALL.

05/23/2026

The Signs of the Times exhibit is open. Historicalsocietyofwoodstock.org
For up to date info.

05/22/2026

05/21/2026

Looking for help- “the Hudler Place”
Any thoughts on its location in Woodstock township? This is a listing from the 1850 census
Thanks in advance