Pre Settlement – Native American hunting parties and expeditions traverse trails along the Sawkill through present day Zena and hunting grounds on Overlook Mountain

1708Hardenburg Patent granted to Johannes Hardenburg by Queen Anne. The “Great Patent”

gave rights to Hardenburg and other investors to approximately 1.5 million acres of land

covering, what is now, New York State’s Catskills.

1740s Robert Livingston begins to purchase tracts of land within the Great Patent, including lands now

known as Woodstock.

1760s First white settlers arrive in Woodstock.

1765 First Woodstock mill built.

1787Town of Woodstock created by an act of the New York State Legislature. Elias Hasbrouck serves as

first Supervisor. The original boundaries of Woodstock include the present Town

of Shandaken and much of what is now Green County.

1790Though open to debate, Woodstockers give Philip Rick credit for growing the first Jonathan

(also known as the Rickey) apple seedling on his farm in Bearsville.

1800Green County, New York established from land of original Woodstock boundaries.

1804New York State creates Town of Shandaken from lands once part of Woodstock.

1805Dutch Reformed Church established.

1806Lutheran Church Established.

1809First Glass factory built.

1816Tanning operations begin in Woodstock.

1832First Methodist Church built.

1840Bluestone quarrying begins in Woodstock. Would serve as a major industry until the turn

of the century.

1844Down Rent War breaks out in Woodstock and Catskill region as tenants take action against

onerous leases held by wealthy landowners..

1846Artist Thomas Cole, founder of the Hudson River School, visits Woodstock and explores

Overlook Mountain.

1861Civil War begins. Ten Woodstockers lose their lives during the course of the war.

1871First Overlook Mountain House opens to visitors. Destroyed by fire in 1875, it would be rebuilt in

1878.

1873President Ulysses Grant visits Woodstock and stays at the Overlook Mountain House.

1880Meads Mountain House expands to include rooms for fifty guests. Adds Episcopal Chapel in

1895 for summer visitors to Overlook.

1885Catskill Forest Preserve created.

1887Woodstock celebrates centennial anniversary of its founding.

1903Byrdcliffe Art Colony founded y Ralph Whitehead.

1905Maverick Art Colony founded by Hervey White.

1906Art Students League establishes summer school in Woodstock.

1906Woodstock Fire Department created.

1913Woodstock Library opens.

1915First Maverick Festival held.

1919Woodstock Artists Association formed.

1923Overlook Mountain House again rebuilt following a second fire.

1928Woodstock Playhouse opens on site of former Risely Barn. New Playhouse constructed in 1932.

1929Historical Society of Woodstock founded.

1931New Woodstock Town Hall constructed.

1932Woodstock celebrates Town’s Sesquicentennial

1939Eleanor Roosevelt lays cornerstone of National Youth Administration’s Resident Craft

Center.

1939Woodstock Guild of Craftsmen founded.

1941World War II begins.

1948Woodstock War Memorial created listing names of Woodstock war dead.

1949Rotron Manufacturing opens in Woodstock.

1955IBM opens operations in nearby Town of Ulster.

1963First “Hippie” sighting in Woodstock

1965Bob Dylan arrives in Woodstock.

1965Woodstock adopts zoning ordnance.

1967Sound Out concerts are first held. Open field concerts are prelude to Woodstock Festival.

1969Town of Woodstock scrubbed as site for Woodstock Festival. Festival organizers ultimately move

concert to Bethel, New York.