Woodstock is a town in
Ulster County,
New York,
United States. The population was 6,241 at the 2000 census.
The Town of Woodstock is in the northern part of the county. Woodstock is northwest of Kingston, New York and lies within the borders of Catskill Park.
The first non-indigenous settler arrived around 1770. The Town of Woodstock was established in 1787. Later, Woodstock contributed some of its territory to form the Towns of Middletown (1789), Windham (1798), Shandaken (1804), and Olive (1853).
The Arts and Crafts Movement came to Woodstock around 1902, and, afterwards, Woodstock was always considered an active artist colony in the 19th and early 20th century, including playing host to numerous Hudson River School painters. Its reputation as an arts center contributed to the original Woodstock Festival's organizers planning their concert around the town. Such American painters as E. Charlton Fortune and Spencer Trask were known to use the Woodstock venue.
