Archaeologists Digging At Woodstock Uncovered The Famous Festival’s Secrets

Well, as the 50th anniversary of the festival approached, plans were made to create a series of commemorative trails that would run through the original site. But over the decades, the festival’s stages and campgrounds have disappeared as nature reclaimed the fields. And with festivalgoers’ memories of the event being doubtless now a little hazy, experts were drafted to uncover the site’s secrets.

Twice in two years, archaeologists set up camp on the old farm. They were determined to uncover the secrets of its famous past. And as their work progressed, they discovered some fascinating details about how Woodstock unfolded. Eventually, the team found something incredible: proof that the festival had been just as anarchic as many people seemingly believed.

The festival's origins were less haphazard than you might imagine, though. The seeds of Woodstock were first sewn in early 1969 when a group of savvy businessmen and musical bigwigs hit upon the idea of staging a music festival in Upstate New York. The event was scheduled to take place over three days in August and was initially due to be held in the Orange County town of Wallkill. However, residents objected to the plans, and the authorities eventually formally blocked the festival.

By then, though, there was only one month until the festival date. Searching for a last-minute solution, the organizers happened upon farmer Max Yasgur’s 600-acre property in Bethel, NY. And to secure permission to hold their event, they told the local authorities that, at most, only 50,000 people were expected to attend.

But as the festival approached, it became clear that these numbers were vastly inaccurate. Organizers had sold some 186,000 tickets before the event and expected to shift thousands more at the gate. Worryingly, they’d left it too late to make the proper arrangements. They ultimately had to choose between finishing the fencing or the stage.

The organizers of Woodstock eventually chose to complete the stage, leaving the festival’s security measures woefully inadequate for the amount of people that arrived. And when the crowds began to flock to the farm on August 13, several excited festivalgoers strolled through the gaps where the fencing had not been erected.

Ultimately, over 400,000 music lovers made it to Woodstock, and the revelers caused a monumental traffic jam that stretched back 17 miles from the festival site. Then, over three rain-spattered days, more than 30 acts took to the stage. Today, a number of those musicians are still remembered as some of the greatest names in rock and roll.

Beginning on August 15, Woodstock saw famous names such as The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and the Grateful Dead play to an audience of blissed-out hippies. And by the time Jimi Hendrix performed the festival's closing set at 8:30 a.m. on August 18, it seemed clear that something phenomenal had taken place.

Despite the vast attendance, Woodstock ended up being a relatively peaceful affair. However, official records show that two people lost their lives at the event. One sleeping festivalgoer was hit by a tractor, while the other succumbed to a suspected drug overdose. But apparently, life had begun at Woodstock, too: there are rumors that several babies were born during the festivities.

Locally, Woodstock attracted plenty of criticism from the residents of Bethel, whose lives had been uprooted by the event. But the festival itself would go down in history as one of the greatest ever held. It’s still remembered today as a crucial moment for the counterculture in the 1960s — and the pinnacle of a movement that espoused peace, music, and love.

Yet, in the years since the festival, the site that housed this iconic event has undergone many changes. And while the community of Bethel initially attempted to deter Woodstock tourists, they now welcome them with open arms. The land where Yasgur’s farm once stood has been purchased for posterity, too: some 27 years after that famous weekend, American billionaire Alan Gerry snapped up the real estate.

In July 2006, the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts opened on the site. Two years later, it was joined by the Museum at Bethel Woods — an attraction dedicated to Woodstock and the spirit of the 1960s more widely. Then, in 2009, the 40th anniversary of Woodstock arrived, and many of the original acts returned to the farm to play a commemorative event.

A decade later, with the 50th anniversary approaching, plans were made to commemorate Woodstock in an even grander way. In January 2019, one of the festival’s original organizers announced plans for Woodstock 50, a three-day concert scheduled for August that year. Initially, the event was to feature several contemporary artists, such as The Killers and Jay-Z.

However, problem after problem plagued this planned anniversary event. So, in July 2019, organizers were forced to relocate the festival. And ultimately, they ended up having to cancel it. But back at Bethel Woods, plans were underway to celebrate the occasion in an entirely different way.

In August 2019, the community of Bethel also hosted a series of concerts to mark the festival’s 50th anniversary. The teams at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts and the Museum at Bethel Woods both sought to memorialize Woodstock more permanently. In preparation for the semi-centennial, they decided to develop a network of trails across the festival site.

However, museum officials needed to develop a better understanding of the Woodstock site to signpost these trails. At first, this must have seemed like a relatively simple task. After all, multiple aerial photos still exist from August 1969, showing the festival in all its chaotic glory.

Yet, museum director Wade Lawrence said these photographs were insufficient to reconstruct the site's layout accurately. So, he turned to the Public Archaeology Facility at Binghamton University, some 80 miles northwest of Bethel. And in 2018, a team of experts began work at the historic location.

Over five days, archaeologists from Binghamton University combed the Woodstock site. Digging in the dirt, it wasn’t long before they had uncovered several relics from the famous festival. Unfortunately, though, these were a little underwhelming, consisting primarily of broken bottles and bits of aluminum cans.

The main objective of this dig, however, was to pinpoint the exact location of the stage where Hendrix, Joplin, and their fellow musicians made history. Back in 1969, the construction was an impressive feat of engineering and covered an area some 60 feet long by 45 feet wide. And on either side, two giant speaker towers — one as tall as a seven-story building — had blared music out across the crowds.

Yet despite its size, Woodstock’s main stage had had little in the way of foundations. So today, it’s impossible to tell precisely where the platform once stood. The area was also developed to accommodate a temporary structure at some point in the 1990s, making it even more difficult for experts to reconstruct the original layout.

But throughout the archaeologists’ investigation, they made a fascinating discovery. In one location, they uncovered evidence that a post had once stood there, marking the spot where a fence had run around the stage. Then, using photographs and maps of the festival, the experts could construct a picture of how the site had once looked.

Archaeologists peeled back the grass that had since grown on the site to study the layers beneath. Using artifacts such as ring pulls, they could determine the ground's level back in 1969. Experts also studied disturbances in the soil and other anomalies to learn more about the site.

By the end of the five-day excavation, archaeologists had built up a much clearer picture of exactly how the Bethel Woods site had looked during its Woodstock days. As well as locating the stage and towers, they’d also determined where a footbridge for the musicians had once stood. Armed with this information, museum officials then set about developing the trails.

“We can use this as a reference point,” Josh Anderson, the project's co-director, told Metro in 2018. “People can stand on that and look up at the hill and say, ‘Oh, this is where the performers were. Jimi Hendrix stood here and played his guitar at 8:30 in the morning.’”

But locating the spot where the musicians once took to the stage was not enough for the custodians of the Woodstock site. And in June 2019, the team from Binghamton University made another announcement. Fascinatingly, they claimed to have learned even more about how the famous festival unfolded upon returning to Bethel Woods.

This time, the archaeologists’ task had been to excavate an area of the festival known as the Bindy Bazaar. This part of the site was named after a store in the Indian city of Mumbai, and it was initially intended as a spot where traders could come and sell their wares. And according to Maria O’Donovan, who took charge of the project, it also became a testament to the era itself.

“The Bindi Bazaar was a meeting place where transactions – which included trading and bartering in addition to selling – and cultural interactions took place,” O’Donovan explained in a June 2019 press release from Binghamton University. “It exemplifies the informal, free-wheeling spirit of the counterculture.”

During Woodstock, the Bindy Bazaar was a bustling hub of booths and other activities. According to aerial photos of the site, it was set between two of the festival’s camping areas and was crisscrossed by trails to lead punters through the chaos. And after the sun had set, twinkling fairy lights lit the way.

However, unlike the area where the stage once stood, the site where the Bindy Bazaar was erected has changed little over the years. However, new vegetation had grown over it, making it harder for researchers to spot traces of the original booths. Despite the challenge, the team from Binghamton University was soon able to uncover some fascinating details.

According to festival maps, there were supposed to be some 25 booths in the Bindy Bazaar area. These booths — constructed from natural materials such as wood and rock — would have been built around the site on an ad hoc basis. But archaeologists soon realized that, in reality, the section had veered significantly off-plan once the festival began.

O’Donovan told Gizmodo in June 2019, “In the Bindy Bazaar area, we were able to locate traces of the individual vendor’s booths. [They] consisted of lines of rock that formed the base for relatively ephemeral booths of wood, tarps, and so on.” But rather than matching up with the festival plans, the location of these structures differed from what researchers might have expected.

“Our research demonstrated that the reality of what occurred at Woodstock was not captured by the preliminary plans,” O’Donovan explained in the press release. “Archaeologists located 24 potential vendor booths concentrated on one side of the Bindy Bazaar area and not distributed as on the 1969 plans. This is more evidence that the festival took on a life of its own that organizers could not control.”

Archaeologists also identified 13 further points of interest where the Bindy Bazaar once stood. According to reports, these were elements that appeared to be man-made – even if their purpose was not clear. Despite the lack of information, these locations were designated as culturally significant.

But doubtless, to the surprise of many, researchers failed to discover any significant relics of the illegal activity for which the festival has become famous. O’Donovan told Gizmodo, “This may seem a bit counter-intuitive given the reputation of Woodstock, but we found very little evidence of drug-related paraphernalia.”

O’Donovan noted that the absence of these artifacts may have been down to the methods used. The investigation focused on a compact sample area, and there was limited digging. She reasoned that archaeologists may have discovered even more about the site if the excavation had gone further underground.

So, should we be surprised that archaeologists are now studying events within living memory? Well, according to O’Donovan, it’s an increasingly relevant field. She told Gizmodo, “Contemporary archaeology is a very big thing right now. Archaeologists study the past through the material things that people leave behind — things they lose or throw out.”

“Our methods are just as applicable to material discarded ten years ago as thousands of years ago, and our interpretations [are] just as applicable to contemporary issues, such as migration and refugees, human impacts on the environment, how we use urban spaces and so on,” O’Donovan continued. “What we produce is an interpretation of daily life and activities which is not often covered in historical documents or contemporary news reporting.”

Today, the results of the project are clear to see. In May 2019, museum officials launched the new trails, allowing visitors to glimpse the hectic life of Woodstock’s trading zone. During the opening ceremony, assistant curator Julia Fell said, “[It] was a whimsical place where all manner of vendors and other attendees bartered for goods, met up with lost friends, made new friends, and attempted to stay out of the rain. With all this in mind, The Museum at Bethel Woods set out to bring the Bindy Bazaar back into its former glory.”

The Museum at Bethel Woods offers visitors a unique opportunity to take a literal stroll down memory lane. Outside of walking the trails of the hallowed festival fields, the best transport to the music fest of '69 is through some of the incredible photographs that have been collected. Looking through the rare Woodstock photo album, you almost feel that you're right there at the iconic event.

Of course, the festival would become a success ­– although it would be some time before the organizers made their money back. But it’s not just remembered for the stellar music. No, the crowds of “hippies” that swarmed the festival grounds also became cultural icons, so much so that some call the youth of their day “the Woodstock generation.”

The festival goers were attracted by the named bands that started to ink contracts for the event. First to do so was Creedence Clearwater Revival, whose mix of country and blues backgrounded John Fogerty’s vocals. The popular rock band boosted the credibility of the festival, and Woodstock was soon filling out an impressive lineup.

A couple of days before the festival was set to start, in August, more than the expected 50,000 people were camped nearby. And that was just to begin with. Perhaps a million people were on their way. The traffic was too much for New York’s road network, and lots of the wannabe merrymakers had to leave their vehicles and walk. In the end, something like 500,000 made it.

When the ticketless got there, they didn’t find a site fenced off with places to pay the entry fee. Those things had not been finished. Lang told The Telegraph that the organizers had to take a new tack. He said, “People are coming, and you need to be able to feed them, and take care of them, and give them a show. So you have to prioritize.” In other words, an awful lot of people got in free.

The people who came were not just hippies, although the festival has been somewhat identified with them. There were plenty of other young people who were affected by the turmoil of the times. The war in Vietnam saw enormous opposition by lots of youngsters, while they supported the increase of civil rights. But Woodstock offered the opportunity to forget those things for a few days.

Not that it was a totally relaxing time. The weather was terrible, causing the ground to turn to mud. There wasn’t much to eat or drink, and the site was not exactly sanitary. But the poor conditions didn’t provoke much upset. The attendees lived out the late 1960s ideal of peace and love.

It’s just as well that the festival goers were peaceful since the organizers had forbidden off-duty cops from coming in. And it’s thought that the number of regular police personnel at the site barely got into double figures. So you may well imagine that there were security problems with so many people reveling at the festival.

Well, there was some security. A contingent from a commune in New Mexico, usually engaged in pig farming, had been asked to keep things safe. Top hog farmer Wavy Gravy had his own methods of maintaining the peace: offering a drenching with seltzer water or a face full of pie for miscreants.

The commune, known as the Hog Farm, didn’t just take care of security. It also managed a playground for the younger attendees and created a kitchen to provide free eats to hungry hippies. On top of that, it provided a tent for those who had been overcome by the experience of drug taking.

Real medical facilities existed too. The festival had a medical tent, which was crewed by volunteers. There were doctors, nurses, and paramedics on hand for those who needed them. Luckily, they had little of anything serious to deal with. Upset tummies caused by bad food and barefooted funsters coming a cropper were the worst of it.

But more serious injuries did occur, even if they were rare. One youth met their end in an accident with a tractor, and another passed away in circumstances to do with drug use. And some women are said to have lost babies. One who didn’t was singer-songwriter Joan Baez who was heavily pregnant when she appeared, and another was a woman who gave birth en route to the festival.

A few minutes after 5:00 p.m. on August 15, soulful folkster Richie Havens got the revelry under way. Only prepared for a short set, Havens had to keep going while other acts struggled through the heavy traffic. He’d later claim that he performed every song that he was familiar with, which apparently was not too many since he only played for 45 minutes. A yogi then blessed the festival.

And just before midnight Arlo Guthrie took the stage. He had a keen sense that he was making history. He told Smithsonian magazine, “When you realize that most historic events are written in hindsight – you don’t realize you’re in a historic event at the time – so it was special to be in a historic event and know that it was just that.”

The light rain that had plagued Guthrie’s set also hit Joan Baez somewhat. She wasn’t unhappy though, she told Rolling Stone magazine in 1983. She said, “Oh, I had a lovely time at Woodstock… It was wonderful… it was a three-day period during which people were decent to one another because they realized that if they weren’t, they’d all get hungry.”

The next day’s music began some time after noon. A host of big names rocked the crowd through the evening and long into the night. Indeed, Jefferson Airplane wouldn’t wrap up the day until the middle of the next morning. Also on the lineup were The Who and Janis Joplin, as well as Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Plus other performers that night included the Grateful Dead. Some years later, Dead frontman Jerry Garcia, explained that it had been a rough gig, “We knew there were a half million people out there, but we couldn’t see [anyone]. There were about a hundred people on stage with us, and everyone was scared that it was gonna collapse... it was raining or wet, so every time we touched our guitars, we’d get these electrical shocks. Blue sparks were flying out of our guitars.”

The closing day kicked off about 2:00 p.m. when Joe Cocker began a career-defining set. Attendees went wild for his version of “With A Little Help From My Friends,” and the weather had something to say too! No sooner had he closed his performance than the clouds opened for a thunderstorm that held up proceedings for a couple hours.

In 2013 Cocker reminisced with Classic Rock magazine about the show. He said, “Were we epic? I dunno. We got some nice footage for memories.” And the rocker shared one fun outcome of the wet weather, adding, “I was wearing a tie-dyed shirt, and when I took it off after, the colors had stained my chest in the exact same pattern.”

One of the iconic images of Woodstock is Jimi Hendrix mangling the national anthem in his performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The rocker left the crowd with an indelible memory as he wrung his howling and shrieking guitar. Those who were there for the last act of the show were also treated to hits such as “Purple Haze.”

But Hendrix had actually played to a much-diminished crowd. Because the rain had stopped him from appearing until morning on Monday, and many of the attendees had already left. Only 25,000 or so of the most hardcore groovers were there to see the rock legend bring the curtain down.

As Hendrix’s last note rang out, the remaining revelers headed for the exits. But the traffic problems that had plagued them coming in, struck them again going out. Many would have a long wait in jams as the traffic overwhelmed New York roads once more. But they did eventually get home, leaving behind a massive mess.

It took more than a few days, and a cost that ran into the tens of thousands to clear the site. Several bulldozers had to go to work. And the physical mess wasn’t all that was left for the organizers, as Rosenman explained to The Telegraph. He said, “We had very angry bankers. We had creditors we had to deal with. We had some lawsuits from people claiming injustices ranging from damage to property to strange things tampering with their cows.”

Still, the site was cleared, and the weekend would go down in history. So much so that today an arts center marks the spot. It even houses a museum, which features the festival and its context in the Swinging Sixties. And naturally there are concerts, although they are not quite on the scale of the original festival.

Some of the acts who appeared on the Woodford stage back in 1969 have even gone back to play at Bethel Woods, as the site is known. They include Cocker and Guthrie. Memories abound in the area, so much so that it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Because the festival ended up being free of charge for many, it meant that ticket sales didn’t exactly pay for it. But that’s nothing peculiar for big events, with the side cash that flows in from such things as merchandising, recordings, and even films that provide the profit. So the organizers welcomed Warner Brothers’ partnership to make the feted film Woodstock.

Rosenman certainly felt the whole thing had been worthwhile. He told The Telegraph, “I don’t know if you’ve ever been involved in a venture capital project – they’re always exhilarating. I would say that the stress factor was fun to complain about, but it was a rewarding project to work on. It took on an almost religious significance after the fact.”

Not that everyone thought that that significance was all good. As Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner told The Telegraph, it gave birth to stadium rock. He said, “Once promoters saw how many people they could draw into a football stadium, and charge $50 a ticket, rock and roll went down fast.”

Yet dairyman Yasgur, whose farm hosted the festival, captured the spirit when he spoke to the crowd on day three. He said, “The important thing that you’ve proven to the world is that a half a million kids, and I call you kids because I have children who are older than you are, a half a million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music and have nothing but fun and music and God bless you for it!”