Archeologists Dig Up Woodstock Festival Site

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Recently, ​a small group of archeologists did some digging at Max Yasgur’s old farm, site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Festival (now on the National Register of Historic Places) in Bethel, New York. During the course of the five day excavation, they weren't necessarily expecting to unearth any gems or brown acid—though they did find "parts of old aluminum can pull tabs, [and] bits of broken bottle glass." Their aim, rather, was to locate the site of the stage.

Director of the project, Josh Anderson, said, "The overall point of this investigation is to kind of define the stage space. We can use this as a reference point... 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.'" They believe they found the stage's location, thanks to locating where they believe "a chain-link fence on the side of the stage area met the wooden 'Peace Fence' that ran in front of the stage."

Wade Lawrence, director of The Museum at Bethel Woods, says, "This is a significant historic site in American culture, one of the few peaceful events that gets commemorated from the 1960s," noting that the museum will "plan interpretive walking routes [for the anniversary]."