Saugerties, New York
Saugerties is on the west bank of the Hudson river at the foot of the Catskill mountains, 9 miles east of the town of Woodstock. Saugerties has a lighthouse!
While we have been to Woodstock before, we wanted to spend more time there to check out the village shops. This time, I also wanted to search out some of the locations from the height of the music peak when Bob Dylan and The Band took up residence.
We drove down Stoll Road to see "Big Pink" the house where the two made the historic Basement Tapes and the inspiration for The Band's album by the same name. While it is just a little ranch house with people living there (no signs saying "The Band Lived Here"), I am pretty sure we found it. Also we drove onto Plochmann Lane to see is the more recent home and site of Levon Helm's Midnight Rambles - the barn where Levon had weekend shows with his band and often visiting guests. Local maps show that it is still a music venue, but there were no signs going by the property - which we did find. After reading Levon's book and the more recent "Small Town Talk" I feel like I know him and really felt a little sad that he is gone and that I never got to one of his "rambles" (even though he invited everyone to visit at the end of his book).
Other notable musicians who lived here during that time were Todd Rundgren, Peter Yarrow, Paull Butterfield, and Van Morrison. Of course Hendrix and Joplin both stayed and recorded there.
Sandy and I walked briefly through the town. Most memorable was the shop "Woodstock Legends" full of t-shirts and stuff targeting the many 60's worshipers who come. Outside was a book open to pursue by Elliot Landy and a sign had an invitation to come inside and get an autographed copy. It was AWESOME! see http://elliottlandy.com This guy took some of the most iconic pictures of the Band and Dylan (some for album covers) and Joplin. There was the photo of the band used for the cover of their first album and some for Big Pink. One photo of Rick Danko (one of my favorite musicians and most interesting person) was fantastic. The inside of the store was a maze (literally) of t-shirt racks. I finally asked the proprietor about the photo album. He told me that and other unusual and rare items were upstairs, but that the people who work there took the day off. I told Sandy maybe that was a good thing because no matter the cost, I might have walked out with that book. I asked the guy who worked there if Elliot was still in the area. He pointed to a photo on the wall with himself on one side Elliot not he other and Donovan in the middle. He said Elliot is 72 years old and that photo was taken last fall when Donovan came into town. wow.
Here are some photos of the center of Woodstock. Note the peace sign on the building across the street. That is the little common in the foreground which is usually occupied by people looking for the sixties. Young and old.
That is Overlook Mountain in the background.
The common.
A window shopper. I like the fact that she shops from outside the stores. Atta girl!
We had lunch at Shindig and had a great window seat where I took the middle picture above. I had a rainbow trout BLT !! Yes, way! It was really great and the remoulade sauce made it. Sandy had a buffalo chicken sandwich which was the best looking one I ever saw (and tasted :)
After we drove to Saugerties per Sandy's adventurous suggestion ( I know, right?). It was much nicer than expected. It was on a point of land and was extremely peaceful. We met a gentleman there who was looking at a bald eagle across the river and shared the look with us. We talked some and found out he is from a part of Pennsylvania near where my former company was (North Wales) Turns out he live further south than that but said he was in the industrial controls business (as was I) and his company was called NW Controls (for North Wales)! What a coincidence.
Here are some photos of the lighthouse. All photos are from my phone, but I took several with my SLR. Once I get the blogging thing down and stop writing so much, maybe I can upload some good photos. :) [ network is slow so will have to upload photos later]
Thanks for reading this first installment of SandBill Adventures. Now if there is an artist out there who can design us a logo (thinking sandpiper and spoonbill or something else appropriate).
