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All the United States New York State New York City Woodstock Woodstock Artists Cemetery

Woodstock Artists Cemetery

Now the final resting place of prominent artists and musicians, it was originally founded to separate the rich from the poor in death.

Woodstock, New York

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Aaron Netsky
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CAPTION
Jazz pianist Richard Tee’s grave   Ron Netsky
A grave in the shape of a shell   Ron Netsky
Bolton Brown’s boulder grave   Ron Netsky
Byrdcliffe founder Ralph Whitehead’s grave   Ron Netsky
The graves are flat so the dead have a view   Ron Netsky
Sculpted grave stones   Ron Netsky
Painter Philip Guston’s grave   Ron Netsky
Artist Milton Avery’s grave   Ron Netsky
Artist Jenne Magafan’s grave   Ron Netsky
You might also have an encounter with fairly fearless fawns!   adriennenne / Atlas Obscura User
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A few minutes’ walk from the Woodstock Village Green, which is often filled with lively music and art, is a patch of green on a hillside filled with music and art in a very different way.

The Woodstock Artists Cemetery was not originally founded to be the final resting place of the town's impressive creative population. Its original intention, positioned across the street from the Woodstock Cemetery, was to keep wealthier summer residents separated from the commoners in death.

Over time, Woodstock’s year-round population renamed and repurposed the burial ground and some of its most prominent artistic residents are laid to rest there. Perhaps most important are the founders of Byrdcliffe, the artists colony that made Woodstock what it is: Jane and Ralph Whitehead, Hervey White, and Bolton Brown, who carved his own birth and death dates (as he felt the end approaching) into a boulder for his grave marker.

In addition to major 20th century painters like Philip Guston and Milton Avery, the cemetery is home to a plethora of creative types, from bluegrass luminary John Herald to children’s book author Paula Danziger. Chevy Chase’s great-uncle Frank Swift Chase, a painter who cofounded the Woodstock Artists Association, and Howard Koch, who co-wrote the movie Casablanca, can be visited there as well.

Living artists of all kinds are also frequently seen at the cemetery, hoping to find inspiration among the graves of the inspired. Those graves, appropriate to such a cemetery, are often works of art themselves, created by some of Woodstock’s greatest sculptors. They are also mostly flat against the ground, supposedly so as not to obscure the dead’s view of Overlook Mountain.

Related Tags

Art Sculptures Cemeteries Gravestones Music Graves

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Added By

AaronNetsky

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adriennenne

  • adriennenne

Published

August 8, 2017

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  • http://woodstockartistscemetery.org
  • http://www.fodors.com/world/north-america/usa/new-york/the-catskills/things-to-do/sights/reviews/woodstock-artists-cemetery-437703
  • http://www.recordonline.com/article/20120527/NEWS/205270335
  • http://www.willnixon.com/insights/artists-cemetery
  • https://www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=cem&FScemeteryid=1512079
Woodstock Artists Cemetery
12 Mountainview Ave
Woodstock, New York
United States
42.043524, -74.120578
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Nearby Places

Woodstock School of Art Sculpture Garden

Woodstock, New York

miles away

Overlook Mountain House Ruins

Woodstock, New York

miles away

Opus 40

Saugerties, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Woodstock

Woodstock

New York

Places 3
Stories 1

Nearby Places

Woodstock School of Art Sculpture Garden

Woodstock, New York

miles away

Overlook Mountain House Ruins

Woodstock, New York

miles away

Opus 40

Saugerties, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Woodstock

Woodstock

New York

Places 3
Stories 1

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