Beverly Grant hitchhiked to the Woodstock festival in 1969. She arrived without a ticket and slept in straw.
Ellen Shelburne arrived in a VW Microbus. She slept in a small tent that she had set up.
Beverly and Ellen met at the festival and became friends. Now, 55 years later, the two are back where they first met. Except this time, they're in a luxury glamping tent.
Beverly and Ellen explain about the glamping tent.
“Glamping is definitely a lot better than anything anyone has to offer in Woodstock. It definitely puts us in a building on the ground, with a patio and deck.”
Grant: “And the bathroom!”
Shelburne: “And a bed with a mattress.”
Grant: “And a shower.”
Shelburne: “Yes, this tent has its own bathroom.”
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts recently welcomed the 76-year-old friends to the area to promote the site’s newly launched glamping facility and delve deeper into Shelburne’s collection of photos from the festival.
The Woodstock Festival was held in August 1969 in Bethel, New York. The once-treaded hillside near the main stage is now a manicured green space near a museum themed around Woodstock and the 60s. There is also a concert pavilion.
Visiting the place where they first met, Ellen and Beverly were momentarily stunned. They were flooded with memories, what they did at that time.
Ellen retraces the steps she took as a 21-year-old college student in photos taken by her then-boyfriend, and now-husband, David Shelburne.
“I’m back in the same place (55 years ago). I see this person in the photo, my photo, but that person just started living at that age. And now I look back at the hard things in my life.”
The two women toured the festival site for several days. From the stage area to the forest where the traders set up their stalls.
Of course, the place has changed a lot. There are now fancy tents, fences and a museum. But Ellen and Beverly say they feel the same way they did when they were 21.
Ellen expressed her feelings, “That was probably, a very profound moment in my life in every way. So the atmosphere here has that same feel, still friendly, open, welcoming, calm, gentle. That kind of atmosphere is hard to find nowadays.”
Ellen and Beverly said they were thrilled to be able to “fly” back to those days after decades. For Beverly, “It’s so cool to see the festival forever etched in history, and we’re part of that history.” (ka/ab)
