Finding Woodstock

By Jeff Widmer

Woodstock, Vietnam and the Tocks Island Dam—all hot button issues that divided a nation and a town. The Sixties were filled with a mix of conflict and hope, with madness and music, and the Delaware River became ground zero for that fight.

In Finding Woodstock, Jeff Widmer reflects on one of America’s most turbulent times as he examines the promise of a generation and the decade that shaped our lives. A companion to the novel Born Under a Bad Sign, the collection provides the backstory to a generation that is still trying to get back to the garden.

With original photography by the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeff Widmer
• Release date: Jun 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463001097

Jeff Widmer

Jeff Widmer is the author of the CW McCoy and the Brinker series of crime novels and well as numerous standalone novels and non-fiction books. A former journalist, advertising executive and nationally syndicated reviewer, his work has appeared in publications ranging from Advertising Age to US Airways magazine to National Geographic World.

Book preview

Finding Woodstock

Reflections on the Sixties

Jeff Widmer

Published in the United States in 2019 by Allusion Books, Sarasota, Florida. Allusion Books and the Allusion Books colophon are registered trademarks of Jeff Widmer.

http://jeffwidmer.com

Copyright © 2019 by Jeff Widmer

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

FIRST U.S. EDITION

Contents

Finding Woodstock

Talkin’ ’bout My Generation

By the Time We Got to Woodstock

Big Battle for a Little Island

A Tocks on All Your Houses

Happy Trails to You

War Invades the Home Front

All Things Must Pass

Sword and Shield

Sympathy for the Devil

Burning Down the House

When Pigs Fly

Happy Birthday, Woodstock

Acknowledgements

Books by Jeff Widmer

About the Author

Connect

We are stardust

We are golden

Caught in the devil’s bargain

And we’ve got to get ourselves

Back to the garden

— Joni Mitchell, Woodstock

Talkin’ ‘bout My Generation

I CAME OF age in the 1960s, absorbing the culture, identifying with the music, praying I wouldn’t get drafted and shipped to Southeast Asia.

The decade began with a revolt against the restrictions of the 1950s and folded back in on itself. Along the way, it bounced from one extreme to another. We witnessed the British Invasion and the invasion of Vietnam. We marched for peace and rioted for justice. We experimented with transcendental meditation for clarity and hash for escape. At Woodstock, we celebrated togetherness and the dream of peace. Four months later, the innocence died at the Altamont Speedway.

At the time, none of it made sense. Fifty years on and we have