The historical line McDonald draws between the events of the sixties and those that happened long before that show that the Woodstock Festival wasn't a historical anomaly, but instead the culmination of a hundred years worth of developments, beginning with Thoreau’s sojourn at Walden Pond, the mysticism of The Catskill Mountain Painters, and the two arts colonies, Byrdcliffe Colony and The Maverick, which christened the town’s reputation as a colony of the arts.
McDonald’s lyrical segments on Byrdcliffe and The Maverick kick off the film and frame the events and characters that would come later in a historical context.
Byrdcliffe was founded in 1902 by Ralph Whitehead, an industrialist’s son who came from England to create a back-to-the land paradise in Woodstock devoted to the arts and creativity.
The Maverick was an offshoot of Byrdcliffe founded by Herve(y) White, and became known for their wild outdoor festivals of the teens and 20s which had a huge influence on the various Woodstock Festivals that were to come later.
[6] Beginning in the fall of 2009, McDonald lined up a slate of film screenings in and around the New York area.