In honor of the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, I thought I would tell you about the trip that Sugar and I took to Woodstock in March of 2019. Unlike the original Woodstock music festival that took place on a 600+ acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, we visited the Town of Woodstock, Georgia.
Very sadly, my husbands Aunt Elaine, passed away and we were in town for the day to attend her funeral services at First Baptist Church, Woodstock. Now that is an impressive mega church. I had personally only spent a handful of times with Aunt Elaine but she became very important to me in a short amount of time and we were shocked at the sudden turn of events that left us grieving her loss. In fact, we had a road trip planned with her in April. The timing was just horrible.
After the beautiful celebration of her life the family gathered for lunch and then headed back home in many different directions. We decided to stick around and check out the town that Elaine called home, Woodstock, Georgia.
Woodstock is about 3o miles north of Atlanta and 240 miles west of Columbia, SC where we were traveling from. We were aware that we would have to travel through Atlanta traffic so were careful to plan the timing of our trip accordingly and surprisingly it wasn’t a terrible trip to make all in one day.
When we arrived in the town of Woodstock we were pleasantly surprised by our findings. Cute shops, rooftop restaurants and bars, an old record store, a spa, a brewery and so much enjoyable outdoor space. Since we’d just finished lunch with the family we were not able to try out any of the restaurants but they all looked great. The brewery was hopping with live music and families playing games outside. There’s a large amphitheater in a local park that we are sure features fantastic music. I was overwhelmed by the eclectic art exhibits all around town and how many people were just out and about enjoying the day, riding bikes and skateboards, walking around, sitting outside of cafes, there was even a lovely outdoor fireplace.
https://visitwoodstockga.com/ Their website refers to it as “a City unexpected” and I would agree that is the perfect slogan. If you are ever in the Atlanta area but want something off the beaten path, definitely give this town an opportunity. I found the cutest pieces of clothing to bring back and add to my wardrobe and after walking around for a bit we shared a piece of pie from a local shop before heading home. Our only regret is that Aunt Elaine was able to show us around her quaint town and we are certainly kicking ourselves for not visiting her before. Life is so very short.
This might not be the same historic Woodstock that you’ve heard of but it’s definitely a town worth getting to know. I hope this is an encouragement for you to fill the tank up with gas and take a road trip this weekend.
The Southern Curious Itinerant Blog 