OMC has recruited prominent locals to support the effort. Woodstock poet, musician, and activist Ed Sanders speaks briefly in the opening frames of the video pitch on the IndieGoGo site. Sanders served for many years as secretary to the late Catskills historian Alf Evers, who was committed, observed Kreisberg, to preserving historic sites in the region.
Attorney Jerry Wapner, who has counseled institutions such as the KTD Monastery, Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, and Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, is advising OMC and will oversee the process of creating the conservation easements necessary to protect the property in perpetuity. Kreisberg said, “Jerry has a deep love for Overlook and wants to help with our mission. He’s not representing us as counsel but advising us.” In the 1970s, Wapner and his partners developed 600 acres on Mt. Tobias, in the western part of Woodstock, dividing it into large, wooded lots that strove to maintain the wild look of the area.
Steep price for Land Conservancy
In 1972, the Lewis Hollow property was nearly bought by a developer who had gotten as far as mapping out a subdivision of 30 lots on the lower parcel and filing plans with the county. Due to an error in advertising the public hearing, the project was delayed long enough for artist Milton Glaser and two other buyers to swoop in and purchase the property out from under the developer.
The owners, having kept the property wild for 40 years, decided last year they wanted to sell. The Woodstock Land Conservancy attempted to buy the land for preservation but could not meet the price of $630,000 and was unable to negotiate a deal.
Kreisberg has been fascinated by the stone structures on the upper parcel since he was asked, in his professional role as a radio frequency engineer, to provide an opinion on the siting of a cell tower at nearby California Quarry. He believes the formations may come from a period long before the initial contact of Native Americans and settlers from Europe. “Who were first humans to encounter Overlook Mountain?” he mused. “It’s an open question whether it was 10,000 or 25,000 years ago — it keeps getting pushed farther back.” New research indicates that, contrary to the theory that all Native Americans are descended from Asian peoples who migrated across the land bridge at the present-day Bering Strait, some populations may have come from Europe. They would have crossed the Atlantic in boats, following the retreat of the glacial ice.
Such theories would be explored in a small interpretive center that OMC will consider building on the lower parcel once the land has been acquired. It would educate visitors about the interaction of humans with Overlook Mountain, from the Native Americans to the utopian communities that defined Woodstock in the early 1900s and the more recent arrival of the Tibetan Buddhists. A section would be devoted to settlers who made their livelihood from the mountain’s resources, including timber harvesting, quarrying, and glassblowing. “The timber industry took every tree on the mountain,” Kreisberg said, “It was denuded of trees until recently. There are lessons here to remind us if we take the time to think about it.”
Kreisberg is concerned that if OMC is not able to buy the land soon, a developer will snatch it away. Public events are planned, including talks and tours on the history and cultural significance of the land. The 60-day IndieGoGo campaign will run through mid-August and offers perks to contributors of various amounts, ranging from a glossy photo of the mountain to a guided tour of the property.
To donate to the Overlook Mountain Center or to view a video on the organization’s goals, go to https://www.indiegogo.com.
