Skinny Dipping in Old Hippie Land aka Woodstock, New York

[Danee]

This is an article I found on http://nudistnaturistamerica.org/skinny-dipping-woodstock-ny







Hippie Store on Tinker Street, Woodstock, NY



This past weekend Jordan and I took a day trip to upstate New York. We went to Woodstock, home of the naked hippies. Well, they’re not very naked anymore, but more on that later.


When people think of Woodstock, they usually think of the massive, legendary music festival that took place nearby in 1969. Decades before this festival, the town of Woodstock had established itself as a hub for artists, musicians and hippies, with its art colonies and summer music festivals. Incidentally, I’ve heard that the term “art colony” is how they came up with “nudist colony” in the 1900s, but have yet to verify this…Does anyone know? (Unfortunately “nudist colony” is a phrase that still persists today in spite of nudists’ efforts to stomp it out. Today we say nudist club or resort. FYI, using the phrase “nudist colony or “naturalist” is like writing “noob” across your forehead.) 


Today the town is still referred to as “Colony of the Arts” and has an active community of artists. The central area has quite a few art galleries and a lot of New Age shops. We saw a sign promoting a community drum circle. We also checked out their outdoor market where people sell clothing, crystals and gemstones, jewelry and homemade goods.


It was fun exploring the town, but the day was blistering hot, so we really wanted to find a spot to swim. I guess we were pretty confident we’d get to skinny dip because we didn’t even bother bringing our bathing suits. The website www.swimmingholes.org listed several areas, and we decided to try Big Deep. The website says, “Walk downstream for more remote places (downstream here bathing suits are NOT customary and many users would like to keep it that way!).” Well we’d find out if that was true. The directions were accurate, and we found the water just a short distance from the parking lot. There were a lot of people at the end of the trail, all in swimsuits. So we walked along the water and easily found a quiet area to strip down.







The water was very cold, but I managed to get in up to my waist. The bottom was mostly mud or clay, and I didn’t see any fish. We enjoyed the peaceful surroundings for a little while. It’s hard to say whether there is an actual tradition of nude swimming here, as we didn’t encounter anyone else doing it. On the way out we did run into a couple looking to do the same thing (or at least the girl was). It’s nice when some nudies establish a naked area like in New Paltz, but in the countryside, all you really need to find is a swimming spot with no one around, to go skinny dipping.








In regards to Woodstock, some of you might also think of Morley Schloss, majority shareholder of Sunsport Gardens resort and longtime leader in the naturist movement. Morley has often told the story of his first social nudity experience at the Woodstock Festival.  Here’s how he tells it to Stephane in his interview on the Naturist Living Show:


“My first experience was in August of 1969, and I, like thousands and thousands of other people, was at Woodstock. And it was muddy and rainy and I was there with a 2 year old and a 1 month old. Anyway, I needed to get clean and there was this pond behind the stage and there were people skinny dipping and I didn’t have a bathing suit so I tried it. I was a little scared, but I tried it and it was such an incredible feeling, feeling the air and water and sun all over me, that I was hooked immediately.”


Three days of nudity, drugs, free love, rock ‘n’ roll…when bodies weren’t so shameful and skinny-dipping was no big deal (in some places at least).


Just for fun, here’s a silent home video clip from the Woodstock Festival, showing people skinny dipping at 2:31.

[NaturalInNY]

I keep meaning to make it down there. Now I have another reason to go.