Museum at Bethel Woods Ranks Among Best in the U.S.

The museum ranked just behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in USA Today poll.

The Museum at Bethel Woods in Bethel, NY is an amzing look back at the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival and its significance as a culminating event of a decade of radical cultural transformation, along with the continuing legacies of both the 1960s and Woodstock.

Officially opening in 2006, the museum features permanent exhibits including The Sixties, The Woodstock Festival, Three Days of Peace and Music, and Impact of Woodstock & The Sixties, each featuring film and interactive displays, text panels, and collections of artifacts. The 7000 square foot museum includes a 132 seat high def theater and a 4300 square foot gallery along with classrooms, a cafe and museum shop.

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Not Just a Music Museum

The museum is more than just a focus on music though with exhibits, personal stories and a  multimedia experience on vaarious aspects of the 1960's like fashion and political protest. Also issues like the baby boom, Cold War, Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, and the assassinations and riots that occurred during the decade, all of which contribute to the context of Woodstock.

Museum at Bethel Woods Places 4th in USA Today Poll

We reported back in January that the Museum at Bethel Woods was nominated for a prestigous award, and that was in USA Today's 2024 Readers' Choice Awards for Best Music Museum. Well, the results are in and the The Museum at Bethel Wood has been dubbed the fourth-best music museum in the nation, ranking just behind the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio and the Johnny Cash Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. See the full list here.

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Pretty impressive to be in the top 5 of best music museums, and so cool that they are right in our own backyard in Sullivan County. If you've never been to the Museum at Bethel Woods before, you must visit! Make it a day trip for the museum alone, or include it in a full day visit when attending a concert at the venue this summer. Congrats to Bethel Woods on this amazing honor for the museum!