One of our readers, Carrie, sent the following report from the New Lebanon, NY location of Taking Woodstock on Friday night. She has a few good tips for anyone who was planning on visiting the site.
No one was on set at the time of the pictures, except one security guy sitting around watching things. It was a small town, blink of an eye and you were through it, so don’t think there is anything of substance in the area except farms and cornfields! When we arrived on Friday around 8:30pm, it was already dark and very rainy, so I didn’t even know that was the set! It was basically pitch black, which I wasn’t expecting, but they were either filming a scene with a limousine in it or someone was leaving for the weekend after their shoot. Like I said, I didn’t realize that was the set (couldn’t see the sign for the El Monaco hotel at all in the dark), so I didn’t take any pictures of it. I did talk to one of the flagmen down the street though, they have rented out BOTH sides of the street, so it’s not like you can park and watch filming, you basically have to keep moving to take pictures while they are shooting. No one is allowed to stop and get out. There was a state trooper parked in the church parking lot (where the picture of the sign with Welcome Taking Woodstock was taken). If you went by too many times, the flagmen is actually supposed to summon the state trooper to warn you. So anyone else who is going to try to see filming, those are the rules I was told! Figured it’s better to be warned.
I took all sorts of pictures on Saturday while no one was around, down the street there is a huge office building where they had the other vintage cars sitting at that weren’t on set. Went driving around the general area and towns to the N/S/E/W of New Lebanon and there were a few signs with TW with arrows, so we followed just to see where they would lead us. Well, it was a bust, as we saw two signs and then they stopped, so not sure if it was a trail leading them to the NYS Thruway or not. Had to be though, cuz we went a far distance out of our way in all directions to no avail.
I saw people on Friday night, just couldn’t see what was going on. They didn’t have it lit up in the slightest, so it was just a bunch of people in the dark.
She also sent a few pictures of attractions near New Lebanon including The Shaker Village and Queechy Lake. Check out all of her pictures below. (Thanks Carrie!)
There were no lights because the company took the Labor Day weekend off. Shooting resumes in about an hour.
“There were no lights because the company took the Labor Day weekend off”
Maybe the weekend, but they were filming Friday night…….