A five-story spiral house, monsters in a grain elevator, Catskills cider, The Fugs in Woodstock, vintage finds, and folk culture on Pete Seeger’s Hudson.
This week, we went looking for the places that make you stop and say, Wait—that’s here?
There’s a five-story spiral house rising from an abandoned bluestone quarry outside Saugerties. Down in Wassaic, a seven-story grain elevator is filled with monsters and strange little worlds. And in Callicoon, an organic orchard turns dozens of apple and pear varieties into Catskills cider inside a building engineered to waste remarkably little energy.
Then there’s the weekend itself: vintage finds in Windham, The Fugs in Woodstock, corn and folk culture on the Hudson—and, because it’s Woodstock anniversary weekend, The Greatest Festival of All Time on Radio Woodstock.
Explore the Hudson Valley
Two places where the setting is every bit as surprising as what you find inside.
Photo credit: Spiral House Park.
There Is a Five-Story Spiral House Hiding in a Bluestone Quarry
Spiral House Park · Saugerties
For four decades, artist Tom Gottsleben and Patty Livingston transformed the site of an abandoned bluestone quarry into a landscape of gardens, stone walls, woodland paths, crystal glass, and more than 50 sculptures. In 2025, the 45-acre property opened for the public to explore.
At its center is the five-story Spiral House, created from quarry stone and shaped around the proportions of a nautilus shell. Nearby, twelve towering stone arches form the Rainbow Portal around a crystal centerpiece that catches and scatters sunlight.
Why we recommend it: This does not feel like discovering another attraction. It feels like discovering an entire private universe that was hiding between Woodstock and Saugerties.
Saturdays and Sundays, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. through August · Grounds pass $15 adults; $10 students, seniors, veterans, and neighbors; $5 children under 12 · Spiral House interior tours require a separate timed reservation · 1.7 miles of woodland trails · 185 Fish Creek Road, Saugerties · Plan your visit
Photo credit: The Wassaic Project.
A Seven-Story Grain Elevator Is Full of Monsters
Because, now is the time of monsters · The Wassaic Project, Wassaic
At the end of the Harlem Valley, a former grain elevator has been turned into one of the stranger places to see contemporary art in the region.
The Wassaic Project’s summer exhibition fills Maxon Mills floor by floor with work from dozens of artists. This year that means everything from a giant inflatable mouth filled with teeth to pastel ceramic bear traps, shadowy cyanotypes, illuminated motel scenes, and entire galaxies painted inside cups of coffee.
Why we recommend it: It is not just the art. It is taking an old elevator up through a seven-story grain mill and having each floor get a little stranger.
Thursday–Sunday, noon–5 p.m. · On view through September 13 · Free; $10 suggested donation · Maxon Mills, 37 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic · See the exhibition
Worth the Drive
An orchard-to-glass Catskills detour built around a different idea of how cider can be made.
Photo credit: Seminary Hill.
This Catskills Cidery Was Built to Make Cider With Almost No Wasted Energy
Orchard & Cidery Tour · Seminary Hill, Callicoon
Seminary Hill starts with an orchard: 12 organic acres planted with 1,500 apple and pear trees representing 60 different varieties. But what happens after the fruit comes off the tree is what makes this place especially interesting.
Sunday’s tour goes behind the scenes of the cidery, designed to Passive House standards to dramatically reduce its energy use while turning fruit from the surrounding orchard into Catskills cider. The visit ends the way a tour of a cidery should—with a guided tasting.
Why it’s worth the drive: This is not just a tasting room with a nice view. It is a chance to follow the process from an orchard full of unusual apple varieties into a building engineered around a completely different idea of how food and drink can be made.
Sunday, August 16 · 11 a.m.–noon · Reservations required · 43 Wagner Lane, Callicoon · Tour and reservation information
This Weekend
Counterculture history in Woodstock, a Catskills market, and a riverfront festival with deep Hudson Valley roots.
Photo credit: Byrdcliffe Arts Colony.
The Band That Tried to Levitate the Pentagon Is Playing Woodstock
The Fugs at Byrdcliffe Barn · Woodstock
Before punk had a name, The Fugs were combining poetry, primitive rock and roll, political satire, humor, and antiwar protest on New York’s Lower East Side. Their history even includes taking part in the infamous 1967 attempt to symbolically levitate the Pentagon.
Founder Ed Sanders and the current lineup come to Byrdcliffe for two nights, while Saturday afternoon adds a screening of Fugs Film! followed by a conversation with director Chuck Smith and Sanders.
Why we recommend it: A foundational counterculture band performing inside one of Woodstock’s historic arts colonies is exactly the kind of strange alignment of music, history, and place we love.
Concerts Friday, August 14 and Saturday, August 15, 8–10 p.m. · Fugs Film! screening and conversation Saturday, 3–5 p.m. · Concerts at Byrdcliffe Barn, 485 Upper Byrdcliffe Road; screening at Byrdcliffe Theatre, 380 Upper Byrdcliffe Road · Tickets and event information
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Photo credit: Summer Market Instagram.
Vintage Finds, Makers & Music Take Over a Catskills Hotel
Summer Market · Wylder Windham
This is less farmers market and more Catskills summer hangout. Wylder Windham is filling its grounds with a curated mix of vintage finds, handmade goods, art, food, drinks, treats, gifts, and music.
Set against the Catskill Mountains, the market brings independent makers and small businesses together for a full afternoon of browsing, eating, listening, and finding something you definitely did not arrive planning to buy.
Why we recommend it: The best markets turn into accidental afternoons. You stop for one table, discover another maker, hear some music, grab something to eat, and suddenly it is three hours later.
Saturday, August 15 · 11 a.m.–6 p.m. · Free admission · Wylder Windham, 19 Route 296, Windham · Event information
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Photo credit: Beacon Sloop Club.
Corn, Folk Music & a Wooden Sloop on Pete Seeger’s Hudson
Beacon Sloop Club Corn Festival · Beacon
Some Hudson Valley festivals feel like they could happen anywhere. This one could really only happen on the Hudson.
The Beacon Sloop Club’s annual Corn Festival brings corn, food, live music, crafts, and environmental organizations to Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park, continuing the kind of community-minded river culture that has long defined Beacon’s relationship with the Hudson.
The festival also supports the club’s public sailing program aboard the Woody Guthrie, the wooden sloop associated with Pete Seeger and the movement to reconnect people with the river.
Why we recommend it: Corn is almost beside the point. This is Hudson Valley folk culture in one afternoon—music, boats, environmental activism, handmade things, and Pete Seeger’s legacy sitting right on the river.
Sunday, August 16 · Noon–5 p.m. · Rain or shine · Pete and Toshi Seeger Riverfront Park, 1 Flynn Drive, Beacon · Event information
Plan Ahead
A late-August night of rock-and-roll photography and music worth putting on the calendar now.
Photo credit: Bahram Foroughi / Flaming Lips at Kings Theatre.
Rock & Roll, Seen from the Pit
Bahram Foroughi: Rock n’ Roll Photography Exhibit · The Pines, Mount Tremper
Photographer Bahram Foroughi brings a collection of rock-and-roll photography to The Pines in Mount Tremper, turning the Catskills bar, restaurant, and lodge into an informal gallery filled with images made from inside the music world.
The exhibition is already hanging, but August 26 is the night to circle: Foroughi hosts an opening reception beginning at 4 p.m., followed at 7 p.m. by friends providing the evening’s soundtrack.
Why we’re circling it: This feels like the Hudson Valley at its best—music photography hanging in a roadside Catskills gathering place, followed by live music with the photographer and friends in the room.
Wednesday, August 26 · Opening reception begins at 4 p.m.; music follows at 7 p.m. · The Pines, 5327 Route 212, Mount Tremper · Artist information
On Our Radar
Curated each week by the Radio Woodstock team. Have a great weekend, keep Radio Woodstock on for The Greatest Festival of All Time, and if you discover someplace that makes you think how did I not know this was here?, send it our way. Those are exactly the places we want to find. We’ll be back next Thursday with another edition of Circle This.
—The Radio Woodstock Team