Walking Woodstock
Journeys into the Wild Heart of America's Most Famous Small Town

Michael Perkins and Will Nixon

At a poetry gathering one evening, Michael Perkins and Will Nixon decided to walk across Woodstock, not just the modern town of busy roads but the older village of bluestone quarries, abandoned forest paths, and mountain views they had all to themselves. Walking Woodstock collects their adventures, many first published in the Woodstock Times, that ranged from the delights of finding spring flowers to the fears of a mountain rescue. Full of humor, history, friendship, nature, hikers' lore, and walkers' musings, these journeys reveal the wild heart that beats in all of us when we set forth to explore our home terrain on foot.

“The Hudson Valley has produced some of the great peregrinations of our time, most notably John Burroughs, an inveterate walker. Add Michael Perkins and Will Nixon to the list—these are charming essays, some of them with a bit more bite than you’d guess!”
   --Bill McKibben, Wandering Home

“Here is an insider’s book of Woodstock trails, with good stories on ‘lost roads,’ cairns, forgotten history, and above all—walking. If this inspired book doesn’t get us up and out and walking, nothing will.”
   --Gioia Timpanelli, What Makes a Child Lucky

“No more informed, energized, cantankerous and amiable company could be found than these two foot soldiers of field and stream. Let them guide you where they go. And feel free to follow in their footsteps.”
   --Spider Barbour, Wild Flora of the Northeast

“Far more than yet another trail guide. This forest historian reviewer has only a limited familiarity with the Woodstock area. For those sites he has not yet visited, Perkins' and Nixon's essays have created the reaction: 'I want to go! I want to see these places! Take me there!'”
     --Michael Kudish, The Catskill Forest: A History

• Table of Contents

• A Declaration of Independence - Michael Perkins

• The Last Radical Act in Woodstock - Will Nixon

• Excerpts

Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, 6 pm

Barnes & Noble will host an event for Onteora High School students who are using chapters from Walking Woodstock as models to compose their own walking essays.

Barnes & Noble is at 1177 Ulster Ave. in Kingston.

Saturday, May 1, at 7 pm

The Olive Free Library will host a reading and book signing.

The Olive Free Library is at 4033 State Route 28-A in West Shokan.

Saturday, May 8, at l0 am

Michael Perkins will lead a historical walking tour of the village of Woodstock. The walk will start at the Golden Notebook. The Mid-Hudson Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club is sponsoring the walk.

The Golden Notebook is at 29 Tinker Street in Woodstock.

Thursday, June 3, at 7 pm

Barnes & Noble will host a book signing in advance of National Trails Day on Saturday, June 5th.

Barnes & Noble is at 1177 Ulster Avenue in Kingston.

Saturday, June 12, at 2 pm

The Woodstock Historical Society will host a book sign­ing and a walk through the Comeau property.

The Woodstock Historical Society is located above the lower parking lot at the Comeau.

Sunday, June 20, at 4 pm

The Woodstock Land Conservancy has invited us to host a Summer Solstice Celebration at the Zena Cornfield where half-a-dozen poet friends will read summer poems.

The Zena Cornfield is on Zena Road just southeast of Route 212.

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