Woodstock's Aging "Message Tree" Reluctantly Removed

In the pre-cell phone era, finding a familiar face in the crowd of 400,000 people who sang, danced and slid in the mud at Woodstock '69 would have proven to be an impossible feat. But one red maple tree that stood 60 feet over the sea of concertgoers became an impromptu bulletin board and, inadvertently, a symbol of connection on that August weekend of peace, love and music.Fifty-five years after the festival’s muddy end, the tree was cut down September 25. Approximately 100 to 150 years old, the tree had been slowly dying and was in danger of falling.The Times Union's Maria Maria M. Silva has more.Image: Woodstock attendees hang out next to the Message Tree with many notes pinned to its trunk. (Credit: Ilene Levine/Bethel Woods Collection)