The Legendary Duke Devlin

His story began in 1969. Duke said he was living in a commune near Amarillo Texas. He traveled to another part of Texas to meet a friend who told him there was the promise of good jobs in construction in Alaska working on a new pipeline being built. While at his friends place he met another guy who needed a road buddy to go with him as he hitchhiked to visit his girlfriend in New Hope Pennsylvania.  At first Duke didn't want to go although he was familiar with the area since he was born in Brooklyn, but after his friend couldn't find anyone else, Duke reconsidered and said, “I'll go with you, but we're not staying that long”. They hitchhiked to New Hope, PA only to find that his girlfriend was gone. After hanging around New Hope for a few days they heard stories about an upcoming festival called “Woodstock” that was going to be held in upstate New York. But the event sounded too good to be true. However, Duke wanted to get back to the southwest to meet this guy to go to Alaska. His friend showed him the Woodstock pamphlet/flyer. The pamphlet listed the performers who were the "who's who" of the culture at the time. Once Duke read the pamphlet he knew he had to go.

He and his friend hitchhiked up to Bethel, N.Y. and arrived a couple of days before the Woodstock event with fifty cents in his pocket. He thought he was in upstate New York near Canada because he saw a sign that said “Lake Superior”.  Duke and his traveling buddy got separated at Hurd Road (Duke said he never saw his friend again).  He got a job at a foodstand making hotdogs and hamburgers ($2 an hour plus all you could eat) during the Woodstock event.  He said it was an amazing weekend with a lot of “herbs and spices” floating around.

Duke stayed to help clean up after the Woodstock event and then got a job on the dairy farm right across the street. Time went by, and he met his wife and settled in Jeffersonville. After that he got a job at Sullivan County B.O.C.E.S. where he worked for 27 years and became head of the maintenance department. He and his wife built a small farmers market outside of Jeffersonville and ran it for several years.

By 1989 the memory of Woodstock was fading. As fate would have it, Duke was visited by a woman reporter from France who was looking for any hippies left in Sullivan County from the Woodstock event. She was told there was and he lived in Jeffersonville, N.Y. Duke met and talked talked with the reporter. She wrote an article about it for a newspaper in Paris. The story went out on the A.P. Wire and soon people began coming to the Woodstock site in droves.

Soon after the Gerry Foundation purchased the property they wanted to put on a little show in the original area where the Woodstock show was held. They asked Duke to get involved. It was clear they were testing the waters for what would later become the Bethel Woods Center for the Performing Arts. The show was a success.. People Came. And later the performing arts center was built.

Jonathan Drapkin, CEO at the time asked Duke to become the Bethel Woods Site Interpreter. His job was to sit by the Woodstock monument and tell people stories about the Woodstock event. Duke went on to tell us stories about all the famous performers and celebrities he gave tours around the Bethel Woods Site in his eight seater golf cart. He mentioned Brad Paisley, Ringo Starr, Tony Bennett, Crosby-Stills-Nash-and Young, and Dave Matthews.

Duke is retired now and he said he really enjoyed his years at Bethel Woods. “It wasn't a job... it was a privilege”, he said.