Some venues are built for music. The Ashokan Center was built by it. Tucked into 385 acres of Catskill Mountain forest in Olivebridge, New York, this is the place where Jay Ungar sat down after the 1982 summer season of fiddle camps and wrote “Ashokan Farewell” — the tune that would become the haunting musical backbone of Ken Burns’ PBS documentary “The Civil War” and one of the most recognized melodies in American folk music. The song was named for this land. The camps that inspired it are still running. And the Center itself has evolved from a state university field campus into one of the most singular music and nature destinations in the Northeast.
From Field Campus to Cultural Landmark
The land has been an outdoor education site since 1967, when SUNY New Paltz established the Ashokan Field Campus here for environmental science and recreation programs. For decades, schools sent students to explore the forests, waterfalls, stream-fed ponds, and open meadows that define the property. But in 2006, when the university moved to sell the campus, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason — the husband-and-wife duo who had been running music and dance camps on the grounds since 1981 — formed the Ashokan Foundation to save it.
The acquisition by the Open Space Conservancy in 2008 preserved the 385-acre property, and the Ashokan Center emerged as a nonprofit dedicated to teaching, inspiring, and building community through nature, history, music, and art. Ungar and Mason’s fingerprints are on everything. Their vision turned what could have become another lost public space into a living institution where traditional music thrives in the kind of setting that most musicians only dream about.
The Music Camps
The Ashokan Music and Dance Camps are the heart of the operation, and they have been running in various forms since 1981 — originally as Fiddle and Dance Camps, now expanded to roughly a dozen week-long sessions each year for adults and families. Each week has its own musical personality.
Western and Swing Week dives into vintage jazz, swing, Western swing, and country, with classes in fiddle, mandolin, guitar, piano, bass, percussion, singing, and practical music theory. Evenings bring themed dance parties with live bands. Southern Week centers Appalachian music traditions — old-time fiddle tunes, clawhammer banjo, and mountain singing. Northern Week draws from New England, Quebec, Sweden, France, and the British Isles, reflecting the global reach of the folk and traditional music communities that have adopted Ashokan as home base. Additional camps cover bluegrass, acoustic guitar, and family-focused programming that brings kids into the tradition alongside their parents.
The instruction is serious but the atmosphere is not. These are not conservatory workshops — they are immersive weeks where fiddlers, guitarists, mandolin players, ukulele players, percussionists, singers, and dancers of all levels come together to learn, jam, and dance in a setting where the Catskills provide the backdrop and the community provides the energy. Jams run late. Song swaps happen on porches. Band labs let participants form pickup groups and perform for each other. It is summer camp for adults who never outgrew the need to make music with other people.
Beyond the Camps
The Ashokan Center’s calendar extends well beyond the summer camp season. Public concerts, contradances, and special events bring audiences to the property throughout the year. Jay Ungar and Molly Mason perform regularly, and guest artists from the folk, bluegrass, and traditional music worlds rotate through. The Center also hosts nature and history workshops, blacksmithing conferences, and retreat groups — a programming mix that reflects the property’s dual identity as both a music venue and a nature preserve.
The facilities include multiple performance and gathering spaces, residential buildings with names like Longhouse, Red Maple, and Sycamore, and a dining hall where Chef William Warnes and his team serve meals sourced from local and organic farmers. For camp attendees and retreat participants, the on-site lodging and food are part of the package — you eat, sleep, and make music without ever leaving the property. It is a model that creates the kind of immersive experience that day-trip venues simply cannot replicate.
Getting There and Making a Trip of It
The Ashokan Center is at 477 Beaverkill Road in Olivebridge, about 20 minutes west of Kingston and roughly two hours north of New York City. This is deep Catskills territory — the final stretch of the drive winds through the kind of scenery that reminds you why people have been retreating to these mountains for centuries. There is ample parking on the grounds, and the rural setting means you will want a car to get here.
Dining options nearby require a short drive, but the detour is worth it. Bread Alone in Woodstock (about 20 minutes north) is a beloved bakery and cafe serving wood-fired breads, pastries, and sandwiches made from locally milled grains. Garden Cafe, also in Woodstock, offers a plant-based menu in a setting that fits the town’s creative, laid-back spirit. Closer to the Center, The Country Inn in nearby Krumville offers intimate dinners at the base of the Catskills with a focus on locally sourced ingredients.
Insider Notes
If you are attending a week-long camp, book early — sessions fill well in advance, and the most popular weeks (Western and Swing, Southern) have loyal followings who return year after year. For public concerts and events, check the online calendar and buy tickets ahead; the Center’s 200-person capacity means shows sell out quietly. Bring layers — Catskill Mountain evenings cool down fast, even in summer, and many events happen partially outdoors. And if you are a musician, bring your instrument. Unplanned jams are part of the culture here, and the porch sessions are often as memorable as the formal programming.
For the full events calendar and camp registration, visit ashokancenter.org.