In 1901, Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead purchased around 1,000 acres of land near Woodstock, New York, in order to establish an artists' colony. He named it “Byrdcliffe,” combining his wife's middle name, Byrd, with a portion of his own middle name, -cliffe. During the winter of 1902, Whitehead initiated the construction of buildings, including housing for residents and studios and workshops for their use. One year later, Byrdcliffe had facilities for metalsmithing, woodworking, and pottery production, as well as an art studio, dairy, and library; over time, about thirty buildings were erected. The Whitehead residence, the main house on the property, was called “White Pines.”

Born in 1854 to Francis Frederick and Isabella Dalglish Whitehead, Ralph grew up in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, England. His father was partner in a financially rewarding business that manufactured felt used for dampers in pianos. The business still exists today, though not as a Whitehead family enterprise. Young Ralph received his early education at Harrow. He then attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied under John Ruskin, acknowledged to be “the philosophical fountainhead of the arts and crafts movement,” and also traveled to Italy with him. On this trip, Whitehead chose a Florentine lily to be his personal emblem. This motif later appeared in designs at Byrdcliffe. Whitehead finished his education at Oxford in 1880 with a Master of Arts degree. Little is known about his activities during the 1880s, although there is some evidence that he tried to start utopian communities in Italy and Austria. He married a German -- some accounts say Polish -- woman, but the marriage lasted only a short time.

In 1892, Whitehead married Jane Byrd McCall of Philadelphia. She had been born on September 22, 1858, and was the daughter of Jane Byrd Mercer and Peter McCall, an attorney and former mayor of Philadelphia. (Through her mother, Jane was related to Henry Chapman Mercer, the founder of the Moravian Pottery & Tile Works.) Jane and Ralph had met some time earlier in Europe, where she was traveling with her mother and sister Gertrude. As a socialite in Europe, Jane had taken instruction in drawing from Ruskin, studied art at the Academie Julian in Paris, and was presented to Queen Victoria in 1886. After their marriage, the Whiteheads settled in Santa Barbara, California, building a home there that they called “Arcady,” and buying some of their furniture from the English firm Morris and Company. Both were active in arts and crafts pursuits in Santa Barbara. By the time Byrdcliffe had been established in 1903, Whitehead had become a citizen of the United States, and he and his wife had had two children, Ralph, Jr., born in 1899, and Geoffrey Jocelyn, born in 1901 (he was called Peter beginning in 1912).

Names synonymous with the arts and crafts movement peopled Byrdcliffe during its early years, and they produced furniture, pottery, textiles, paintings, and artistic photographs. Jane Whitehead took particular interest in pottery and spent time in California taking lessons from Frederick Hurten Rhead. Whitehead’s interest in photography encouraged other photographers, including Jessie Tarbox Beals, to spend time at Byrdcliffe. However, by choice, furniture making was the predominant craft. In 1904, the busiest year for furniture production, about 50 pieces were made, including tables, chairs, lamp stands, shelves, bookcases, sideboards, and chiffonniers. Craftspeople mostly used local poplar and oak; some few pieces were of cherry or mahogany. Observers have remarked about the simplicity of Byrdcliffe furniture and its lack of refined proportions. Zulma Steele and Edna Walker, graduates of the Pratt School of Design, produced many of the furniture designs, ornaments, and decorations. Furniture making lasted only a couple of years. Afterwards, the community concentrated on pottery, weaving, and frame making. Ralph joined his wife in making pottery; he was particularly interested in glazes, and he also wove textiles.

Ultimately, Byrdcliffe failed as a community of artists. Its founder, Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, experienced difficulty relating to his residents, and after a time they left, never to return to his colony. In addition, it was hard to transport the furniture produced there to market. As time passed, Byrdcliffe simply became a place for the Whiteheads to raise their two children and to entertain family and friends, although the cottages built for craftspeople continued to be rented during the summers. In 1917, Jane wrote to her son, Ralph, Jr., “now let us realize that it has had its day--its raison d'etre has passed by.” Even so, because Byrdcliffe had acted as a magnet for arts and crafts practitioners, Woodstock, New York, lost its identity as a rural farming village and became a haven for artists.

Byrdcliffe remained in family hands for about seventy-five years. Ralph Whitehead died in 1929, only 25 years after Byrdcliffe had experienced its busiest times and just a few months after his eldest son had died in a shipwreck. Jane died on June 19, 1955, at a nursing home in Kingston, New York. She had survived the years between her husband’s death and her own by selling real estate holdings in California, including their homes “Arcady” and “Neroli,” both in Santa Barbara, as well as parts of the original Byrdcliffe tract. The youngest son, Peter, died at “White Pines,” the Whiteheads’ home at Byrdcliffe, in 1975. Today, the Woodstock Guild and private individuals own different portions of the property that once made up Byrdcliffe.