Hundreds of friends and fans have joined in song to honour Pete Seeger, doing what the folk singer loved best.

No services were planned after Seeger died at 94 last Monday, but Libby Funeral Home in Beacon, New York, put on a reception.

By early afternoon yesterday, more than 1,000 people had visited the undertaker's, where an urn containing Seeger's ashes was displayed along with photos and Seeger's wood-splitting maul.

At one point, a packed roomful of people sang Where Have All the Flowers Gone, one of the early folk ballads penned by Seeger.

His family hosted the reception, where two rooms were decorated with numerous quilts, photographs and memorabilia, said Seeger's granddaughter Isabelle Blossom-Seeger.

Seeger and his wife Toshi, who died in July, lived in Beacon for 40 years. They founded the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater and the Great Hudson River Revival, an annual music and environmental festival at Croton Point Park.

The singer-songwriter, political activist and environmentalist was known for such folk classics as Turn, Turn, Turn and If I Had a Hammer.

Ms Blossom-Seeger said a memorial concert would be held this summer.