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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
Now refreshed, we're off to the next historical park, this time in Woodstock, Vermont.
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
Here Bob is getting his Passport Book stamped, and we sign up for the guided tour of the house, given every hour or so.
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
Our docent explains the overriding theme of this park is stewardship. The short story is George Perkins Marsh (1801-1882) purchased the land and created the estate partly in reaction to the severe erosion and flooding caused by over-logging Vermont's forests. His book, Man and Nature (1864) became one of the founding texts of the environmental movement.
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
Photography is not allowed inside the house, so photos of the exterior and grounds will have to suffice.
To continue my short story, in 1869 Frederick Billings, a Vermont native, returning from making his fortune as an attorney in the gold rush heyday in California, purchased the property and was also dismayed by the barren hills, silted rivers and devastated countryside he returned to. He developed one of the nation's first programs of scientific forest management, hoping to restore the land to it's former glorious self.
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
His wife and daughters continued with his plan of renovation after his death. Then in 1934 Mary French, Billings granddaughter, married Laurance Rockefeller. Both she and Rockefeller were committed conservationists, and together established their home as Vermont's first National Park.
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
After our tour of the house and gardens, we head back home. We find the little town of Woodstock charming, and get out of the car to take these few pictures.
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
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| From Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park |
We return to New Hampshire, and tomorrow I'm determined to find out what this zip lining is all about.
For further information: Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park
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