Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park

July 2025 was largely spent with my wife traveling in the Adirondacks and northern New England hiking, camping, backpacking, and exploring. The trip was awesome, but a clear highlight was our visit to Woodstock VT and the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park (MBR). And the Woodstock visit included an added bonus.

MBR celebrates the rise and development of responsible environmental stewardship in America. Insofar as that is really what this Collection and website are about, it was incredibly meaningful to me. But notably my wife, who is much less steeped in the subject than I, enjoyed it equally.

We did a long hike through the longest continuous scientifically managed forest in the country, then did an hour-long tour of the beautifully preserved mansion on the property led by an NPS ranger named Nick, who had spent most of his 30+ year NPS career as an engineer working on Western parks. He was fantastic. In addition to the history of the property and the conservation efforts there, an unexpected highlight was the wonderful Hudson River School paintings by various artists including Thomas Cole. Alfred Bierstadt was particularly well represented, with several stunning works.

MBR is the site of the home where George Perkins Marsh was raised. The house was significantly expanded by the property's subsequent owners, the Billings and Rockefeller families who, inspired by Marsh's pioneering work Man and Nature (1864) nurtured a tradition of responsible stewardship of the land,

Frederick Billings was a railroad magnate and real estate developer in the West who became enamored with the trees and landscapes of Yosemite and was an advocate for the establishment and expansion of various national parks. He returned to Vermont, his birthplace, and ultimately acquired the Marsh family home. Vermont and its farmers were suffering at the time from the effects of decades of deforestation - Billings introduced scientific forestry and agricultural practices. They became a model for the state and well known nationwide.

When Billings died in 1890, his wife and daughters took over the farm, continuing and expanding Frederick's work in the ensuing decades. Billings' granddaughter, Mary French Rockefeller, married Lawrence Rockefeller, and they lived in the mansion while gifting the entire property to the American people as a National Historic Park. Lawrence and Mary are renowned as leading conservationists of their day.

There are 64 National Historic Parks (and an additional 85 National Historic Sites), most of which are managed by the NPS. (One exception is Gifford Pinchot's family home, Grey Towers, in PA.) MBR does an outstanding job at what it tries to do but for my money, it would be wonderful if it could be expanded to encompass the history of the entire American environmental conservation movement. A huge task admittedly (as amply demonstrated by the breadth of the Collection and this website). Given the current political environment, I am not holding my breath.

The bonus of the Woodstock leg came when Maria and I wandered into Pleasant Street Antiquarian Book Store down the street from our hotel. It turned out that I had purchased the US first edition of Marsh's book (a presentation copy to VT Senator Jacob Collamer) from the shop and its most genial owner, Sonny Saul, a number of years ago. That may be my favorite book in the entire Collection. It was great to meet and chat with Sonny, who of course well remembered the sale. The shop itself is a gem - worth a longer browse than we were able to give it.

Woodstock is a lovely, quintessentially New England town. I highly recommend a visit there and to both MBR and Sonny's shop should you find yourself in the area.