Marsh-Billings- Rockefeller Mansion - National Historic Park

The next morning we drove back to Woodstock and Billings Farm and Museum. We had paid for a two day pass, since we had got there late the day before. We got to the horse barn just in time to hear the end of the information on draft horses. The schedule changes each day with different sessions on different subjects. This horse is a bit smaller than Jim and Joe. Her name is Daisy, and she is a 20 year old Percheron Draft horse.

I went over to say hi to Joe, while in the stables.

Joe has beautiful long eye lashes.

He is a beautiful boy!

After the draft horse talk, we went into the visitor center, and watched the short film called, " A Place in the Land". It tells the story of the three owners of this property and how they affected the land of this area, and through out the US. After the film we crossed the road to the Mansion up the hill.

You must have reservations for this tour. You can make reservations at the visitor center or by calling 802-457-3368 ext. 22.

The guide led us to the front porch and we sat down while she gave us some information.

No pictures are allowed during the tour inside, so I picked back up in the back yard, after the tour. The mansion is not air conditioned, so you might want to plan your visit on cooler days. I was glad to get out of the mansion and be back outside in the breeze.

After the mansion tour, you can walk around the gardens and take the trail up to Mount Tom. There are some 20 miles of the carriage roads also. Because the weather was still extremely hot we of course decide not to.

We did walk up to the gardens.

View of gardens and the mansion.

View of gardens and greenhouse.

There was a pool off of the green house.

I could have jumped in at that moment if it had been allowed.

This building was attached to the green house. We figured it must have been the guest house.

This is the side view of the mansion.

Front view of the house. I loved the large deep wrap around porch.

The mansion was built in 1805 - 07 for Charles Marsh Sr.the father of  George Perkins Marsh. George Marsh severed several terms in Congress in 1840. He then travel the Mediterranean as an American diplomat and saw first hand how the action of man can cause complete destruction to our environment. He wrote the book, Man and Nature in 1864. His book became the founding movement for environmentalist of today.

This mansion has 17,000 sq ft of living space. In 1869 the farm was purchase by Frederick Billings, a wealthy Vermont native who had become a successful lawyer in San Francisco during the gold rush. When Billings returned to Vermont he found barren hills stripped from too much logging, and silted river, with no fish. He set out to return the land to it's original beauty.

The mansion has beautiful detail on the porch .

 Billings plan was sustained by three generations. Billings granddaughter, Mary French married Laurance S. Rockefeller, which brought together two families with strong conviction of conservation.

Close up of the detailed porch.

The Rockefeller family had generously created or enhanced over 20 parks, and Laurance's love of the land followed suit.

Laurance and Mary Rockefeller gave the gift of the established Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park as Vermont's first national park.

The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park is the only national park that tells the story of conservation history and how we have evolved to take care of our environment.

This is the carriage barn built in 1895 and restored in 1999.

It now serves as the visitor center for the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Historic National Park.

We left the farm and historic park to look for a couple of covered bridges in Woodstock.

I jumped out to take some pictures as Joe drove through the bridge.

This bridge is in Woodstock and crossed the Ottauquechee River.

It is named the Middle Covered Bridge.

Then we drove a few miles north on Hwy. 4 to the 1877 Lincoln Covered Bridge.

It also crosses the Ottauquechee River. It spans 136 ft with a clearance of 9 ft 2 inches.

On the way home I had Joe stop so I could take a few pictures of some beautiful country homes along River Road. We have passed these homes several times and have admired them each time.

This home has what looks like an apple orchard.

We followed the Ottauquechee River to go back home. The last three days we have driven by here, there has been young adults parked along here.

There was a line of cars again that day. They have a rope tied to the tree, and swing out into the river.

I had Joe stop so I could watch from a far. I just got a splash in this picture.

This guy was trying to do a dive, but in fact did a belly flop.

We drive past the Taftsville bridge for our last time.

We have seen this simple home for sale every time we've taken this route. It has a beautiful view of the  mountains. We both agree, we could enjoy owning it as our summer home, if it had a lake below.