Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.

The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park, Vermont's first national park, was created in 1992.  _D8C0754-Edit August 21, 2012 NIKON D800 This is the only national Park to tell a story of conservation history and the evolving nature of land stewardship in America.  It was the boyhood home of George Perkins Marsh, and early American conservationist, later became the home of Frederick Billings and the property was donated to the American people by Laurance and Mary Rockefeller.

In the law law that created the park a number of purposes were listed:
  • to interpret the history and evolution of conservation stewardship in America.
  • To recognize interpret the contribution and birthplace of George Perkins Marsh, pioneering environmentalist, author of Man and Nature, statesman, lawyer, and linguist.
  • To recognize interpret the contributions of Frederick Billings, conservationists, pioneer reforestation, and scientific land management, lawyer, philanthropist, and rural build the, who extend the principles of land management introduced by Marsh
    to preserve the marsh-Billings-Rockefeller mansion and assist surrounding lands.
  • To recognize a significant contributions of Julia Billings, Mary Billings French, Mary French Rockefeller, and Laurance Spelman Rockefeller in perpetuating the marsh-Billings heritage.
"There is a mandate to invent an entirely new kind of park. It must be one where the human stories and the natural history are intertwined; where the relatively small acreage serves as an educational resource for the entire National Park Service and a seedbed for American environmental thought; and where the legacy of American conservation and its future enter into dialogue, generating a new environmental paradigm for our day." Author and professor John Elder at the opening of the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, June 5, 1998.
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My grandson getting his award

There are guided tours through the mansion, walking paths through the woods and beautiful scenery to behold.  For the children, there is a Junior Ranger program, in which child is given a booklet, and a path to follow and fill out answers to questions to help that child learn about stewardship.  At the end and the visitors center, the child is awarded a certificate and a Junior Ranger badge.





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Carriage House-Visitors Ctr., Coppola
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Carriage House-Visitors Center
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Mansion
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Mansion
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Guidance
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Looking from the guidance toward the mansion
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Carriage path
Along the path in the woods, the trees are labeled, so you can learn to identify the trees by their bark. 
White Ash - Fraxinus americanaEastern White Pine - Pinus sirobus
There are paths leading to a pond and to the top of Mount Tom, which will give you an overview over Woodstock.
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Eastern Chipmunk
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Painted Lady

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