Quechee Gorge State Park

September 12, 2007 48904

It is a gorgeous morning, blue skies, a few wispy white clouds, a slight breeze with leaves and pine needles swirling through the air. Fall has arrived, the air is crisp. What a perfect time of year to be in New England.

Kids, this is the time of year to be here, and as for grandkids, what a better place to learn history. You can walk through it is not just stores in a book. You can live it where it really happened.

We had some downtime yesterday with the rain and I was able to go through the maps and I think I pretty much have the trip set until New Jersey. From there it will be dictated by weather, right now we are just going to play around Vermont, upstate New York and lower Quebec until we meet up with the Shannon family.

Two tolls in about 10 miles, total $5.00

Our weather has changed, the sky has gotten cloudy and the wind has picked up. We are nearing Vermont and maybe it will blow over before tomorrow and we can go exploring.

1:07 We are at the Quechee Gorge State Park, $16.00 a night, no services.

The weather has turned out to be real nice and we are off to see the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Site.

First of all we stop at a few covered bridges, antique stores and the Taftsville Country Store. The store was established in 1840 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is an old-fashioned country store with a little bit of everything made in Vermont. We pick up some maple flavored barbeque sauce and a scone mix. They also have wines, maple syrup and lots and lots of cheeses. The proprietor is friendly and the two golden retrievers are friendly also. I think this place will rate a second trip.

Next is the Nations Historic Site. The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park is the only national park to tell the story of conservation history and it does so using an existing farm, the Billings Farm and the mansion that had been handed through three generations, Marsh, Billings, and Rockefeller.

As settlers poured into Vermont after the American Revolution more and more of the surrounding forests were cut for building homes and other uses. This in turn caused server erosion and flooding in the area. 80% of the Mt. Tom region was completely denuded of trees.

Into this scene came George Perkins Marsh. He had grown up in the area of Woodstock and as an adult saw firsthand how the actions of humans had "brought the earth to desolation almost as complete as that of the moon." On his last diplomatic mission to Italy he put his observations into print, Man and Nature published in 1864.

In 1869 the Marsh family farm was purchased by Frederick Billings who had made his fortune as an attorney in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. Upon his return to Vermont he found barren hills, silted rivers, and a devastated countryside. Billings set out to build a farm that would serve future generations. He imported purebred Jersey cows, replanted trees and began to bring the forests back.

After his death in 1890 his wife and daughters carried on his plan. His granddaughter Mary French married Laurance Rockefeller in 1934 and brought together two families with strong commitments to conservation. The Rockefellers had already created or enhanced more than twenty national parks.

Together Laurence and Mary helped to establish the homestead as Vermont's first national park.

We walked through the museum of the Billings Farm and saw how farming has progressed since the early 1800's.

Leaving here we drove through Woodstock and found a Farmer's Market in progress. We stop to look, taste and buy a few things. Also found out whom in the area made a sausage with maple flavoring. That took us out of town about four miles to the On The Edge farm. Here we found several interesting food items. Bought the sausage but I think this will also be another trip back.

Home for dinner and bed.

Sep 12, 2007

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