An early conservationist and advocate of the fledgling national park system, Frederick Billings made his fortune as the president of the Northern Pacific railroad. The Billings Farm & Museum, located near Woodstock, Vt., is situated on the land once owned by the western entrepreneur.
Mary French Rockefeller, the granddaughter of Frederick Billings, created the estate in the late 19th century. Frederick Billings' estate included a progressive dairy farm and professionally managed forest, improvements which were significant in a region depleted by deforestation and overgrazing. The writer and conservationist George Perkins Marsh, who earlier had grown up on the property, influenced Billings' conservation and environmental stewardship efforts. Marsh is widely recognized as one of America's first conservationists.
Established in 1983, the Billings Farm & Museum mission is to continue the farm's working dairy and to interpret rural Vermont life and agricultural history. The Museum manages the farm, which dates back to 1871, as a historic site and a working dairy farm. Nearly 60,000 visitors tour the farm yearly. The Museum investigates modern day and historic dairying practices, as well as the relationships of rural farm culture and the stewardship of working landscapes and countryside.
For more information, visit the Billings Farm & Museum website.
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