Visited: Sunday, September 4th, 2011
Just as Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller is the sole NPS site in Vermont, Saint-Gaudens in the sole NPS site in New Hampshire - though Mount Washington likely would be if it hadn't been so effectively established as a private site prior to the NPS.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens is an American sculptor, who sculpted two works I was previously aware of, even if I didn't realize they were his. The first is the Shaw Memorial on the Boston Common, which I immediately recognized when it was first shown in the film - a connection that really helped me to appreciate the park. The other is the double eagle gold coin, which being a very little bit of a numismatic I was familiar with.
The site is very nicely done - there are a number of models Saint-Gaudens utilizing in his sculpting, as well as copies of some of his famous works.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
44) Marsh - Billings - Rockefeller
Visited: Sunday, September 4th, 2011
This park - technically, a National Historic Park; it might be the first so-designated NPS site we've been to - is the only site in Vermont, and not one I understood before visiting. There's a wonderful movie, shown near Billings Farm (which is not park of the NPS site), which does a very nice job of explaining the site and how - over 200 years - it served a common theme.
George Perkins Marsh, the author of Man and Nature, was born at the site, and was an early American conservationist, as well as a scholar and diplomat. He sold the site to...
Frederick Billings, a president of the Northern Pacific railroad, and the gentleman for whom Billings, Montana is named. In some ways, Billings is the odd-man-out; he did a number of things that had positive environmental impacts, but he wasn't really as much of an activist, for his time, as either Marsh or Rockefeller. Speaking of whom, Billing's granddaughter married...
Laurence Rockefeller, who alone among John Rockefeller Jr.'s sons, continued the environmental work of his father, contributing to 20 national parks.
And thus, three different men all lived on this Woodstock, VT property, all having significant positive impact to the environment, through their writings and actions. The film explaining this was _excellent_. The visitor center isn't extensive, but it's nicely done. And the grounds looked nice, though they're still recovering from Irene so we didn't go exploring.
This park - technically, a National Historic Park; it might be the first so-designated NPS site we've been to - is the only site in Vermont, and not one I understood before visiting. There's a wonderful movie, shown near Billings Farm (which is not park of the NPS site), which does a very nice job of explaining the site and how - over 200 years - it served a common theme.
George Perkins Marsh, the author of Man and Nature, was born at the site, and was an early American conservationist, as well as a scholar and diplomat. He sold the site to...
Frederick Billings, a president of the Northern Pacific railroad, and the gentleman for whom Billings, Montana is named. In some ways, Billings is the odd-man-out; he did a number of things that had positive environmental impacts, but he wasn't really as much of an activist, for his time, as either Marsh or Rockefeller. Speaking of whom, Billing's granddaughter married...
Laurence Rockefeller, who alone among John Rockefeller Jr.'s sons, continued the environmental work of his father, contributing to 20 national parks.
And thus, three different men all lived on this Woodstock, VT property, all having significant positive impact to the environment, through their writings and actions. The film explaining this was _excellent_. The visitor center isn't extensive, but it's nicely done. And the grounds looked nice, though they're still recovering from Irene so we didn't go exploring.
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