Woodstock VT is a very nice town. Looks great. Lots of inviting streets. Well kept houses. Fancy yet simple bridge over a small river that drew painters and fly fishermen. Green trees everywhere and a typical white steepled church. The downtown was small yet busy with foot traffic along the sidewalks. The town is impressive and appears to be a great place to live.

We came to town mostly for the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller Mansion. And what a magnificent place it is. Marsh was a far-looking person who basically started the conservation movement in the U.S. that led to the creation of the world's first land set aside merely for the sake of preservation. He wrote and had published the first book on man's affect on nature. Billings, a former head of a railroad, furthered Marsh's conservation efforts. After Vermont had been nearly completely deforested, he showed everyone how a place can be reforested, starting with his own large land holdings around the mansion. His granddaughter married a grandson of John D. Rockerfeller. That brought both money and additional conservational thinking into the family and the area.

The home was grand yet simple rather than over the top with its decor and furnishings. The views out every window looked out onto either a wonderful garden area or the nearby mountains. The young National Park Service ranger really enjoyed her job of giving us a tour and talking about the mansion and its surrounding lands and what the family did to make it as we see it today.

Although the influence of the Billings (a town in Montana is named after him) and Rockerfellers is quite evident on the house and gardens and land, the one piece of Marsh still there is an original copy of his book from the 1860's. The rest of the house and its furnishings is exactly as the family left it. The story goes that one day the family walked out the front door, handed the keys to a Park official, and left, leaving everything exactly as when they lived there. Family members volunteer to assist with answering questions of the tourists.

The gardens are incredible. The native flowers of Vermont are beautiful and were in full bloom. The photographs do not do them justice.