Marsh-Billings National Historical Park: Land Use History, Marsh-Billings National Historical Park, National Park Service

Foulds, H.; Lacy, Katherine; Meier, Lauren

This report, and the maps and photographs which accompany it, has been prepared for the Planning Division, North Atlantic Region, National Park Service. It is intended to provide information on the land use history of the new Marsh-Billings National Historical Park necessary for the preparation of the park’s General Management Plan. Established in 1992, Marsh-BIllings NHP is the first National Park in the State of Vermont. As stated in the enabling legislation, the purpose of the park is to “interpret the contributions of George Perkins Marsh, Frederick Billings, and Laurance Rockefeller.” The goal of this report is to document the changing land use at this site during its ownership by these three unique individuals and their families. For the purposes of this report the history of the site has been broken into four periods: Pre-Marsh (antiquity to 1789); Billings period (1869-1914); and the Billings Heirs/Rockefeller period (1914-1992). This report consists of three primary sections. Part One highlights the conservation philosophers of three men: George Perkins Marsh, Frederick Billings, and Laurance Rockefeller. This summary is drawn in large part from the work of David Donath, Director of the Billings Farm and Museum. It is intended to provide some historical context for the development of the property. Part Two contains a brief history of the landscape, divided into the four historic periods described above. The narrative text is accompanied by a selection of historic photographs, plans, and drawings. Three “period plans” have been developed and included at the scale of 1” = 800’ to illustrate changes in ownership, property boundaries and overall organization. Part Three, is a small section which analyses the apparent integrity of the landscape for the Marsh, Billings and Rockefeller periods and discusses the potential significance of the landscape. Recommendations for further landscape research, inventory, and analysis are also included here to assist the planning team with future work. In an effort to provide the General Management Plan team with information in a timely fashion, the preparation of this report has made use of secondary source material, especially with regard to the tenure of the Marsh family. This report is not intended to provide a comprehensive site history, as is found in a Cultural Landscape Report, but instead represents a distillation of the information currently available, aimed at providing the planning team with sufficient site information to effectively plan for the future of Vermont’s first National Park unit.

Marsh-Billings National Historical Park: Land Use History, Marsh-Billings National Historical Park, National Park Service

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