18. There is only one unit of the National Park Service in the State of Vermont
Vermont, one of the smallest states, contains only one unit of the National Park Service, and makes up for the lack of others by giving it multiple names. The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park is a site where one owner, Frederick Billings, built his dairy farm, just outside the village of Woodstock, Vermont. The remainder of the site contains a conservation district of long standing. The main feature of the site is the George Marsh (considered America’s first conservationist) boyhood home which was later the home of Billings, who had read Marsh’s works on forest management and decided to put them into practice at his estate.
The forest enclosed in the site is probably the oldest managed forest in the United States, with the possible exception of some of the grounds on Mount Vernon, where Washington practiced early forest management. He was marking trees for cutting on the day he developed the illness from which he died. But after Washington’s death the practice was abandoned as Mount Vernon fell into decline. Laurence Rockefeller continued the practice at the Vermont site when he acquired it, and the National Park Service has continued it since they acquired the property, making it continuously managed since 1869. By the way, there is one other footprint from the National Park Service in Vermont. About 150 miles of the Appalachian Trail cross the state, with a change in elevation from 400 to 4010 feet.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historical Site: An engineering marvel”. Teresa F. Lindeman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 19, 2016
“Salem Maritime National Historic Site. History and Culture”. National Park Service. Online
“Wright Brothers on Huffman Prairie”. Film, available at the Internet Archive. March 7, 1988
“Where the President Puts Care Aside: Informality Rules at Rapidan Camp”. Mary Hornaday, The New York Times. June 12, 1932
“The Use and Need of the Life of Carry (sic) A. Nation”. Carry Amelia Nation. 1908. (2006)
“Livestock Hotels: America’s Historic Stockyards”. J’Nell L. Pate. 2005
“Mill City: A Visual History of the Minneapolis Mill District”. Shannon M. Pennefeather. 2003
“The Little White Schoolhouse: Our History”. Official Web Site. Online
“Determined Spirit”. Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, National Park Service. Online
“Guide to the Saint-Gaudens Estate in Cornish New Hampshire”. George Kelly, New Hampshire Magazine. June 2013
“Chalmette Battlefield”. Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. National Park Service. Online
“A Few Acres of Snow: The Saga of the French and Indian Wars”. Robert Leckie. 2006
“Martin Van Buren National Historic Site” National Park Service. Online
“John Muir Exhibit”. The Sierra Club’s John Muir Education Team. Online
“Fort Raleigh National Historic Site”. Outer Banks Visitor Guide. 2016. Online
“First Ladies National Historic Site Struggles to Attract Visitors”. Bob Janiskee, National Parks Traveler. October 11, 2008
“History and Culture”. Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. National Park Service. Online