I’ve just returned from Connecticut, where I spent time at Yale University conducting research in the Yale Forest School papers and also visited Simsbury, birthplace of Gifford Pinchot, to see the world premiere of the new film, Seeking the Greatest Good: The Conservation Legacy of Gifford Pinchot. Produced for PBS, Seeking the Greatest Good effectively weds together two different films—a biography of conservationist Gifford Pinchot with an overview of the Pinchot Institute, the organization created to not only preserve but expand upon his legacy, and its outstanding conservation projects. It’s expected to air next year on PBS stations around the country in part to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Institute. Like the film Green Fire, which is about Aldo Leopold and his conservation legacy, Seeking the Greatest Good speaks to a national audience by looking at local environmental projects; these projects serve as reminders that the conservation work begun by Pinchot, Leopold, and others remains vital and help protect what’s at stake for all of us, regardless of where we live. Be sure to look for Seeking the Greatest Good, and if you don’t see it listed, call your local PBS station and demand they air it. Also keep an eye out for local screenings or try to organize one once the film is available.
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With the trip coming just after Labor Day and the traditional end of summer, discussion turned to a forest history vacation bucket list—places to visit and things to do relating to forest history before going to that great forest in the sky. With this trip I was visiting two places I’d already checked off. The Eno home in Simsbury where Pinchot was born is now a B&B, so you can go inside, though when I did a few years ago the clerk was unaware of its connection to greatness. No matter. It’s quite lovely, as you can see.

The Eno house, birthplace of Gifford Pinchot, belonged to his mother’s family. It’s now the Simsbury 1820 House, and you can stay there. (Courtesy of the author)

The Eno house, now known as the Simsbury 1820 House. (Courtesy of the author)
The other box already checked was Yale, home to the oldest continuously operating forestry school in North America. The school was founded by the Pinchot family, and the original school building (Marsh Hall) still stands, as do the other subsequent homes to the school, including Sage Hall. Other Pinchot-related places on the list include Grey Towers NHS in Milford, PA, Pinchot’s estate and home to the Yale Forest School’s first summer camp site, now operated by the U.S. Forest Service, and of course the Cradle of Forestry in America historical site and Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, where Pinchot started his forestry career. (Be sure to read the book by the same name before going!)
But the bucket list is about more than GP or the Forest Service, though many places on that list are certainly tied to Forest Service history. As we tossed around places to visit, the homes of other great conservationists and related sites quickly came up: Aldo Leopold’s Shack in Baraboo, WI, and his boyhood home in Burlington, Iowa; John Muir’s home in Martinez, California, and his boyhood home in Wisconsin (as well as Hetch Hetchy Dam in Yosemite National Park and Muir Woods); and Sagamore Hill, Theodore Roosevelt’s home on Long Island (along with his North Dakota ranch and his Manhattan birthplace.) Some bucket list sites we’ve already blogged about—like the Pulaski Tunnel and Mann Gulch—others, like the site of the New York State College of Forestry’s experimental forest near Tupper Lake, NY, we haven’t yet. And of course I work at one of these—Peeling Back the Bark Worldwide Headquarters in Durham, NC. These are all places I’ve been. But I’ve not yet been to the World Forestry Center in Portland, OR, and its outstanding Discovery Museum; or Smokey Bear Historical Park in New Mexico, where they found the bear cub that became the living embodiment of Smokey Bear in the 1950s; or the Sawmill Museum in Clinton, Iowa, for the museum and Lumberjack Festival. I think them worthy of a place on the list. I’ve been to a TimberSports competition, which is also on the list for things to do, but haven’t been to a forest festival or visited any of these Paul Bunyan statues to celebrate the contributions of the forest and wood products industries to forest history.
We have lots of other places and events on the list. But I want to hear from you. What sites might be found on your forest history vacation bucket list? Please share them in the Reply section and tell us why we should go there—why is it so significant that those interested in forest history would want to see it before taking that great spiritual log drive to the great beyond? Perhaps if it’s intriguing enough, like driving on Cleveland’s woodblock-paved road, your idea may become a “History on the Road” column!
Frederick Law Olmsted — Brookline and Biltmore.
Looks like you have an excellent Table of Contents for a Travel Guide!
Reblogged this on The Balsamean™ and commented:
More forest movies, and a lot of forest history stuff you can explore.
Reblogged this on Sylvabiota – Loving Forest Life and commented:
MORE FOREST MOVIES — INLCUDING ONE ON PBS — AND LOTS OF FOREST HISTORY THINGS TO EXPLORE. MANY THANKS TO THE FOREST HISTORY SOCIETY.
How about visiting the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington! Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and great history of the early days of forest fire recovery efforts.
Couple more places for your list:
–Land history dioramas at Harvard Forest
–Maple Syrup Festival (each May) in Plessissville, Quebec, a town that styles itself the World Capital of Maple Syrup–good occasion to learn the evolution of this historic industry
How about the Fort Valley Experiment Station near Flagstaff, Arizona – where USFS forest research began? Also, the Sierra Ancha Experiment Station near Roosevelt, Arizona – might fish in Lake Roosevelt while you’re there.
Those are all great suggestions. I checked another off the list last month–Storm King Mountain (South Canyon) in Colorado, where 14 wildland firefighters were killed in 1994 under circumstances eerily similar to Mann Gulch.
May I–somewhat belatedly, I admit–suggest the more than 90 historic U.S. Forest Service ranger stations and guard stations throughout the western United States profiled in my just-published book “Uncle Sam’s Cabins: A Visitor’s Guide to Historic U.S. Forest Service Ranger Stations of the West” be included on the Forest History Vacation Bucketlist?
This revised and enlarged edition of my 1995 book by the same name is a step back in time to more than 90 historic Forest Service stations from which early-day forest rangers patrolled and protected America’s magnificent national forests. All these historic Forest Service stations have fascinating stories that are illustrated by historic and current photographs. Some remain in service. Some are interpreted historic sites. Many more are vbacation rentals. All may be visited. Access information is provided.
This book was published expressly to advance and enhance heritage tourism on the national forests and to increase awareness and appreciation to the Forest Service heritage. This new edition does that in 333 pages that include 260 historic and current photographs and eight maps.
“Uncle Sam’s Cabins” is available for $20.00 postpaid from Wilderness Associates, P.O. Box 5822, Bend, Oregon 97701 by direct mail order or online at http://www.wildernessheritage.com and also through Amazon.com for the same price plus a shipping fee.
— Les Joslin