Special tour focuses on Pinchot family heirlooms and artifacts

MILFORD — Visitors to Grey Towers National Historic Site in Milford, will get an in-depth look at some original artifacts in the collection during a special Artifact Tour planned for Saturday, July 11, beginning at 10 a.m.

Designed in response to a growing interest in the artifacts and family heirlooms that furnish the first floor of the 1886 mansion, the Artifact Tour focuses on all the items that visitors see in the mansion but don’t have an opportunity to learn about during a regular guided tour. This special tour will feature explanations of many of the original items either left in the home or loaned by the family after they donated the estate to the US Forest Service in 1963.

Artifacts in the museum part of the mansion date from the 7th or 8th century to the 20th century and illustrate the lifestyles of several different generations who lived in the home.

Grey Towers, former home of Cornelia and Gifford Pinchot, two-term governor of Pennsylvania and founder and first chief of the USDA Forest Service, was donated to the US Forest Service by the Pinchot family in 1963. Today the estate is a model for historic preservation and stewardship for the Forest Service, an educational resource and a center for natural resource leadership development. Public programs such as this Artifact Tour enable the Forest Service to continue the Pinchot legacy, which includes a tradition of inviting the community into the home.

Reservations for the Artifact Tour are recommended and space is limited. Call 570-296-9630 or email greytowers@fs.fed.us. Regular tour fees apply.