Grey Towers Residents
Mary, Gifford, and James Pinchot at Grey Towers. |
Grey Towers, located in Milford, Pennsylvania, was originally the summer estate
of the James Pinchot family and later the primary home of Gifford Pinchot. James
was born and raised in Milford, where his father and grandfather had emigrated to
after leaving France. Although they operated a dry goods store, they made most of
the family fortune in land speculation and lumbering. They practiced the kind of
destructive lumbering that Gifford would devote his career to stopping.
In 1850, at age nineteen, James left the small dusty village of Milford for New
York City to seek his own fortune. He entered the mercantile business and soon was
selling expensive imported Victorian wallpaper, window shades, and curtains to the
hotels and large homes then being erected in Manhattan. He did so well that he retired
in 1875 at age forty-four "to devote the balance of his days to forestry and
horticulture." The construction of Grey Towers in the 1880s later allowed him
to do just that.
James apparently was persuaded to retire by his wife, Mary Eno Pinchot. James had
met Mary, the eldest daughter of a wealthy New York merchant and landowner, while
on the social circuit in New York. Attractive and smart, with a forceful personality
not to be trifled with, Mary proved an ideal complement to James. After a relatively
short courtship they married in May 1864. The following August they welcomed their
first child, Gifford, whom they named for his godfather and their close friend,
Sanford Gifford, the renowned landscape painter. It was the first of many famous
and powerful people to whom James and Mary would introduce their son. Their wealth
would make Gifford’s career possible; their beliefs would make his career in public
service unavoidable.
Mary appealed to James to retire so he could dedicate more time and effort to civic
responsibilities and to serve as a role model for their children: Gifford, Amos,
and Antoinette. At the time, Gifford was in college but Amos and "Nettie"
were school-age children. "I believe you capable of a higher development than
you will get if tied down to paper hangings," she wrote him in the late 1880s.
"I think it a mistake that a man of such noble aspirations and large capacity
should not fill a larger sphere." Her comments to James hint at the family’s
expectations for the children, especially their eldest. Indeed, Gifford entered
public service and served as chief of the federal forestry agency for twelve years.
Amos, who became a lawyer in part to handle the family’s estate and to free Gifford
from that toil, went on to become a founder of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Nettie married an English politician and moved overseas. After the death of their
parents, Gifford and Amos divided the Grey Towers estate, with Gifford and his wife
Cornelia taking over Grey Towers, and Amos, the Garden Cottage.
Selected Resources:
Lewis, James G. "A Biographical Portrait of Gifford Pinchot." An original
article on Gifford Pinchot’s life. [pdf]
Miller, Char. "All in the Family: The Pinchots of Milford." Pennsylvania
History, Spring 1999. [pdf]
Pittman, Nancy. "James Wallace Pinchot (1831–1908): One Man’s Evolution toward
Conservation in the Nineteenth Century." Yale F&ES Centennial News,
Fall 1999. [pdf]
Severance, Carol. "Cornelia Bryce Pinchot (1881-1960)." History Line,
Spring 1998. [pdf]
USDA Forest Service, "James Wallace Pinchot." Preliminary Historic
Structure Report on Grey Towers, 1978.
[pdf]
USDA Forest Service, "The Other Pinchots." Preliminary Historic Structure
Report on Grey Towers, 1978. [pdf]
U.S. Forest Service, "Gifford Pinchot." Historic Structure Report:
Grey Towers. FS-327, 1979. [pdf]
Pittman, Nancy. "James Wallace Pinchot (1831–1908): One Man’s Evolution toward
Conservation in the Nineteenth Century." Yale F&ES Centennial News,
Fall 1999.[pdf]
For more on James and Mary, Amos, and Cornelia, these links will take you to an external
website:
James and Mary Pinchot
Amos Pinchot
Cornelia
Pinchot
Additional Pages:
Grey Towers Introduction
Grey Towers History
Yale School of Forestry Summer Camp
Pinchot Institute of Conservation
|