Billings Farm & Museum

Billings Farm & Museum is .5 mi. n. on SR 12 across the Elm Street Bridge to 69 Old River Rd. It encompasses both a modern working dairy farm with one of the finest Jersey cattle herds in the nation and a museum depicting rural Vermont farm life in the late 19th century. In 1871 Vermont native Frederick Billings purchased the Woodstock farm where early conservationist George Perkins Marsh had grown up nurturing his love of nature. The restored farmhouse is now a living-history center offering a look at Billings Farm's farming and forestry operations circa the 1890s.

The museum, housed in four renovated 19th-century barns, portrays daily chores such as butter and cheese-making in addition to seasonal activities like ice cutting and sugaring. Tools, home furnishings, machinery and a re-created workshop, kitchen and country store are displayed. Visitors also can observe the daily activities of the modern dairy operation, including the afternoon milking, and participate in special activities. Nominated for an Academy Award, the film “A Place in the Land,” which traces the history of the farm from the Marsh years through its Rockefeller ownership, is shown daily in the 96-seat theater.

Self-guiding tours of the farmhouse are available.

Time: Allow 2 hours minimum.