|
June 1, 2024
Inside this edition: Daytripping, Pride planner, posture era, fake Philly, brain drain, and name this soccer team. Thanks for checking in. |
|
DOWN TO THE WIRE
At Spotlight PA, we believe good news like the stories we provide in PA Local is essential to balancing out the other news of the world. But your beloved PA Local is on the line. We have just 24 hours left in our Spring Member Drive to keep our journalism going strong.
If you haven't done your part yet, please make a gift today and take advantage of a donor's special offer to DOUBLE it. Give now » |
|
What is the name of Pennsylvania's mascot for America’s 250th birthday celebration in 2026? A. G.I. Gettysburg B. Keystone Kid C. Barbara Bear D. Commonwealth Crusader
|
|
🗞️ COMING SOON Spotlight PA will soon launch a new weekly newsletter focused on caregiving and caregivers across Pennsylvania. Every Tuesday, "How We Care" will feature original reporting and perspectives on how we care for one another at all stages of life, the huge economic and policy questions ahead, and how it's affecting the lives of millions of people across the state. You can sign up for How We Care here. |
|
| 🤔 NEXT QUESTION: Are you on top of the news? Prove it with the latest edition of the Great PA News Quiz: Shapiro’s RV road trip, pronatalist politics, and ‘monopoly’ money. |
|
|
| The east terrace of Milford's Grey Towers mansion. (Courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service) |
|
The “birthplace of the American conservation movement” is a gilded-era, chateau-style mansion tucked high atop the Poconos, and it’s worth visiting this summer.
For the first in an occasional daytripper series, we’re profiling Grey Towers in Pike County, the only national historic site overseen by the U.S. Forest Service.
It’s available for self-guided tours year-round and boasts lush gardens, expansive mountain views, opulent interiors, and a table made for floating food. Here’s a primer.
What to know
Grey Towers was built in 1886 by wallpaper magnate James Pinchot, who made part of his fortune in land speculation and timber sales.
Pinchot spent $19,000 on construction costs (more than half a million dollars today) and an additional $24,000 on furnishings. He also helped establish a rare Yale University outpost in tiny Milford.
In 1914, Pinchot’s son and daughter-in-law made Grey Towers a summer home.
Gifford Pinchot was a noted conservationist by then, having served as the first chief of the U.S. Forest Service under President Theodore Roosevelt.
In 1922, he was elected Pennsylvania’s 28th (and later 30th) governor after a failed bid for the U.S. Senate. The Roosevelt-style progressive Republican saw Pennsylvania through the worst of the Great Depression, promoted state parks, and oversaw the elimination of a deficit worth roughly half a billion dollars today. Other parts of his legacy are less rosy.
Grey Towers was donated to the Forest Service in 1963, two decades after his death.
Milford Presents, a local tourism group, says Grey Towers was "a virtual boarding house" for the who’s who of the American conservation movement, and a place where related ideas were endlessly exchanged. To this day, natural resource groups are invited to use the property's conference center for meetings and workshops. |
|
| The "finger bowl" or "floating" table. (Courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service) |
|
What to see
The 102-acre property has pristine gardens and peaceful walking trails, while the mansion features 44 rooms and artifacts spanning the 7th through 20th centuries.
Gifford and Cornelia Pinchot added a moat around a side house. There was also a pool (it’s since been filled in) and an outdoor dining area with a table made of water, pictured above.
We’ll let the Forest Service explain:
Cornelia's most unique contribution to the landscape is the Finger Bowl, the popular outdoor dining table designed by William Lawrence Bottomley and constructed between 1932 and 1935. The Finger Bowl is a raised pool surrounded by a flat ledge of sufficient width to accommodate a place setting. Chairs were pulled up to the pool and food was passed in wooden bowls floated on the water. Wisteria covers an oval, domed, and wooden arbor above it.
Where to go
Grey Towers is located at 151 Grey Towers Drive, Milford, PA 18337.
It’s a roughly 2.5 hour drive from Philadelphia, an hour from Scranton, three hours from State College, 5.5 hours from Pittsburgh, and nearly 6 hours from Erie.
Explore your public transit options here.
When to go
You can explore the grounds with self-guided tours and hikes year-round.
According to the Grey Towers Heritage Association, guided mansion tours happen Thursday through Monday at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., and 3 p.m. May 24 to Halloween.
The cost is $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 12 to 17, and free for kids under 12.
Send us more daytripping ideas here.
—Colin Deppen, newsletter editor |
|
Our brand new ‘Now Brewing the Truth’ coffee/latte mugs are here! Matte black with white inside, perfect for everyday use or as a gift! Proceeds from the Spotlight PA store benefit our nonprofit, nonpartisan journalism.
Please allow 1-2 weeks for shipping. Have an idea for a product you'd like to see? Send us a note at membership@spotlightpa.org. |
|
|
A catalpa tree at the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Berks County, via Don N. Send us your photos by email, use #PAGems on Instagram, or tag us @spotlightpennsylvania. |
|
Pennsylvania's mascot for America’s 250th birthday celebration in 2026 is named "Keystone Kid," so the correct answer is "B."
Keystone Kid was designed by a college student from Lancaster and received its name from a second grader in Montgomery County who won a naming contest, per The Inquirer.
Thanks for reading. We'll see you back here next week. |
|
|
| |
|
