The Forester's Cottage is a historic 19th century French country estate only 1.5 hours from New York City. Designed by architects McKim, Mead and White, the Forester's Cottage was built in 1897, with wide porches, thick stone walls, French windows, intricate ironwork and a slate-roofed tower. The chateau is part of the original Grey Towers Estate, home of Gifford Pinchot, the nation's first conservationist. It was designated by Congress as a National Historic Site in 1990.

The elegant interior of this 6-bedroom, 4-bath house has all the original details. You will feel as though you have stepped back in time. The bedrooms are spacious and comfortable. The old-fashioned kitchen is fully equipped with modern appliances and yet utterly charming. The working fireplace in the living room makes the house cozy and delightful in every season. There is wifi throughout the house.

Due to its sophisticated 19th C environmental design, its location and its thick stone walls, the house maintains comfortable temperatures during very hot weather without requiring air conditioning. Simple instructions for maintaining comfortable temperatures (ie windows closed on hot days, open at night, etc) are provided on the premises.

The Grounds

The stone house sits at the edge of a pine forest within hearing distance of a 60-foot waterfall fed by a mountain stream that courses through a cathedral of ancient moss-covered cliffs. The veranda is the focal point of the house. As you sit on the wicker chairs, you can hear the Sawkill Falls and watch your children as they play on the lawn. The view is breathtaking. In the distance the clouds and sky mingle with the hills of the Delaware Valley. In the middle distance sits the walled garden enclosing boxwood hedges, giant Italian urns, fruit trees, a vegetable garden and open lawns.

Also within the walled garden, discreetly tucked out of sight, is the fenced and beautifully landscaped swimming pool. The pool may be shared with occupants of another, smaller house on the property, The Stable House, also rentable.

Secure behind a wrought-iron electronic gate, the Forester’s Cottage is a private setting for family gatherings and yet only a half-mile from the charming town of Milford, PA, with its shops, art galleries, and restaurants.

History

This property is the privately owned part of Grey Towers, a Richard Morris Hunt mansion commissioned by James Pinchot in 1884. Pinchot’s two sons, Gifford and Amos, inherited the property in 1908 and went on to offer distinguished service to their country. Gifford was one of the nation’s first conservationists and first head of the United States Forest Service (1905-1910). Later, he was a two-term Governor of Pennsylvania. Both Amos and Gifford were founders of the Progressive Party. They spent their summers at Grey Towers until they died. Amos’s children inherited the Forester’s Cottage, and Gifford’s son, inherited Grey Towers, which he later donated to the Forest Service to serve as a center for environmental and natural resource policy. In 1963, President John F. Kennedy dedicated the Pinchot Institute for Conservation Studies as “a living memorial” to Gifford Pinchot’s “practical idealism” in developing “a professional approach to the management of our nation’s resources.”

Grey Towers is open to visitors for tours. But as our guest, you can walk their grounds until dusk as if you were a 19th century guest of the Pinchots, wandering its beautiful gardens and gazing into the “Finger Bowl,” a wisteria-covered dining table where dinner guests floated food on wooden bowls as they sat around the bluestone rim.