Gifford Pinchot, the first head of the National Forest Service, was born in Simsbury CT. He was one of the first forest conservationists around the beginning of the 20th century. He founded the Yale University School of Forestry. He briefly worked with George Vanderbilt and Carl Schenk on the Vanderbilt property which later became the Pisgah National Forest. On a obscure personal footnote, Pinchot was a member of the 1888 national champion football team at Yale. Not only did they go undefeated, they outscored their opponents 694 to 0.
This American Sycamore on the banks of the Farmington River, a short distance from downtown Simsbury was named in honor of Gifford Pinchot. It is claimed to be the largest tree in New England. I looked it up: Circumference 28 feet - height 100 feet and canopy spread 121 feet.
How many trees can you name that have honoree names like the General Sherman Tree?
We stayed in the 1820 Simsbury House in downtown Simsbury. It is the birthplace of Pinchot.
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