Grey Towers National Historic Site

When Cornelia moved into the mansion with her new husband, Gifford, she found Grey Towers a bit dreary and decided to "jazz it up". Today's library was originally two rooms--a salon and a billiard room. Cornelia removed the dividing wall with sliding doors and added teakwood flooring, furnishings, new shelves, cabinets and paneling. The books lining the shelves of the library are the original Pinchot collection.

This large painting of Antoinette (Nettie), Gifford and their mother, Mary, hangs in the Library and was done in France by the noted French portraitist, Alexander Cabenal. James Pinchot paid 12,000 pieces of gold (about $19,000) for this painting in 1871 which may not have included the gold leaf frame. The subjects are dressed in French Florentine costumes.

No library would be complete without a globe. This large globe, on loan from the Pinchot family, dates back to the early 1900s.

Just off the Library sits Gifford Pinchot's office, located in one of the front towers of the house. The room is filled with various artifacts he collected during his many travels, including a trip to the South Seas in between his two terms as Governor of Pennsylvania.

Right this way to the Sitting Room . . .