Media Information 

For Immediate Release 

Grey Towers National Historic Landmark 

Information Contact: Lori McKean 

Telephone: (570) 296-9630 

Release #: 08-11 

May 12, 2011 
Photo included!!!!!!! 

Historic Stone Wall Restoration To Enhance Grey Towers Estate 
MILFORD, PA – Visitors to Grey Towers National Historic Site will soon enjoy a repaired and 
restored stone wall entrance to the estate that will emulate the roadside boundary wall as it 
appeared more than 100 years ago. 

Funding from President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has made 
it possible for the US Forest Service to restore deteriorated portions – almost 600 feet – of the 
entry wall along Old Owego Turnpike. The restoration was needed to repair collapsed portions 
of the wall that deteriorated over time from water infiltration, freeze thaw cycles and activities 
associated with the adjacent roadway improvements. 

Following the historic preservation standards set forth by the National Historic Preservation Act 
and using historic photos and documentation provided by the US Forest Service, the stone 
masonry contractors were able to make the wall look as authentic as possible. For example, the 
contractors used the same dressed field stone, which probably came from the estate grounds, and 
the same bluestone coping, which probably came from nearby Shohola, PA, to restore the wall 
back to how it looked around 1900, when it was first constructed. Preservation professionals at 
Grey Towers performed an analysis of the existing mortar and used the results to create various 
formulas and color samples. These were used to replicate a final mortar mixture very similar in 
strength and appearance to the original used by the local masons who were hired by the Pinchot 
family in the late 19th century. 

To mitigate future damage from the high water table, the restored wall now has dry tamped 
footings so that water can percolate beneath the wall without damaging the structure, as 
happened in various locations over the past century. 

Grey Towers National Historic Site is the ancestral home of Gifford Pinchot, founded and first 
chief of the US Forest Service and twice Governor of Pennsylvania. Today the US Forest Service 
administers the site as a conservation education and conference center and public museum, with 
tours and programs that perpetuate the Pinchot family legacy. 

The stone wall restoration is one of several projects at Grey Towers funded by the ARRA 
initiative. All projects were identified in master site planning either as needed to mitigate 
deterioration or return the landscape back to how it looked when the Pinchot family lived at Grey 
Towers, and to improve and enhance the visitor experience so that staff can better interpret the 
significance of the site to the public. 

The largest ARRA project at Grey Towers, restoration of the final stretch of the front drive 

USDA Forest Service, PO Box 188, Milford, PA 18337 




Media Information 

For Immediate Release 

Grey Towers National Historic Landmark 

called the Black Locust Allee, is expected to be completed later this spring. Visitors will then be 
welcomed to the estate just as the Pinchot family welcomed their guests in the 1920s and 1930s, 
during the estate’s heyday. Until the drive is completed, there is no handicapped access nor 
vehicular access to the mansion. 

For more information, call 570-296-9630 or visit the website, www.fs.fed.us/gt. 

USDA Forest Service, PO Box 188, Milford, PA 18337