Editor's pick: Teddy toasts the man he said ‘stood first’

Roosevelt re-enactor brings President to life in tribute to the great local conservationist

WHEN: Saturday, May 23 at 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: Grey Towers National Historic Site, 122 Old Owego Turnpike, Milford, PA.

COST: $15 per person.

CONTACT: www.fs.fed.us/gt or 570/296-9630.

MILFORD, PA — The Grey Towers National Historic Site is a local treasure that offers entertainment—and instruction—to please a wide variety of tastes. The onetime home of Gifford Pinchot, the first head of the National Forest Service, it has an appeal to environmentalists and historians. A unique French-chateauesque structure ,built in 1886 and maintained and restored with original furnishings, it is a delight to architects and students of design. In the midst of beautifully planted and kept grounds, it is a haven to the garden and landscape lover. And it also plays host, year round, to a variety of musical and dramatic presentations.

The first dramatic presentation of the official summer 2009 season will bring President Theodore Roosevelt back to life in “TR Pays Special Tribute to Gifford Pinchot.” The performance features the nation’s premiere Theodore Roosevelt re-enactor, Joe Wiegand, who comes to Pinchot’s ancestral home with an unparalleled grasp of history and an uncanny way of convincing you that you are in the company of the great Rough Rider President himself.

Roosevelt and Pinchot were friends and colleagues, and shared a conservation philosophy that helped shape how the nation manages its natural resources. The two founded the U.S. Forest Service, and Roosevelt named Pinchot its first chief. In later years, Roosevelt wrote of Pinchot: “Gifford Pinchot is the man to whom the nation owes most for what has been accomplished as regards the preservation of the natural resources of our country. He led, and indeed during its most vital period embodied, the fight for the preservation through use of our forests…. I believe it is but just to say that among the many, many public officials who under my administration rendered literally invaluable service to the people of the United States, he, on the whole, stood first.”

Tickets cost $15 per person and can be purchased online at greytowers.org or by mail to GTHA, PO Box 188, Milford, PA, 18337. A portion of the proceeds will help fund a free program for area seniors.