Billings Farm and Museum

Woodstock’s most successful native son was Frederick Billings, a Vermonter who made it big as a lawyer in San Francisco during the Gold Rush. In the 1870s he returned to Woodstock determined to save the town’s dying industry of dairy farming, and established a farm with cattle imported from the British isle of Jersey, putting into practice the most scientific practices of land management.

Today, Billings Farm and Museum (53 Elm St., 802/457-2355, www.billingsfarm.org, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily May–Oct.; 10 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Sat.–Sun. Nov.–Feb., $11 adults, $10 seniors, $6 children 5–15, $3 children 3–4,, children under 3 free) afford visitors a chance to meet the descendants of those Jersey cows, who still produce milk in a working dairy farm. Exhibits and demonstrations explore typical Vermont farm life, in cooperation with Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park next door.

Sugarbush Farm

More cows and other farm animals can be found at Sugarbush Farm (591 Sugarbush Farm Rd., 802/457-1757, www.sugarbushfarm.com, 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Mon.–Fri.; 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Sat.–Sun.), which produces some of the best cheddar cheeses in Vermont. Set atop a scenic hilltop, the farm also produces maple syrup, mustards, and jams—all of which are free to sample. (Take a right across the covered bridge at the small village of Taftsville, and follow the signs to the farm—call ahead for road conditions in winter and early spring.)

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park

The Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park ((54 Elm St., 802/457-3368, www.nps.gov/mabi, late May–Oct.) is home to the mansion built by natural philosopher Charles Marsh in 1805–1807 and bought by Billings in 1861. The mansion, open for tours by advance reservation, has a Tiffany stained-glass window and an extensive collection of American landscape paintings. In 1934, Billings’s granddaughter married Laurance Rockefeller and eventually donated the land to the National Park Service.