Frederick Billings embodied the ethos of conservation stewardship that developed with the progress-driven spirit of the late 19th century industrial age. A native of Royalton, Vermont who grew up nearby in Woodstock, Billings served briefly in the office of the Vermont Governor as a young man. He went to California in 1849 and made his fortune as a lawyer and landowner. Billings was an early visitor to the Yosemite Valley with Frederick Law Olmsted at a crucial time when the valley was being recognized as a national treasure, worthy of preservation in perpetuity.

Billings stayed in California until 1864, when he brought his wife, Julia Parmly Billings, home to Woodstock to establish their growing family.

In 1869 the Marsh family property was offered for sale. Billings purchased it and transformed the property into a progressive farm and country estate. He imported purebred Jersey cattle and Southdown sheep and reforested the slopes of Mount Tom. Billings rebuilt the Federal house as a Victorian mansion with fine woodwork, furnishings, and works of art.

After Marsh’s death in 1882, he purchased Marsh’s extensive library and donated it to his alma mater, the University of Vermont. Billings was the President of the Northern Pacific Railroad during its construction as the third great transcontinental railroad in the US. The city of Billings, Montana was named in his honor at its founding in 1882.

In 1890, after Frederick Billings died, his widow Julia and their three daughters and two sons managed the estate with characteristic farsightedness. The daughters, Laura, Mary, and Elizabeth, were talented amateur naturalists in their own right. They enhanced the woods and gardens of the estate with ornamental plantings and botanical rarities.