Yosemite By Way of Vermont and New Bedford

 

Sunset in Yosemite Valley by William Bradford
Image: Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP on Flickr

Geography in general -- and environmental geography is both a natural science and a social science. I often add that it encompasses the humanities as well -- including literature, music, and visual arts.

The William Bradford painting Sunset in Yosemite Valley came to mind as I have been hearing about the most recent attack on Yosemite National Park, a 1,200 square-mile national treasure that became one of the first national parks in the world in 1916. For more background on the park, see Yosemite on Wikipedia.

I use the word "attack" for what some will prefer to describe as an application for a variance, but in the current regime, those of us who study public lands are skeptical about any such proposals. Specifically, the owner of the 83-acre Hazel Green Ranch is proposing to build a road through the national park to make his property more accessible to park visitors. The prior owner of the land had applied to do exactly the same thing. As reported by The Times of India, the new owner applied to do the same in 2024 and appears to hope for a different result.

What does all of this have to do with New England -- and with Vermont and New Bedford in particular? Art. 

That is to say that according to the film A Place in the Land, artists of the Hudson School helped to build the case for the protection of Yosemite Valley in particular and for the creation of Naitonal Parks in general. Frederick Billings was a gold-rush lawyer and developer of Western railroads who took an interest in Western lands and the art that helped to convince those in the East of their value. 

The original Sunset in Yosemite Valley by William Bradford is in the former home of Billings, along with the equally striking  Cathedral Rock by Albert Bierstadt. 

Both artists were from New Bedford, though Bierstadt spent most of his adult life in New York. They were both among the landscape painters featured in a 2022 exhibition at the New Bedford Whaling Museum entitled Re/Framing the View. As a member of the museum, I was grateful to be able to visit that exhibit several times. 

William Bradford (not to be confused by the Pilgrim-era preacher of the same name) went on to paint at least one more work from the Yosemite Valley, but he is better known for his maritime art, including some art depicting the New Bedford Harbor, where I spend a lot of my time. In fact, my favorite view of the harbor is from the intersection of Church & Main in Fairhaven, a few blocks from my house. I had been admiring the view there for years before I stopped to read this marker, which describes this corner as the site of Bradford's studio -- of which no trace remains. 

Billings' former home is more properly known as the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. The park opened around the time I started teaching an advanced course in Land Protection and I have had the pleasure of taking more than 100 students there over the years.

The park is named for three of its most prominent residents. George Perkins Marsh was born on the property and went on to a career as a legislator, diplomat, and writer. His book Man and Nature established environmental geography by being the first work to examine the widespread impact of humans on natural systems. His brother sold the family property to Fredrick Billings, who acquired much of the art that remains in the mansion today. 

Billings' granddaughter Mary French married Lawrence Rockefeller in Woodstock, and they maintained it as a summer home until her passing, when it was given to the American people. I have had the good fortune of exploring the mansion, its neighboring farm, and its 600 acres of forest with some of its remarkable park rangers, including the one who had taken Lawrence Rockefeller on his first official tour of his own house! 

Lagniappe 

Unfortunately, the proposed land swap in Yosemite is not the current administration's first assault on Yosemite. In the aftermath of the DOGE debacle in which many NPS employees were fired simply for being new, many seasonal workers at Yosemite were put in a position of having to work without pay. 

Learn more about the widespread attacks on NPS workers by DOGE on A Love Worth Fighting For: Speaking Up For Our Public Lands. It is the March 3, 2025 episode of the absolutely essential podcast National Park After Dark. Cassie and Danielle speak with Yosemite Ranger Alex Wild (perfect aptronym) and other dedicated public servants about the Valentine's Day firing of 4,400 workers throughout the system. Many were hired back when the bros at DOGE were forced to recognize their error, but the damage was done. BTW, the link above describes the episode and provides additional resources, but BPOD episodes are not directly connected through the web site. They can be reached through various podcast services and also on the NPAD YouTube channel, which includes this episode.