Gifford Pinchot, born on this site on August 11, 1865, to James Wallace Pinchot and Mary Jane Eno, whose parents were natives of Simsbury, was for more than 50 years a staunch advocate of forestry and conservation in the United States. He was a founder and first president of the Society of American Foresters, served President Theodore Roosevelt as the first Chief of the USDA Forest Service, helped establish the Yale School of Forestry with his family, became Pennsylvania’s Commissioner of Forestry, was a principal in creating the National Association of State Foresters, and served two terms as Governor of Pennsylvania.