David L.
Google
We visited on a Thursday morning in late June 2025. We parked across the street at the Billings Farm & Museum which is a private establishment but works along with the NPS. In the parking lot there is a NPS booth that gives info on the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park. It is staffed by volunteers and they can give you info on what you need to know. I think a lot of people get confused and try to go into the Billings Farm & Museum. NPS does house it's short film in the theater inside the Billings Farm & Museum that is free of charge. You just walk in and turn right.
From the parking lot to get to the National Historical Park, you go up the paved walkway and then cross the street. It's a lot of up hill to get to the Visitor Center. The visitor center itself is in a newer building and is quite large. When you enter the info desk is to the right and the bathrooms and water fountain are to the left. If you walk ahead there are a ton of exhibits and it goes all the way around to the large open area more focused towards children. There are books and tables and activities. We asked for Junior Ranger Booklets at the info desk. The info desk is where the NPS Passport Cancellation Stamps are too. The gift shop is also back behind the info desk area to the right. It's a standard size for the National Historic Site like this.
We asked to get tickets to tour the house at 12:30PM when they started but the ranger said it was too early. They give you a laminated piece of paper with a time printed on it for each person in your party and I think she was afraid we would lose it or take it and not turn it in. Not quite sure. We paid $15 for 2 adults and 3 children (15&under). This was for the "Marsh, Billings, Rockefeller - The Mansion Experience (Self guided tour)".
The tour itself starts on the front porch of the mansion where a ranger gives a 15 min talk and then they let you inside where there is another ranger and you get 15 mins to walk around while the ranger outside starts the next tour group. So it's like a rolling program. The ranger inside told us that the self guided tour only allows you to explore the main floor of the house and to tour the upstairs you'd have to book those guided tours.
While we waited for our 12:30PM tour we toured the rest of the property. We went to the Belvedere and the gardens and hiked a short loop around the property. There is a shed along the path with exhibit in as well. Looked like a converted garage.
Overall it was a great visit. The rangers and volunteers were all very nice and helpful. I do not know if I would visit again but it was certainly worth the first visit. Maybe if we were driving by and able to get that guided tour of the mansion. We didn't have time to watch the entire film in the Billings Farm & Museum either. If we had more time we would've probably paid to check that establishment out but we had a tight itinerary for the day.
