Milford, Pennsylvania, is a village of fewer than a thousand people, and it has a very large story attached to it. On the hill just above the main street stands Grey Towers, a French-style chateau of grey stone built in the 1880s as the family home of Gifford Pinchot, who became the first chief of the United States Forest Service and later governor of Pennsylvania. Pinchot was one of the founders of the American conservation movement, and it was here, at his family home, that he and other leaders of the movement planned their campaigns. The house is now a national historic site, open to visitors, and the grounds are lovely.
The village itself is a gem of old brick and white clapboard, with a courthouse, a handful of historic inns, shops, galleries and a tiny green. It sits on a bluff above the Delaware River, in a gentle and pretty landscape of hills, woods and farmland. A short drive away, Raymondskill Falls, the tallest waterfall in Pennsylvania, drops in three stages through a rocky glen, and a boardwalk and a short path lead to viewing platforms. The sound of water is a pleasure, especially after rain or in spring.
For a rider, Milford is a good lunch or coffee stop on the road along the river. The roads in the area are winding and scenic, with hills and woodland, and the surfaces are generally good, though frost heaves can be an issue in spring. Traffic can be thick on weekends in summer and autumn, when visitors from New York and New Jersey flood in. Come early on a weekday if you can. Along the river, the Delaware is broad and calm, with canoes and fishermen, and the sunsets can be fine.
The village has a few small restaurants, bakeries and cafes along Broad Street, and the nearest larger town for supplies and fuel is Port Jervis, about eleven kilometres away across the river in New York. Be careful of deer on the roads at dawn and dusk, and of the occasional bear. In autumn the foliage here is among the best in the region, and the village is at its most charming, with pumpkins on the porches and woodsmoke in the air.