Late in 1963, Conrad Wirth, Director of the National Park Service wrote to Bertha Mather McPherson saying in part…
”It will always be a source of lasting pleasure to me to have been able to present you, as one of my last official National Park Service acts the Registered National Landmark certificate covering the Stephen Tyng Mather home…We owe so much to Stephen T. Mather, The Founder, that Park Service people will always regard the Mather home as a particularly sacred place…”
In the Homestead archives we have the draft of a letter Bertha wrote to Wirth in reply…
“What a wonderful Christmas present you sent to this house and to all of the family that belongs to it. I can’t describe how thrilled each of us is to know that Father’s house has been so honored. We will continue to take the most loving care of it that it may live up to its new and lofty status.
And, of course, your beautiful letter that accompanied the document will always be equally treasured by us all and will be framed under glass on the reverse of the citation. Thank you with all my heart for the appreciation of Father’s work which you expressed so wonderfully and which anew brings vividly to the children and to me the unique heritage which he left.
We look forward to greeting you and Helen here at this National Historic Landmark very early in 1964.”
Then in July of 1964, National Park Service dignitaries visited the Homestead to present Bertha with the official Registered National Historic Landmark plaque.
The next time you visit the Homestead, take a moment to see the plaque yourself. It is firmly affixed to the Homestead where it fittingly faces Stephen Mather Road.
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