Consider what Frederick Law Olmsted created in his lifetime.

Central Park is the most iconic, the beautiful jewel “Greensward” that Olmsted and his partner, the architect Calvert Vaux, designed and created over 18 years, 1858 to 1876. After the Civil War, Olmsted reunited with Vaux to plan and fashion the gem of Prospect Park as a green space separate from the street grid in Brooklyn. Its landscape contains formal, pastoral, and rustic elements, with its vales, Long Meadow, Ravine, Concert Grove House, scenic vistas, winding pathways, and old-growth forests. The Emerald Necklace today remains a verdant string of five parks stretching over 1,100 acres of Boston, which Olmsted intended as a place where people would go after the day’s work “seeing, hearing, and feeling nothing of the bustle and jar of the streets.” In Newburgh, N.Y., Downing Park — the last landscape that Olmsted and Vaux produced together – is a 35-acre treasure with meandering paths, water features, structures of natural stone, a great variety of trees, and a large, peaceful pond.

Yet, there was so much more that this one man, the foremost pioneer of landscape architecture, gave to us in shaping parks, park systems, campuses, neighborhoods, scenic reservations, preserves, communities, and more. Just to cite a selection: Belle Island Park in Detroit; park systems in Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y.; New York City’s Morningside, Riverside, and Fort Greene parks; Montreal’s Mount Royal Park; Hubbard Park, Meriden, Ct.; The University of Chicago main campus; the University of Rochester campus; and Wellesley College campus. The Cultural Landscape Foundation’s newly released digital guide, What’s Out There Olmsted, encompasses more than 300 North American landscapes designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., as well as his successor firms, such as Olmsted Brothers, the one that his son Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and stepson and nephew John Charles Olmsted led.

In April, we marked the 200th anniversary of Olmsted’s birth, on April 26, 1822. This bicentennial provides a fitting point to reflect on and be grateful for the astonishing legacy of Olmsted, whose life spanned much of the 19th century just past the turn of a new century till his death in 1903. A key initiative, Olmsted 200, has highlighted and continues to point to events and resources devoted to the Olmsted bicentennial.

Olmsted’s landscape jewels have survived and thrived though the 20th century and well into the 21st, even as many came under threats again and again. I believe the survival of these cherished places is nothing short of a miracle (and one that many dedicated people have helped ensure constantly). Yet most people who are hiking, strolling, having picnics, skating, attending concerts, touring gardens, reading, studying in, and otherwise experiencing beauty and untold pleasure likely do not even known Olmsted’s name as they do so. But, wow, do we owe so very much to Olmsted!

Frederick Law Olmsted – Oil painting by John Singer Sargent, 1895, Biltmore Estate, Asheville, N.C.

Genesee Valley Park, originally called South Park, one of the parks in the Rochester system that Olmsted designed
Photo: Daniel Penfield, CC BY-SA 4.0 Via Wikimedia Commons

We can learn the facts and figures, the number of parks and other sites, that comprise Olmsted’s work. His impact goes beyond these facts. Olmsted knew precisely what he envisioned, spoke of and wrote about, drafted, and rendered in landscapes for all people, the principles and landscape architecture practice that became real places of public good. He delivered in ways that still influence the profession and certainly many lives.

Ultimately, however, the experience of Olmsted’s landscapes is individual to each of us. I cannot possibly count up all of the hours I’ve spent over decades in Central Park. Yet I have memories of certain days or gatherings, or the decades-long passion about certain activities when Central Park has provided peace, beauty, joy, and sustenance beyond measure. On a day 28 years ago when I had to let go of my beloved and ailing cat Quinton, taking a walk in Central Park and allowing myself to be mentally and spiritually bathed in the greenery was so soothing. One chilly, foggy February afternoon, I rollerbladed and the allée was nearly deserted, a few people silhouetted at a distance. As I glided under the canopy of majestic trees, the park felt like my own world.

In this spirit, one can look at the offerings for the Olmsted bicentennial as a touch-off point not just for a year but many years of reveling in the gifts Olmsted has left us. Special events, exhibits, and project launches are marking Olmsted’s 200th birthday bicentennial. True to a man whose planning of and sculpting wondrous landscapes took much time, in honoring Olmsted’s incredible contributions to our world, we can savor them over time this year and beyond. Thankfully, various parks and landscape architecture initiatives are offering many ways – a digital guide, exhibits, an annual painting invitational, and in-person explorations – to do just that. Here are several offerings and places sure to spark your own appreciation.

Olmsted 200 and an Example Community

Olmsted 200, a coalition of civic, nonprofit, and professional partners that the National Association of Olmsted Parks has coordinated, has been spearheading and promoting advocacy and education about Olmsted’s legacy. Through its digital hub and social media, you can explore the content, programs, and events about Olmsted, Olmsted landscapes, and the preservation and maintenance of historic parks.

The Olmsted 200 commemoration shows that an honoring of this genius is much more than a look back at what Olmsted designed and produced in the 19th century. It illustrates how the Olmsted parks and other landscapes are living entities that continue to provide much enjoyment and inspire preservation and new natural spaces modeled on Olmsted’s concepts today. One example community is Riverside, Illinois.

Riverside’s Olmsted 200 Exhibit

Riverside, just west of Chicago, represented Olmsted and Vaux’s first fully planned residential community. Over the last year and through 2022, the suburban village is paying tribute to Olmsted and renewing his landscape principles through an exhibit, the creation of a new overlook to be named after Olmsted, and a series of seed hunts and tree plantings. Olmsted and Vaux’s 1868 plan for Riverside set aside nearly one-third of a 1,600-acre tract along the Des Plaines River for preserved streamways, scenic views, gas streetlights, and wooded areas for public use, as the Riverside exhibit explains. Riverside is a National Historic Landmark.

The exhibit, “Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscapes for the Public Good,” is a collaboration between the National Association of Olmsted Parks and the Virginia-based nonprofit Oak Spring Garden Foundation. The Riverside Public Library, which had the exhibit on display from January to April, is now presenting it outdoors (depending on the weather) from May to October along the Des Plaines River or in Guthrie Park.

A key group in the yearlong campaign to mark the bicentennial of Olmsted’s birth is The Frederick Law Olmsted Society of Riverside. The society is funding and planting an Olmsted Overlook, a public natural space where volunteers are planting trees and shrubs in ways that reflect Olmsted’s philosophy that such landscapes foster health, well-being, and serenity.

A panel from the Riverside, Illinois exhibit, “Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscapes for the Public Good”

The society also is commemorating Olmsted’s work in Riverside through an innovative artistic endeavor, the Olmsted 200 Botanical Box. The group has partnered with botanical artist Shilin Hora, who owns a Riverside shop called The Seed. Throughout last year, the society sponsored a series of guided community seed hunts. The ultimate objective, through fundraising and the artist’s work, is a museum-quality botanical box to be donated to the Riverside Public Library. The artwork will be accompanied by a seed identification key showing Riverside’s diverse flora.

Plein Air Painting: Olmsted’s Places and Inspirations Today

To understand that Olmsted’s landscapes speak to artists and anyone treasuring the outdoors and nature today, look to Atlanta’s Plein Air Invitational. The invitational, now in its eighth year, welcomed dozens of accomplished plein air artists in the United States to document and depict Olmsted landscapes and parks, with a special nod to Olmsted’s birth bicentennial. Judges chose winning paintings. The invitational’s paintings were available for viewing in-person in April.

Olmsted Plein Air Invitational Painting: “Jogging Home” by Suzie Baker

Now the Plein Air Invitational is providing an opportunity to experience the breadth and richness of landscapes and vistas through a virtual gallery. It went live on May 1. An online gallery/catalogue presents the artworks, which are for sale. I am enjoying viewing the splendid images of the paintings and seeing those that captured awards in various categories. These include “Jogging Home” for the Judges Award of Merit”; the “Secret of Deepdene” for Best Painting in Atlanta’s Olmsted Linear Park; and “Tybee Light” for the Cezanne/Best Light in Landscapes work.

Hartford: A Tribute in Olmsted’s Birthplace

Olmsted’s lifelong embrace of landscape and its positive effects came from his earliest days. When he was a child, Olmsted loved seeing the open, verdant views of the countryside as he rode with his father, John, on horseback and took in the scenery “from the pommel of my father’s saddle,” as he later wrote. He called these experiences “my earliest special education.”

Olmsted was born in Hartford, Conn., and is buried in Old North Cemetery in the city. He was a member of the eighth generation of his family to live in Hartford, though his life took him to various other places far and wide. Here, the city’s public library is paying tribute to its native son. During the bicentennial of Olmsted’s birth year, the Hartford Public Library is hosting a special exhibition, “Returning Home to Hartford – Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscapes for the Public Good.”

The Helen S Kaman Rose Garden is part of Elizabeth Park in Hartford, Conn. Olmsted drafted the plan for a network of parks in Hartford, a plan that the city executed, resulting in Elizabeth Park and four others. Added to the park in 1904, it was the first municipally owned rose garden in the United States.
Via Wikimedia Commons

Through photos and drawings, the exhibit, on view through June 9, delves into Olmsted’s life and his and his firm’s contributions to Hartford and especially its park system. Hartford was a wealthy, growing city with burgeoning industries and a strong civic and activist character in the mid- to late 19th century. The exhibit helps highlight Olmsted’s impact in drafting a plan for a network of parks and parkways. Images showcase Keney, Pope, Riverside, and Goodwin parks, all part of Hartford’s municipal park system, one of the earliest in the United States.

The exhibit builds on work done last year to digitize thousands of photographs that were donated to the public library’s Hartford History Center. A collection of these historic Parks Department images is available at an online exhibition, entitled Hartford Springs Into Summer.

What’s Out There Olmsted: A Digital Guide to Hundreds of Landscapes

To grasp the breadth and number of places and landscapes that are Olmsted’s legacy, What’s Out There Olmsted is an exceptional resource – deep, meticulously organized, and richly illustrated. The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) has produced and launched this digital guide to more than 300 North American landscapes that Olmsted or his successor firms designed. As Charles A. Birnbaum, TCLF’s president and CEO, said, “The impact of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., on the nation’s identity and the profession of landscape architecture is inestimable.”

What a guide the TCLF has made for a variety of uses, including in-person exploration and adventures, virtual experiences, or academic and other research. It has an illustrated introduction and a searchable database of hundreds of landscapes, each complete with text, media gallery, and landscape categorization according to style and other data. The TCLF is highly experienced in producing these guides: The new Olmsted one is its 20th What’s Out There digital guide. It’s optimized for iPhones and other handheld devices.

The landing page for What’s Out There Olmsted
Image: Courtesy of The Cultural Landscape Foundation

The guide provides nearly 100 biographical entries of the Olmsted firms’ employees, consultants, and collaborators. This is one of the most fascinating ways to learn how Olmsted’s influence radiated through many places and decades. Warren Manning, for one, worked with Olmsted, Sr., for eight years, and he went on from this stint to establish his own firm and work on more than 1,700 projects.

Here’s one of my favorites to exemplify how illuminating the digital guide is: Downing Park, close to home in New York’s Hudson Valley. A photo of its lush greenery and stately trees tops the entry (and it’s complemented by a media gallery of eight photos). The sketch details how the 35-acre Downing Park was the last collaboration between Olmsted, Sr., and Calvert Vaux, constructed over three years, from 1894-1897. Olmsted and Vaux did this collaboration pro bono in honor of their mentor and Vaux’s former partner, Andrew Jackson Downing, a native son of Newburgh. Also, it is the only known commission that included Olmsted’s stepson John C. Olmsted working with Vaux’s son Downing Vaux.

The guide discusses the original elements and characteristics that Olmsted and Vaux planned in Downing Park, the highlights that others added later, and some components that have been lost over time. In this way, it allows an overall sense of how much Olmsted’s and Vaux’s spaces survive over time. Downing Park possesses many signature facets of their Picturesque-style creations, such as a great and sloping lawn; a significant water feature – Polly Pond (named after pollywogs); meadows; scenic woodlands; and meandering walks. Downing Vaux placed an observatory atop a hilltop and a bandshell, which allowed a view of the Hudson River (neither survive today). In the early decades of the 20th century, others added a pergola and various memorials in Downing Park, including a Volunteer Fireman’s Memorial in 1910 and a Civil War monument dedicated in 1934. Manning guided the original planting as a superintendent for Olmsted’s firm. Many of the park’s original trees survive today.

Since its opening in 1897 in the middle of an industrial city, Downing Park has been an anchoring place of gathering, recreation, culture, and solitude. It remains as an important civic place and lovely park off a historic residential neighborhood, continuing to be a setting for events, fun, and the contemplation of the seasons.

Mission Accomplished – and Ongoing

From his earliest days as a child accompanying his father, Olmsted experienced and understood the beauty and benefits of the outdoors, nature, vistas, and verdant landscapes. Later, he would see and know the darker, brutal sides of life beyond his home. In his 30s, under an assignment from the then-New York Daily Times, he witnessed and chronicled the atrocious conditions of slavery in first-person accounts from a journey in the antebellum South. Heading the U.S. Sanitary Commission during the Civil War and tending wounded soldiers, he saw the horrors of war. He was horrified by mistreatment that whites exacted on Native Americans and Black and Chinese people during his stint managing a consortium of gold mines in California. Through these experiences, Olmsted became more convinced of the civilizing and restorative power of nature and carefully formed landscapes such as parks, park systems, gardens, and wilderness preserves.

Working with Vaux on Central Park, then Prospect Park from 1865 to 1873, and on through the rest of his life, Olmsted found and never wavered from his mission: to plan and provide natural landscapes that would foster health and well-being. His life’s work resulted in the many, many marvelous, delightful landscapes that we love today.

Further Exploration

Frederick Law Olmsted: Designing America – Film from WNED PBS History

Olmsted at 200: Exploring Lesser-Known New York Connections on the Bicentennial of His Birth – Article from the New York State Urban Forestry Council

Olmsted-Designed New York City Parks – Article, Photos, and A Key to Further Reading, via the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation’s Learning Hub