Cultural Landscape Documentation as a Design Process

Cultural Landscape Documentation: Interpretation and Design Jenny Mikulski, MLA ‘06

Introduction

Master’s Thesis - Mint in the Mucklands John Milner Associaties, Inc. Landscape Architecture Division, Charlottesville, Virginia (Formerly Oculus)

Cultural Landscape Documentation Methodology Conceptual Challenges

Cultural Landscape Reports: Case Studies (Local)

(State) (National)

Fairfax County, Virginia: Frying Pan Farm Park Laurel Hill Park Road 4, Burnet, Texas Vicksburg National Military Park, Mississippi Ninety Six National Historic Site, Greenwood, South Carolina Central High School National Historic Site, Little Rock, Arkansas

From Documentation to Design: Master Plan for Riverside Park, Lynchburg, Virginia Designing the Parks: National Conference, San Francisco, CA December 2008

Cultural Landscape Documentation Methodology (an interpretive and creative design process!)

Historical Research -Archival Research -Interviews and oral histories -Survey of historical maps, drawings, plans Documentation of Existing Conditions -Field work -GIS Analysis -Map construction Comparative Analysis -Period Plans -Comparative Photography -Identification of a period(s) of significance -Assessment of contributing features Condition and Integrity Assessment National Register Nomination Treatment Recommendations Design Guidelines Implementation Projects

Cultural Landscape Documentation: Conceptual Challenges *Focusing on “famous” people and “significant” events...or on everyday people and their work, survival, and cultural traditions *Identifying a single “period of significance”...or recognizing history as a continuum, and that as our national history progresses there are actually layers of important time periods and multiple periods of significance. *Thinking of cultural and natural resources as separate entities... or understanding them and interpreting them as inexitricably connected to one another and even in causal interrelationships.

*Imagining national parks and historic sites and special destinations, mostly for the visiting tourist... realizing that, with increased development pressures, national parks play important roles in local communities as recreational resources, community gathering places, and habitats for wildlife.

*Treating historic sites as places that are static and “preserved”... or being okay with changes that are responses to an evolving national identity and ecosystem and ever-changing priorities and needs. *Isolating sites and parks within their own precincts... or connecting them through corridors that are opportunities for cultural and historical interpretation at a broader scale as well as recreational byways and “habitat highways.”