Frederick Law Olmsted: ‘Parks for All People’

from ASPIRE · 2022 · VOLUME 4

The Tocqueville Society

Transitions between formal and natural gardens were important to Fredrick Law Olmsted, designer of the landscaping at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina.

THE BILTMORE COMPANY PHOTOS

Frederick Law Olmsted

‘Parks for All People’

In commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of iconic American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), the Biltmore Estate in Asheville has been actively participating in a yearlong celebration. Around the nation, 120 entities are coming together as part of the programming known as “Olmsted 200: Parks for All People.”

“His work was about advancing the democratic experiment. He realized that there should be places in which all people could go regardless of their background.”

“[Olmsted] understood that public spaces could bring people together,” said Anne Neal Petri, president and CEO of the National Association for Olmsted Parks. “His work was about advancing the democratic experiment. He realized that there should be places in which all people could go regardless of their background. It underscores one of the most revolutionary concepts that we’ve ever known, and can be thankful for — parks belong to all of us.”

Known as the father of landscape architecture, Olmsted was a true visionary. His key achievements were Central Park (New York City), U.S. Capitol Grounds (Washington D.C.), Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Mount Royal Park (Montreal), Niagara Reservation (Niagara Falls), Emerald Necklace (Boston), Grand Necklace of Parks (Milwaukee), World Columbian Exposition (Chicago), and Highland Park (Rochester). But his vision extended to numerous other projects, as well.

“He was living at a very crucial time in American history, amid the pre/post-Civil War, and at a time of vast industrialization,” Petri said. “[Back then], we were really moving from a rural country to an industrial and urban one. Unlike most people of his day, and even those of us today, he understood that contact with nature was essential, that it builds our physical/mental health and wellbeing.”

Olmsted had the universal foresight and creative mind to see not only the beauty, but the necessity of public parks in large, sprawling cities throughout the United States and beyond. But he also had the passion and persistence to open the eyes of government officials and the general public as to what he felt was of the utmost importance.

“It was an interesting combination of very creative individuals who were connecting with very ambitious civic leaders, both seeing the need for these public spaces. Their work is why today we’re still able to benefit from that collaboration,” Petri said.

Aside from the grandeur of these public parks across the country, private citizens would also commission Olmsted to work for their properties. One such citizen was George Washington Vanderbilt, whose vast Biltmore Estate has been open to the public for many years.

With the mansion constructed from 1889 to 1895, the 125,000acre Biltmore Estate property was handed over to Olmsted. The master felt the landscape could not only be an opportunity for a park to surround the house, but also a chance to incorporate new techniques for forest management and commercial timbering.

Olmsted suggested Vanderbilt hire Carl A. Schenck and Gifford Pinchot to manage the massive forested section of the estate. With the duo brought on to oversee the project, Schenck launched the first forestry education program in America in 1898. Dubbed the Biltmore Forest School, the organization became the seedling of what we know today as "forest management" — techniques still valued and implemented in our modern world.

“Even though Vanderbilt was a private individual, he viewed the [Olmsted project] as an opportunity to think big, and to think about scientific forestry,” Petri said. “It was a way to think about the estate as something more than just simply a pleasure ground, but also as a place that can help advance farming and forestry [techniques]. Vanderbilt wanted to explore new ideas, and he had the resources to do so.”

Now, in the midst of the 200th anniversary celebration of Frederick Law Olmsted, it’s hard to imagine what the physical, emotional, political, and cultural landscape of this country would look like without his presence in the national dialogue and forward movement of our society those many years ago.

“Olmsted was a creative genius,” Petri said. “And the principles that guided his work have had a lasting importance to all of us now, and into the future. It’s about sustaining these beautiful places that sustain all of us.”