Frederick Law Olmsted | A Passion for Parks, National Geographic: Olmsted Still Life with Fern

A fern leaf frames a historic portrait of Frederick Law Olmsted along with tools of his trade as a landscape architect. The still life is arranged on a work stool in his office at Fairsted, now the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.

Olmsted (1822-1903) is remembered as America’s first landscape architect and park planner. He designed many well-known urban parks including Central Park in New York, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, as well as parks in Buffalo, Rochester, and the Niagara Reservation. He is also credited with drawing plans for Louisville, Chicago, Boston, Detroit and Montreal parks as well as his final masterpiece, the grounds of Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.

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