Articles by
Ethan Carr
EASTERN DESIGN IN A WESTERN LANDSCAPE: OLMSTED, RICHARDSON, AND THE AMES MONUMENT
Few people come upon the Ames Monument by chance. Isolated on the high plains, between Laramie and Cheyenne in southeastern Wyoming, the sixty-foot-high pyramid sits on a windswept knoll, eight thousand feet above sea level. Although not far from Interstate 80 (the pyramid is just visible, when driving westward), it defines its own precinct, seemingly […]
OLMSTED AND SCENIC PRESERVATION
Frederick Law Olmsted is rightly remembered as the most accomplished landscape architect in U.S. history, the designer of great municipal parks and other landscapes. He also was a key figure in the nation’s most significant early examples of scenic preservation. These endeavors were not mutually exclusive, and in fact park design and scenic preservation were […]
NEW ENGLAND TRAILS
TO BE AT THE FARTHER EDGE: Photographs along the New England Trail Long before the map, there was the trail. It may be the most ancient means of both organizing and experiencing space. In at least some cultures the two ideas are conflated. But for anyone, walking a trail can be a kind of experiential […]
NPS DESIGN TRADITION IN THE 21ST CENTURY
This essay first appeared in the George Wright Forum, published by the George Wright Society. Centennial celebrations, like most historical commemorations, express apprehension for the future as much as pride in the past. While retrospection on an important anniversary can forge renewed identity or purpose, the need for such definition seems most pressing when new […]
HISTORIC SITES IN THE UNITED STATES: PAST AND PRESENT
Historic parks and monuments have suffered an overall decline in visitation over the last 30 years. This may not be true of all destinations, particularly those most popular with tourists. But according to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 25% of Americans reported visiting a historic site in 2008, down from about 38% in […]
NEW BOOK SERIES: DESIGNING THE AMERICAN PARK
“Designing the American Park,” a new series within the Library of American Landscape History, launches this year with the publication of Frank Kowsky’s, The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System. The new series will be based on the conviction that park landscapes are among the richest of cultural […]