Tours, Trails & Videos

The Olmsted Legacy Trail (online visit - multi project)
A Project of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Click on Project Type to access sets of projects included in The Olmsted Legacy Trail. Job Numbers link to OlmstedOnline pages. For an introduction and documentation for all Olmsted jobs in Connecticut see Olmsted in Connecticut Landscape Documentation Project Report courtesy of the Connecticut State Historic Preservation Office.

Cemeteries & Memorials
02933 Old North Cemetery, 01001 Memorial Park
Colleges & School Campuses
00601 Trinity College
Grounds of Residential Institutions
12015 Institute of Living
Parks, Parkways & Recreation Areas
00691 Beardsley Park, 02248 Hartford Road, 12021 Seaside Park
00600 Walnut Hill Park
Private Estates & Homesteads
02924 & 07696 Stokes Residence
06371 Tracy S. Lewis House
Subdivisions & Suburban Communities
06222 Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Company, 02924 Khakum Wood

Waterbury

Lewis E Fulton Memorial Park: Then and Now (walking tour)
A history of Fulton Park,
Created by and courtesy of the Historic Overlook Community Club.
06780 Lewis Fulton Memorial Park

Louisville

Frederick Law Olmsted | Louisville’s Olmsted Parks (video)
Courtesy of Kentucky Educational Television
01260 Louisville Olmsted Parks System

Baltimore

Bike Tour: Wyman Park to Herring Run and Neighborhoods (multi project)
A bike tour tracing several of the parks, park connections, and neighborhoods that were planned and designed by the Olmsted Brothers.
Courtesy of Friends of Maryland’s Olmsted Parks and Landscapes.
02400 Baltimore Parks Municipal Art Society
02401 Baltimore Park System
02404 Wyman Park (stops 1 and 9)
02428 Wyman Park Extension (stop 1)
02376 Johns Hopkins University (stops 1 and 9)
07724 Baltimore Museum of Art (stops 1 and 9)
02425 Herring Run Park (stop 4)
02210 Roland Park (stop 5)
07576 Garrett, John. W. (stop 5)
02436 Venable Park (stop 6)
02423 Parkway, Clifton to Patterson
02424 Patterson, Clifton-, Parkway
03391 Guilford Park Company (stop 8)
02447 Baltimore City Plan

Exeter

Exeter History Minute - Swasey Parkway (video)
Learn how Ambrose Swasey underwrote the shore parkway for Exeter. Courtesy of Exeter Historical Society.
09014 Exeter Shore Parkway

Buffalo

The Best Planned City: Olmsted, Vaux and the Buffalo Park System (video)
Featuring LALH author Francis R. Kowsky, this short film explores the development of the nation’s first park system, designed for Buffalo by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1868. They were inspired by Second Empire Paris and included the first system of "parkways" for an American city. Displaying the plan at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Olmsted declared Buffalo "the best planned city, as to its streets, public places, and grounds, in the United States, if not in the world."
Courtesy of the Library of the American Landscape History (LALH)
00700 Buffalo Parks
00702, 00705, 00719 Delaware Park
00706 Front, The
00712 Parade Refectory

Rochester

Seneca Park Walking Tour (walking tour)
A Walk in Seneca Park brochure and guide. Produced with the cooperation of Friends and Neighbors of Seneca Park, The Landmark Society of Western NY and the Monroe County Parks Department, and through a grant from the Rochester Area Community Foundation.
Courtesy of Monroe County Parks.
01108 Seneca Park

Staten Island

Frederick Law Olmsted on Staten Island Discovery Map (map)
Frederick Law Olmsted lived on Staten Island during the later part of his “formative years.” After he found that the soil in Connecticut was not conducive to farming, in 1848 his father purchased Tosomock Farm on Staten Island for Frederick to try his hand at scientific farming. He approached it also with the eye to the aesthetic, writing later that he was “learning the principles of landscape architecture” as he applied “consideration for sceneric effect from without as well as from within,” planting several thousand trees on his own land. He became known among his neighbors and friends “as a man of some special knowledge, inventiveness and judgement in such affairs” and was called on for his advice. [FLO_Autobiographical Fragment B_Papers of FLO_v1_p118] This led to connections to future clients, such as the Vanderbilts and Sir Cameron, as noted on the Discovery Map.
Courtesy of the Friends of Olmsted-Beil House
00218 Vanderbilt Mausoleum
01075 Cameron, Sir Roderick
Also see: 12062 Staten Island Improvement Commission (6/2)

Seattle

Celebrating Our Olmsted Legacy - Olmsted Park Centennial (video)
A short film was produced in 2003 to mark the Centennial of the Olmsted Brothers’ contribution to the public park and greenbelt system in Seattle, including Seward Park (02724), Colman Park (02721) and the Washington Park Arboretum (02699).
Courtesy of City of Seattle and Seattle Channel
02690 Seattle Parks

Volunteer Park (Seattle) (online walking tour)
A walking tour showing how the history of the city is woven into the landscape of the park in the same way that the park is woven into the life of the city.
Courtesy of History Link Tours and Volunteer Park Trust
02695 Volunteer Park

Interlaken Boulevard & Park (Seattle) (walking tour)
A self-guided walking tour recounting the history of Interlaken Boulevard and Park and the Olmsted context.
Courtesy of Friends of Seattle’s Olmsted Parks
02713 Interlaken Boulevard

Cathedral Gardens Virtual Tour (map)
A virtual tour guided by an interactive map of Cathedral Close and Bishop’s Garden.
Courtesy of All Hallows Guild
03297 Washington Cathedral Boys Choir Grounds