Olmsted, Fredrick Law

sweeper

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Dec 16, 2017
Location
Hill towns of Western Mass
When the nation descended into civil war in April 1861, Frederick Law Olmsted, like many thousands of Northerners, was eager to serve his country. However, a carriage accident in 1860 had rendered Olmsted unable to serve in a combat role. Fortunately for the Union cause, he possessed other weapons: a keen intellect, superb administrative skills, and fierce determination, all of which he applied in his role as General Secretary of the United States Sanitary Commission.

https://www.nps.gov/frla/learn/historyculture/olmsted-and-the-civil-war.htm
 
Yes, Olmsted is best known as a landscape architect. He designed New York City's Central Park in addition to his work in Chicago and other places.

A rich kid from Connecticut, doors were opened for him early in his life, which he took advantage of, to his credit.

Olmsted spent a cumulative total of about five years, traveling through the Antebellum South, from Norfolk, Virginia to Austin, Texas.

I've read three books describing his travels. A Journey through the Seaboard Slave States, A Journey in the Back Country and A Journey Through Texas.

Each is out of copyright protection and may be read online, free. Google is your friend.
 
Just downloaded two of them from Amazon on my Kindle - .99 cents. The paperbacks and hardcovers are pricey.
 
Rich yes and did a lot of traveling but he also attempted farming a couple of times, with some initial success.

He landscaped the US Capital, and preserve what is now Yosemite National Park

Died a mad man.

Can you give details on how he died? I wonder why he went insane.
 
The short answer from Wiki: In 1895, senility forced Olmsted to retire. By 1898 he moved to Belmont, Massachusetts, and took up residence as a patient at the McLean Hospital, for whose grounds he had submitted a design which was never executed. He remained there until his death in 1903.

His son's remakes about his passing are touching and more then I care to type. Besides it's the end of the book and I can't tell you the ending.
 
Yes, Olmsted is best known as a landscape architect. He designed New York City's Central Park in addition to his work in Chicago and other places.

A rich kid from Connecticut, doors were opened for him early in his life, which he took advantage of, to his credit.

Olmsted spent a cumulative total of about five years, traveling through the Antebellum South, from Norfolk, Virginia to Austin, Texas.

I've read three books describing his travels. A Journey through the Seaboard Slave States, A Journey in the Back Country and A Journey Through Texas.

Each is out of copyright protection and may be read online, free. Google is your friend.
When I would teach the Ante Bellum Period to my high school students I would incorporate his observations of what the Peculiar Institution was like. As a reporter and a trained observer his accounts were very matter of fact and unlike the description of slavery's opponents and defenders. I am not sure I could get away with presenting these descriptions to high school students today.
 
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