Frederick Law Olmsted National Historical Site

Last updated: March 18, 2024

I love that I was able to take nine days and explore New England. While that’s definitely not enough time to thoroughly visit Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, it was enough time to get just a taste to know I want to go back!

My main goal while in Massachusetts was to visit Salem and see all 15 National Park Service sites, but only had time for 13 (and I barely got those in!). Not to mention Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. Oh well… I guess I’ll have to go back, darn it. 😉

Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of American landscape architecture, created pastoral and picturesque scenery believed to cure stress caused by urban living. Who doesn’t need to visit here!? Before Olmsted entered the profession of landscape architecture at the age of 35, he worked as a farmer, author, editor, and publisher. His successful design of Central Park created job opportunities in the Boston area including designs for the Back Bay Fens, the Arnold Arboretum, and a commission for the Emerald Necklace, Boston’s connected park system. Olmsted moved his family to Brookline, Massachusetts where he established both his home and professional landscape architecture firm in an old farmhouse on two acres of property he restored and renamed “Fairsted,” which is today administered by the National Park Service as the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.