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Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site Early spring at Fairsted - scilla in bloom.
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Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site
Things To Do
Beginning on June 1st, Olmsted NHS will be accepting reservations for Ranger-led tours of the Olmsted Historic Design Office and Landscape. Tours will be offered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9:00am, 11:00am and 2:00pm and Sunday at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm. All tours have a limit of 12 people so please make your reservations as soon as possible to assure a place on the tour you prefer. For more information and to reserve a place on a tour please call 617-566-1689 ext. 221 or email us.

The Olmsted Home, which adjoins the Design Office, will remain closed until final construction is completed this fall/early winter. The Olmsted grounds are open for self-guided tours 365 days a year from dawn to dusk.
 
Franklin Park Walk
Tours Through Olmsted-Designed Landscapes

Ranger-led tours of Olmsted-designed landscapes in the nearby Boston metropolitan area are offered periodically during the year. These may include focused walks in the Back Bay Fens, Riverway, Jamaica Pond, Arnold Arboretum, and the Franklin Park portions of Boston's famed "Emerald Necklace" park system.

Click here for a pdf with descriptions of this years walks.

Slide Programs

Frederick Law Olmsted and the Massachusetts Legacy

The Olmsted firm worked on some 1,200 landscape design projects throughout Massachusetts, from 500-acre public parks to intimate private gardens. This program explores Olmsted landscapes from the sands of the Atlantic to the forests of the Berkshires.

Domesticity in Green: Olmsted and Suburbia

Reinforced by his belief that "great towns cannot exist without great suburbs," Frederick Law Olmsted sought to change the way Americans lived. This talk explores Olmsted's views on suburbia, focusing on factors that influenced his designs. Broad conceptual ideas are shown through an examination of Riverside, Illinois, one of this country's first planned communities. A look at "Fairsted," Olmsted's Brookline home, reveals more intimate details of his design work.

These slide programs are available for groups by reservation. Please call (617) 566-1689 ext. 221 for more information.

 

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Last Updated: September 20, 2011 at 14:35 MST