Last updated: June 7, 2024
Place
Lynn Woods
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
MANAGED BY:
After damming a nearby pond, a group of Lynn recreationists formed a public trust to help preserve the local forest. By 1882, the state legislature had already passed the Massachusetts Park Act, enabling any town in the state to establish a park commission and acquire land.
In 1889, Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. was hired as a design consultant at Lynn Woods. In his recommendations, Olmsted stated that the area should be kept in its natural state as a rugged and wild forest. Design elements included in Olmsted’s design was a circuit system of carriage roads and walking trails. Additionally, Olmsted recommended street railway routes be extended, providing easy access to the woods for Lynn’s urban residents.
As Greater Boston continued to grow, many scenic natural areas were being lost to development. By 1890, Lynn was one of the few communities in the area with protected municipal parkland. Olmsted firm member Charles Eliot praised Lynn for creating not only a large municipal park, but also a uniquely protected water supply.
Describing Lynn Woods to the Boston Metropolitan Park Commission in 1893, Eliot wrote that “To-day the Lynn Woods embrace some two thousand acres, and constitute the largest and most interesting, because the wildest, public domain in all New England… Thus for the small sum of seventy thousand dollars the “city of shoes” has obtained a permanent and increasingly beautiful possession which is already bringing to her a new and precious renown.”
Source: "DCR and Greenbelt Announce Conservation Restriction on Lynn Woods, Permanently Protecting the Park from Development," Department of Conservation and Recreation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
In 1889, Frederick Law Olmsted Sr. was hired as a design consultant at Lynn Woods. In his recommendations, Olmsted stated that the area should be kept in its natural state as a rugged and wild forest. Design elements included in Olmsted’s design was a circuit system of carriage roads and walking trails. Additionally, Olmsted recommended street railway routes be extended, providing easy access to the woods for Lynn’s urban residents.
As Greater Boston continued to grow, many scenic natural areas were being lost to development. By 1890, Lynn was one of the few communities in the area with protected municipal parkland. Olmsted firm member Charles Eliot praised Lynn for creating not only a large municipal park, but also a uniquely protected water supply.
Describing Lynn Woods to the Boston Metropolitan Park Commission in 1893, Eliot wrote that “To-day the Lynn Woods embrace some two thousand acres, and constitute the largest and most interesting, because the wildest, public domain in all New England… Thus for the small sum of seventy thousand dollars the “city of shoes” has obtained a permanent and increasingly beautiful possession which is already bringing to her a new and precious renown.”
Source: "DCR and Greenbelt Announce Conservation Restriction on Lynn Woods, Permanently Protecting the Park from Development," Department of Conservation and Recreation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr