Last updated: June 11, 2024
Place
South Mountain Reservation
Olmsted Archives
Quick Facts
In 1898, Olmsted Brothers were hired by the Essex County Park Commission to advise the group on tracts of land to purchase. One tract of land totaling more than 2,000-acres and spanning several townships and multiple jurisdictions, South Mountain Reservation, was designed by John Charles Olmsted and Percival Gallagher.
Over the next few decades, more land was added, forcing Olmsted and Gallagher to erase any scars of farming, overgrazing, and timbering. At South Mountain Reservation, John Charles implemented what he called “aesthetic forestry”: assisting nature by carefully replanting healthy forested areas and underplanting the upper canopy with appropriate native trees and shrubs. Construction, forestry work, and even land acquisition continued into the 1920s, managed by Gallagher.
Source: "South Mountain Reservation," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online
Over the next few decades, more land was added, forcing Olmsted and Gallagher to erase any scars of farming, overgrazing, and timbering. At South Mountain Reservation, John Charles implemented what he called “aesthetic forestry”: assisting nature by carefully replanting healthy forested areas and underplanting the upper canopy with appropriate native trees and shrubs. Construction, forestry work, and even land acquisition continued into the 1920s, managed by Gallagher.
Source: "South Mountain Reservation," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
Olmsted Online