Last updated: May 24, 2024
Place
Blue Hills Reservation
Olmsted Archives, Job #01504, MA
Quick Facts
In 1893, Olmsted firm partner Charles Eliot and member Warren H. Manning created an interconnected series of parks in the Greater Boston Area that was known as the Metropolitan Parks System. That same year Eliot would acquire Blue Hills Reservation, believing the landscape's wildness would counter Boston’s intentionally manicured parks of the time, like the Public Garden.
After the new Metropolitan Park Commission purchased the land, one Commissioner declared that “there will be no attempt made to beautify them. We shall not even own a lawn mower.” Eliot envisioned carriage riders enjoying the paths of Blue Hills, coming around corners to reveal scenic vistas. At 125 miles of trails, traversing forests, meadows, swamps, pond edges, and marshes, Eliot achieved his goal of “affording widespread panoramic prospects in all directions.”
Source: "Blue Hills Reservation," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr
After the new Metropolitan Park Commission purchased the land, one Commissioner declared that “there will be no attempt made to beautify them. We shall not even own a lawn mower.” Eliot envisioned carriage riders enjoying the paths of Blue Hills, coming around corners to reveal scenic vistas. At 125 miles of trails, traversing forests, meadows, swamps, pond edges, and marshes, Eliot achieved his goal of “affording widespread panoramic prospects in all directions.”
Source: "Blue Hills Reservation," The Cultural Landscape Foundation
For more information and primary resources, please visit:
Olmsted Research Guide Online
Olmsted Archives on Flickr