#findyourlandscape

April is World Landscape Architecture Month.

Although national parks are sometimes thought of as primarily wild or natural places, parks have a strong foundation in landscape architecture and design. 

Many sites and landscapes now managed by the National Park Service were designed by landscape architects. This includes landscapes designed as private estates and commemorative landscapes like memorials and cemeteries. It also includes those “wild” places designed to be national parks, aiming to enhance the visitor experience without detracting from the natural surroundings. 

The formal garden at Bellefield, part of the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt NHS, was designed by Beatrix Farrand.  It continues to be maintained to reflect the historic character of the garden design based on historic photos. (NPS Photo)

During the formative years of the NPS, from 1916 to 1942, landscape architects, architects, and engineers crafted a cohesive style of landscape design that met the expanding needs of park development while upholding the agency’s responsibility to preserve the natural qualities for which each park had been designated. While some elements typical to this development era are reflected from coast to coast, their stylistic expression is associated with the particular landscape character of each park.

The concept of park planning also emerged from this period, calling for a more systematic process of review and approval to help ensure that the fundamental principles and designs were aligned with natural surroundings, while upholding the service’s responsibilities for both stewardship and visitor use.  

A visitor stands beside a low stone wall in a parking pullout along the Rim Drive Historic District, overlooking Crater Lake in Oregon. (NPS Photo)

The design of natural parks and rustic structures was rooted in nineteenth-century English gardening tradition, which was popularized in the U.S. by the writings of Andrew Jackson Downing and the urban parks designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The sturdy, rustic style of park architecture and the naturalization of the landscape features became known as the Rustic Style.

Today, visitors to national parks can still experience the landscape design features that express the history of park development, planning, and visitation over the last century, from the nature-inspired Rustic Style in the early part of the century to the modernist style of the Mission 66 era.

The Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center is one of the features of the Mission 66-era Hoh Developed Area in Olympic National Park, WA. (NPS Photo)

“Designed by a Landscape Architect“

April is World Landscape Architecture Month, and you don’t have to be a landscape designer to join in the celebration. The month-long celebration emerges out of a joint partnership between the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA).

Visit the website to download a wallet-sized card that says, “Designed by a Landscape Architect.” Follow the instructions on the website to display this card in photos at landscape-architect-designed spaces and share on social media with hash tags #WLAM2015 #ASLA #IFLA. 

Get all the World Landscape Architecture Month details here.

Want to know more about the history of landscape architecture and the National Park Service? Take a look at Linda Flint McClelland’s book Building the National Parks: Historic Landscape Design and Construction (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998).

What does equal education look like?

On April 20, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of busing as a means to integrate schools. Six years earlier, in 1965, President Lyndon Johnson had signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) into law, stating that a full and equal educational opportunity should be “our first national goal.” 

In 2015, ensuring that public education is equal, effective, and improving remains a continuing quest. The effort involves many partners and various approaches.

The National Park Service shares in the education mission, preserving parks as places of learning that introduce science and history while also developing civic engagement and citizen stewardship.

Encouraging education about education is just one of the many areas of history and learning explored through the resources of the park service.

The arch window in the auditorium was restored during the rehabilitation/construction of the Brown v. Board of Education NHS (2001-2003). NPS photo, park website.

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site

The NPS preserves the Brown v. Board of Education NHS in Kansas. Monroe Elementary School is identified as a cultural landscape within this park unit. The property supports an understanding of the history of segregation in public schools and the transformations and turbulence that surrounded the 1954 Supreme Court decision, which ruled that racial segregation in schools was unconstitutional. 

When the classroom can’t go to the place, the NPS aims to help teachers bring place into to the classroom.

Teaching with Historic Places

In the recently published Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan “Separate But Equal? South Carolina’s Fight over School Segregation,” specific properties listed to the National Register are presented with readings, visual material, and activities. The properties in this lesson include several “Equalization Schools” in South Carolina, illustrating the effects of the Briggs v. Elliott ruling on the construction of schools in South Carolina and on racial segregation in the country. 

The 1951 lawsuit occurred before desegregation, and it marks the first attempt in the state to build a “separate but equal” school system.  As a result of Briggs v. Elliott, South Carolina passed its first statewide sales tax, the money from which was used to improve schools for both African American and white students. 

There is also a TwHP lesson plan to guide educators and students through the desegregation ruling: “Brown v. Board: Five Communities That Changed America.”

The preservation and communication of these historic landscapes can help people of all ages and backgrounds to develop an understanding of the complexities surrounding equal education.  As this story continues, these places also serve as a reminder that history is a process of change with many perspectives, places, and potential directions.

What can equal education look like?

Celebrate Your Parks!

This weekend is the kick-off to National Park Week, a week-long celebration of national heritage and public spaces. It’s all happening April 18-26, 2015, in a full week that highlights just some of what makes national parks valuable year round. 

Build a new connection to your surroundings, explore an amazing place, discover open spaces, enjoy an affordable vacation, and further an idea that began a century ago. These are your parks.

The National Park Service is partnering with the National Park Foundation to present the week, which is a presidentially proclaimed celebration of national heritage. 

Reenactors at Fort Hancock, part of Gateway National Recreation Area. (NPS Photo)

Browse the National Park Week event calendar to see what programs are offered this week. 

Here are some of the week’s highlights:

April 18 and 19: During opening weekend, admission to every national park is free and all are welcome!  Visit a favorite, or go someplace you’ve never been. Find a Park here.

April 18: It’s Junior Ranger Day, when parks invite young visitors to explore, learn, protect, and be sworn in as junior rangers.

April 19: Several parks are planning Instameets between 2-4pmEDT. How does this work? Participating parks organize a meeting place or event.  Show up, take photos or video, share, and meet some new faces along the way. Join in at #ParkWeekInstaMeet.

April 22: This Earth Day, put on your work gloves and lend a hand with a project.  Find a park where you can join the crew and get involved.

Visit the National Park Week website to share photos, video, and experiences from National Park Week, and also learn about ways to support your national parks all year.

We hope that you’ll explore a cultural landscape as part of your National Park Week adventure.  

Use our Spaces & Places finding aid for a partial list of cultural landscape profiles.  (More entries coming soon!)