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Tagged With "Olmsted and Vaux"

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Re: Assiniboine Park, Winnipeg, Canada. Where Gumbo Was #36

Paul Heymont ·
Close but no cigar on Central Park's designer (who also did my backyard, Brooklyn's Prospect Park). Birkenhead was the work of Joseph Paxton, while the other two were done by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. Olmsted visited Birkenhead in 1850, three years after it opened, and while he was already thinking about Central Park, which opened in 1858. In his book "Walks and Talks of an American Farmer in England, Olmsted wrote about Birkenhead: "five minutes of admiration, and a few more...
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Re: Finding Your Hike in Prospect Park

GarryRF ·
Great photos Paul. Looks an amazing place. Is it located in the City where most folks can walk to it, or on the edge of Brooklyn ? Good to see it's becoming popular again with kids enjoying nature. Is parkland safe from developers in the States ?
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Re: Finding Your Hike in Prospect Park

Paul Heymont ·
Garry, it’s right in Central Brooklyn, surrounded by residential neighborhoods that range from quite poor to distressingly wealthy. Unlike Brooklyn Bridge Park, born in an age when it somehow seems acceptable to people to make condos part of a park, there would be huge opposition to messing with Prospect Park; in fact, even small changes can generate lots of discussion. But let’s not think parks are always safe; a few years ago, the Yankees were allowed to swap park land parcels for their...
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Re: Finding Your Hike in Prospect Park

GarryRF ·
Sounds very familiar! Old money, big houses and the park becomes a buffer zone. But for now it's a great place to fill your lungs and for the kids to run wild - like kids need to !
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

Former Member ·
I've often advised travelers with jam-packed itineraries to step back and leave themselves time to take a walk in a park or sit there a while, experiencing what the locals see and do. That is absolutely excellent advice. I hope that most people were wise enough to take your advice. Many of my best trip memories are made of such stuff. Thank you so much, PHeymont, for this walk in the park. It is just what my jangled nerves needed today.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

PortMoresby ·
I suspect a walk in the park is a habit acquired over time and familiarity with a place. I have a feeling, too, that the urge to go at top speed is the initial and overriding one. Or is it years and not travel experience that slows us down enough for such places to finally come into focus? Looking back over the decades I think maybe it's the latter.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

DrFumblefinger ·
I do think people's perspectives and priorities change with time. For example, I care little about a bar or nightlife scene in most of my destinations nowadays; that mattered more to me when I was much younger. I have always loved walking in parks because of the beautiful gardens, etc. But I think i'm much more into people watching in these places than I used to be. One of my favorite places to visit is the provincial park a short block from my home. It's grand to go for a walk in it, see...
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

PortMoresby ·
Maybe travel advice of the very concrete sort then, hotels, trains, etc. is the most satisfying for all concerned. A suggestion to slow down just may not compute, something for each of us to discover on our own. So PHeymont may be preaching to the choir...may he continue.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

DrFumblefinger ·
Good advice is good advice. People can accept it or ignore it. I'm all for freedom of choice. But sometimes an alternative needs to be presented in a clear way, as PHeymont has nicely done in this piece.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

PortMoresby ·
I don't disagree. Just pointing out the nature of human beings and, like world peace, we can wish for it while not actually expecting everyone to join in. But lessons are learned from war too and how would we feel about every tourist in town flocking to OUR park.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

GarryRF ·
I've mentioned in other pages that I love wide open spaces - like the State Delaware Park - but the designer of New York Central Park rung a Bell with me. Frederick Olmsted came to Liverpool to check out the "Peoples Garden" and he wrote in 1850 : "Five minutes of admiration, and a few more spent studying the manner in which art had been employed to obtain from nature so much beauty, and I was ready to admit that in democratic America there was nothing to be thought of as comparable with...
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

Former Member ·
It is clear that the "dumb" animals always seem to know the best places to hang out. We can never have enough parks. Nice to read that Frederick Olmsted also knew a good park when he saw one. Thanks for that info GarryRF
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

Paul Heymont ·
Garry's note about Olmsted's travels (and he was quite a traveler) set me off on a quick look to find the park he was referring to (which I didn't; apparently "people's garden" was a description rather than a name?) and found that Liverpool has more parks and especially top-class parks than any British city besides London. The article also mentioned that for reasons of health—and keeping social unrest down—the city commissioners set out on a park-building spree starting about 1833. Many...
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

GarryRF ·
Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

Paul Heymont ·
Even a certain similarity of shape...
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

GarryRF ·
Another Park from the 1850s. People would escape Liverpool for the day and travel north to Hesketh Park. 20 minutes on the train. This is taken in Mid-Winter.
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Re: Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

DrFumblefinger ·
Originally Posted by Grouchy Gumbo: The last pic is of my cousin Priscilla, who lives in Prospect Park. I see that you gave her a little gnosh. Not that she needs it. She seems to be putting on a little extra "winter coat" this year. She has a fine home. I would really like to visit the park sometime. Grouchy, I'm curious how a squirrel manages long distance travel to visit relatives. Maybe you can enlighten us mere mortals.
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Soldiers and Sailors Arch, Brooklyn, NY

Paul Heymont ·
PHeymont shares some views and some history of Brooklyn's iconic but often ignored Civil War memorial.
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Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway: A World First

Paul Heymont ·
Join PHeymont in a look at the world's first parkway, and one whose grand scheme has survived its hodge-podge of buildings and styles.
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A Walk in Greenwich Village

Jonathan L ·
I had the chance to walk around Greenwich Village  (see map)  for the first time in several years. I know that this is going to sound like a "grandpa is complaining about change again" blog, but I was really disappointed in what I found....
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Finding Your Hike in Prospect Park

Paul Heymont ·
  If my title seems puzzling, let me explain. Prospect Park, Brooklyn, is a 585-acre unnatural wonder, shaped by its builders to represent rural values and spaces in a growing 19th-century city. From farmland and hillside, Olmsted and Vaux...
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Hike of the Week: The Waters of Prospect Park

Paul Heymont ·
Think of a hike and you think of nature, right? And this hike in Brooklyn's Prospect Park will look a lot like nature, but that's actually a complete deception. Almost nothing in the entire park is "natural."    When the then-city of...
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Visiting My Backyard—Riverside Park

Jonathan L ·
Come visit Jonathan L's Backyard - Riverside Park in NYC
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Sometimes a Trip is just a Walk in the Park

Paul Heymont ·
I've often advised travelers with jam-packed itineraries to step back and leave themselves time to take a walk in a park or sit there a while, experiencing what the locals see and do. When we travel, it's one of our favorite things to do (we even...
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Where was Gumbo #18 - Olana, Hudson NY

Jonathan L ·
We have gotten to Tuesday and no one has guessed Where Gumbo went this week. So here is the answer:   Gumbo traveled to the New York state town of Hudson, where Frederic Church built a house over looking the Hudson River so that he could paint....
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Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn (Where Gumbo Was #160)

Paul Heymont ·
Grand Army Plaza is one of Brooklyn's hubs, where Prospect Park meets the Central Library, a memorial arch, the Greenmarket and much more.
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Union Square NYC

Jonathan L ·
JonathanL shares why Union Square is one his favorite places to come to in NYC and shares the many interesting aspects of the park.
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Fort Greene Park: A Hidden History

Paul Heymont ·
Pheymont explores a lively urban park in Brooklyn and its hidden, and sometimes dark, history.
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Reasons to go on a French Barge Tour and explore France in style and luxury

Darren Wilson ·
Looking for some adventure, excellent food and a fun list of daily activities? Consider doing a luxury river barge tour in France (sponsored content)
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