Parks named for Olmste(a)ds
CONNECTICUT
Guilford
Olmsted Outlook is a half-acre river view park owned by the Guilford Land Conservation Trust. Named in honor of FLO who was believed to have visited the area as a young man and enjoyed the opportunity to peacefully walk and enjoy the area. Experiences such as this influenced his park designs to create relaxing places for community residents to visit. More information and photos at GLTC-Olmsted Outlook.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Washington
Olmsted Woods is located on the grounds of the Washington National Cathedral. Initially hired in 1907 to consult on the grounds for the Washington National Cathedral’s Choir School, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., with Olmsted Brothers, eventually expanded his purview to include a comprehensive plan for the 59-acre campus of the Washington National Cathedral. Executed from 1907 to 1928, his plan included internal roadways, locations for institutional buildings, a series of open spaces and gardens, enhancement of an existing amphitheater for outdoor services, and the preservation of an existing five-acre woodland, now known as the Olmsted Woods. More can be found here.
KENTUCKY
Clermont
Olmsted Ponds are located in the 16,000 Bernheim Forest and Arboretum. The ponds were designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1939, as part of the original Bernheim Master Plan, are one of Bernheim’s iconic sites, a place rich with aquatic wildlife and dancing, dappled sunlight.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston
Olmsted Park is a lineal park in Boston and Brookline and a part of Boston’s Emerald Necklace of connected parks, parkways, and bikeways. Originally named Leverett Park, in 1900 it was renamed to honor its designer, Frederick Law Olmsted. An expanded and updated description of this park is available on Wikipedia.
NEW YORK
Westchester Village
Olmstead Triangle (a NYC Park) in the Unionport section of The Bronx is a half-acre urban park. Construction of the Cross-Bronx Expressway in the 1940s left a series of grassy plots, designated to be parks, alongside the new roadway. For decades, this large triangle was a paved sitting area bordered by mature London plane trees and benches. In 1996, it was named Olmstead Triangle after the adjacent Olmstead Avenue. In 2004 the park was named after Fire Chief Dennis L. Devlin who died at the World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001. Full history here.
WASHINGTON
Ellensburg
The Olmstead Place Historical State Park was the farm of the Olmstead family for 93 years. In 1875 Samuel and Sarah Olmstead homesteaded a 160-acre claim intersected by Coleman Creek southeast of the present-day town of Ellensburg. The family donated it to Washington State Parks in 1968. Today, it continues to be a working farm, with some of the land still worked with period equipment. The original 1875 log cabin and 1908 farmhouse (with the family’s furnishings intact) are still standing, as are most of the outbuildings. Official site. The story is nicely told as one of the “1883 Files” on the Blog of Rich Moreno.
Sedro-Woolley
Olmsted Park is named for brothers John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law OImsted Jr. who designed the grounds for the Northern State Hospital (1912-1973). Located on a portion of the former hospital grounds, this is a new, 28-acre park was created in partnership of local government, community organizations and individuals. New buildings in the park were designed to compliment the original hospital facilities, some of which are again in use for other purposes. The grand opening of Olmsted Park was in March 2026.
and Olmste(a)d Family Association, 2017-2026
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