Olmsted at Sheep Pasture

By the time Olmsted got the commission to design the grounds for the Sheep Pasture estate at the end of 1891, he was an old man busy with plans for the landscape at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Still, the maps, photos,  and plans for the project are the most detailed of any project Olmsted did in Easton. He was responsible for creating the entrance to the mansion and its internal paths and coach roads, siting the mansion itself (although ultimately he deferred to his client's choice) and designing the plantings around the mansion. One must remember that it took almost forty years to acquire all the land that makes up Sheep Pasture today. Olmsted's planning maps cover less than a quarter of today's property and his planting plan is much smaller than that. The Queset and its floodplain were never landscaped by Olmsted although he proposed paths through a small part of the area that was owned by other members of the owner's family.

People today seem to associate Olmsted with landscapes that look natural, but lack color. At Sheep Pasture, however, he recommended 93 different species of plant for the small area around the mansion. Since the prime time of family residence at the estate was spring and fall, Olmsted included many flowering shrubs and trees. Today about a third of Olmsted's recommendations can still be found at Sheep Pasture although generally not in the places he put them. Seven of his recommendations have become serious invasives. Here's a picture of the mansion in the spring of 1901. You can see that the plants have completely covered the retaining wall that is a major highlight of Sheep Pasture today.

Here's the part of the planting plan that shows the rocky outcrop across from the foundation:

The first number refers to the plant list and the second is the number of individual plants to be added. The plan was to have Boston and English Ivy crawl up the rock with shrubs of andromeda, winter creeper, mountain laurel, garland flower, and ash berry in front. Here is a photo of this area in 1901, the same year as the first photo.

Wait a second where are the plants? In fact they may never have been put in. Members of the family have told me that Oliver Ames, the owner of the property, did not care for the Olmsted landscaping that had essentially been gifted to him by his father F. L. Ames, a friend of Olmsted. Eventually even the plantings around the foundation were removed. These exiled plants form the basis for Sheep Pasture's Rhododendron walk, the path from the Carriage House to the Community Garden. Looking at the top of the photo you can see a flagpole, used to signal when the family was home, and several trees. The top of the rocky outcrop was planted to Olmsted's specifications with hemlock, white pine and cedar. Today the evergreen grove is the most pristine example of Olmsted's vision open to the public in Easton.

The base of the rocky outcrop is now an overgrown jungle. Trumpet vine, not on Olmsted's plant list, runs rampant. Ironically, while garland flower and ash berry have disappeared from the whole property, Japanese honeysuckle, an Olmsted original in another plot, has moved into the jungle here. The trumpet vine and a couple of unusual dogwoods make me think we are now dealing with Oliver Ames' ideas for this area rather than Olmsted's. I've suggested restoring the Olmsted landscaping here, but now I'm not sure there is anything to restore. At any rate, I'll be chopping into the jungle within the hour. What do I remove and what do I keep? Stay tuned!