The Genius of Winding Paths

When I moved to NY a few years ago I read a book about Olmsted. He made a truly remarkable contribution to America as we know it today.

> Olmsted was thirty-six when his plan for Central Park was accepted, and he had no formal training in landscape architecture. Nor had anyone else, for at that time, parks were laid out by architects, gardeners, or surveyors.

Seriously, first landscape architect?

Not sure that Capability Brown would be pleased to hear that:

Lancelot Brown (born c. 1715-16, baptised 30 August 1716 – 6 February 1783),[1] more commonly known with the byname Capability Brown, was an English landscape architect. He is remembered as "the last of the great English 18th century artists to be accorded his due", and "England's greatest gardener". He designed over 170 parks, many of which still endure. He was nicknamed "Capability" because he would tell his clients that their property had "capability" for improvement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Brown

Local legend says that Birkenhead Park was an influence to Olmsted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkenhead_Park#Influence

"How can one evaluate a landscape architect whose greatest achievement was to create the profession of landscape architecture itself?"

Sorry but I found the Hyperbole above a bit too much. Capability Brown was around a century before, and as such might well have been an influence when Olmsted toured England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability_Brown

One of the pleasures of visiting Louisville, KY (or living in it) can be visiting the wide diversity of its Olmsted designed parks. One of the remarkable things Louisville did was ask Olmsted to help develop a design for a complex system of city parks.