Amherst Garden Club’s October Meeting

Thursday, October 7

The Gentleman’s Farm: Scientific Agriculture in a Picturesque Landscape

Presented by Pamela Hartford

We’ll go back in time with Pamela and discover the history behind two Olmstead-designed farm properties: Moraine Farm in Beverly, MA and Waveny Estate in New Canaan, CT.

Moraine Farm

Built as a gentleman’s farm and summer estate, Moraine Farm is set on 175 acres overlooking Wenham Lake. It is considered the finest existing example of Olmsted’s approach to country estate landscape design. The farm’s name comes from a low ridge of glacial debris, called a moraine, which Olmsted incorporated into his landscape design. It has been sustainably farmed from its establishment in 1885 through today by various non-profit CSAs and now a farmer-in-training program.

The Waveny Estate, constructed in 1912, sits majestically overlooking 300 acres of Connecticut countryside. The gardens and grounds laid out by Olmsted are another superb example of his work. The estate was a summer home for the Laphams, and Mrs. Lapham, a founding member of the New Canaan Garden Club, hosted club meetings at her home.

Schedule

9:15 amBusiness Meeting
10:30 amPamela’s presentation

About Pamela — Pamela Hartford is a landscape historian trained in architecture, historic preservation, and landscape design. She prepares Cultural Landscape Reports (CLR), National Register nominations (NR), and rehabilitation plans for non-profit and municipally owned historic landscapes.

She is currently working on a CLR for the Paul Manship Historic Site in Lanesville, MA, the summer studio of a nationally recognized American sculptor that features two abandoned granite quarries. She recently provided expertise on the context and work of the Olmsted firm for a National Register nomination for Waveny Estate.

Recent research projects have culminated in award-winning submissions to the Historic American Landscape Survey (HALS), and a contribution to Warren H. Manning, Landscape Architect and Environmental Planner (University of Georgia Press/Library of American Landscape History, 2017).

A resident of Salem, MA, Pamela is also researching the avid horticultural pursuits of Salem’s wealthy ship owners during the nineteenth century.

  • Moraine Farm Terrace
  • Waveny Estate Walled Garden and Parterre Garden