FMOPL President Letter 2022

Hello Friend of Maryland Olmsted Parks & Landscapes (FMOPL):

What an honor it has been serving as your president this past year. Initially, 2021 brought about the need for patience and finding innovative ways to bring you the programs and offerings you have come to expect from FMOPL, and we were so pleased that our annual meetings and walking tours allowed us to stay connected.  We have been quite busy implementing our strategic plan and focused on partnership development and support. We have been attracting new members to come alongside those diligently serving and participating over the recent years.  We welcome our new Board members Adam Boarman, Jillian Storms, and Richard Gruberg.

We hope you’ve heard the news that 2022 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederick Law Olmsted, social reformer and founder of American Landscape Architecture. FMOPL is proud to be a partner with the National Association for Olmsted Parks actively exploring the Olmsted legacy in Maryland and the Baltimore area as well as our region.  In fact, some of Baltimore’s open spaces continue to showcase the Olmsted Brothers’ visionary landscape designs including Carroll Park, Latrobe Park, Clifton Park, Wyman Park, Patterson Park as well as Hilton Parkway and Ellicott Driveway.   

This year FMOPL is busy playing a key role in several Maryland Olmsted 200 events including talks on the Olmsted vision for garden clubs, a walking tour of Sudbrook Park on April 24, a self-guided tour of Evergreen House, and a driving tour of the Annapolis Roads and Wardour Community. One exciting development over the last year has been our ongoing partnership with the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and Baltimore Heritage providing Olmsted-focused content for their virtual history series. The next Olmsted presentation will be on ​​July 22nd on the Western Electric Co.’s Point Breeze Plant that the Olmsteds did the Master Plan and landscape drawings for, and the only manufacturing site they did in Maryland!  Event information and tickets for that series are available at aiabaltimore.org, and the recording of the event will be posted to the FMOPL website at olmstedmaryland.org, please check it out!

One event you won’t want to miss is our Annual Meeting featuring Charles Birnbaum, president, CEO and Founder of The Cultural Landscape Foundation, scheduled for the evening October 13th at Evergreen Museum and Library thanks to our partners there.

Another exciting development is that the FMOPL board established the Maryland Small Projects Grants for Olmsted 200 to support projects that demonstrate the Olmsted principles., Our first grant has been awarded to the Locust Point Civic Association’s Park & Beautification Committee which will engage the community in cleaning Latrobe Park’s historic Long House structure and preparing it for a mural that showcases the area’s history. Our grant funds will allow them to involve local school children in the mural painting process (and learning about their Olmsted legacy) and support the purchase of banners for their events. If you know of other organizations that would benefit from this funding, please share the link to the RFP on our website http://www.olmstedmaryland.org/rfp-maryland-small-projects-grants-for-olmsted-200/

Finally, I am pleased to include a very special issue of The Olmstedian celebrating this 200th milestone and the 25-year history of the FMOPL archives! This issue, “Maryland’s Olmsted Archives: Researching local, state & national resources — Master list of Maryland Olmsted projects available at olmstedmaryland.org. Special thanks to Sandy Sparks and Jillian Storms for their hard work on this publication. 

I would like to say thank you to all our members and partners for your support – we could not offer exciting programs or our new small grants without you!  We look forward to seeing you at one of our programs this year.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Robinson
President, Friends of Maryland Olmsted Parks & Landscapes 

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