Rochester has a bragging right that can be claimed by only four U.S. cities: An entire park system designed by the famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.
To show off this rare asset, the Rochester Olmsted Parks Alliance and Rochester Ecology Partners are offering a bus and walking tour of Highland, Genesee Valley, Seneca, and Maplewood Parks from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Sept. 17.
The theme of the tour is "Material Expressions of Democracy."
According to architectural historian and Parks Alliance board member Katie Eggers Comeau, Olmsted was part of a new generation of landscape architects and thinkers in the late 19th century who believed parks should be spaces enjoyed by the public, not reserved for the aristocracy, as they had traditionally been in Europe.
When Olmsted began designing Rochester's parks in 1888, the city was much smaller than it is today.
"(He) envisioned that they would be surrounded by development as time went on, and they would become the breathing spaces of the city as the city grew around them," Eggers Comeau said.
The tour will begin at the Genesee Valley Park Roundhouse. The group will travel by bus to Seneca and Highland parks, with walking tours at each location.
Experts and educators will moderate conversations around the evolving use of parks since Olmsted's time and how they serve as symbols of environmental and social justice.
Tickets will be sold on a sliding scale from $30 to $60. Click here for more information.
Click on the LISTEN link above to hear a conversation with Eggers Comeau about the design and history of Rochester's park system and why Olmsted was reluctant to design Highland Park.
