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What Would Olmsted Do?
December 2010

He’d hire Philip Thompson to decorate. And then he’d drape the fireplace for all visitors to the house to enjoy. More events like this will offer rewards of membership and encourage OLPA supporters to meet and learn from each other. If you have ideas for talks, events or other ways to use the park and house, please talk to Connie Weimar and the Development Committee. Saturday, December 11, 2010 Half a dozen OLPA members solicited by e-mail learned hands-on ways to use the greenery around us for the holidays. Philip showed us how local leaves in unusual combinations are great. He found beauty where most of us overlook it.

RECENT  BENCH  &  PLAQUE  DEDICATIONS IN THE PARKS posted April 26, 2010 One Friday afternoon near the playground on Springdale, a pair of young runners happily turned photographer. The runners were sprinting past a gathering of people clustered around a bench overlooking the park. One stopped the women mid-stride and asked for their help taking a group photograph. They readily said yes, and soon found out the party was celebrating the placing of a plaque with George Ickes’ name on it, just under the bench. When they learned George is responsible for oversight of the park maintenance, the runners were delighted. “I never knew who fixed the park. It’s our favorite place to run, the best in all Atlanta,” one said. The other said simply “the park is just beautiful, all the time.” Photos taken, they waved their thanks to George, his wife Nancy, daughter Allison and son in law and grandchildren, and resumed running east toward Paideia. It’s a common reaction among park lovers. When they find a face and name to thank for the restoration of the Olmsted Park, they overflow with gratitude. Perhaps the new plaque program will make it easier to give them a name to thank. Four recent dedications have put plaques under two benches in Dellwood, one in Springdale, and one on a wooden bench in Deepdene. All four name people deeply involved in the restoration of the park. Planning the dedication ceremonies meant bringing together park supporters, family and the OLPA board. At each, the audience heard a few details about the person named in the plaque, and a poem linking them to the park. Judi Shur read a poem by Mary Oliver at Mary Disney’s bench naming. Sally Sears read a poem for Fentress Waits, written by her grandchildren on sabbatical in Mexico. Jennie Richardson wrote and recited a poem for Roland Ingram and for George Ickes. More parties celebrating the park and its supporters are planned for the near future. Mary Disney's bench in Deepdene is dedicated by Judi Shur, center, neighbor and OLPA board member. Listening on the left, Mary's sister and right, her husband Michael Harney. MARCH 28, 2010

click images for enlargements Front row: Marguerite Ingram, Sally Sears, Jennie Richardson, Fentress Waits, George Ickes Rear: Connie Wiemar, Beth Grashof, Kirk Elifson, James Waits, John Hemby Mary Disney daughters Rebecca Harney, left and Anna Harney, right, flank their father Michael Harney on the wooden bench dedicated to Mary Disney.

• Olmsted Park makes a fine green space to walk, stroll in
  Atlanta by Fernbank and Druid Hills Golf Club
  By Sally Sears
  
  MOVING ARTS AND CRAFTS

  When a car full of bookclub friends wanted to stop reading and stroll in Atlanta's late spring evenings, I offered a perfect site. The freshly-restored Olmsted Linear Park, along Ponce de Leon, boasts woods and meadows, plus a safe stretch of good walking with a few gentle hills.

Close to Druid Hills Golf Club, beside Fernbank Museum of Natural History, an historic sweep of park lured us to the easternmost of the parks created by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted named Deepdene.

It holds a broad expanse of woods, laced with a creek and stitched with fresh trails made carefully to look 100 years old. As if Frederick Law Olmsted and his entire beard were woven into the woods he left for Atlantans to enjoy. We parked along North Ponce de Leon, near Lakeshore Drive by the Fraser Center Woods. Hiking into Deepdene, we passed great mansions on the left, but our eyes were on the woods & trails on the right. At the top of the hill the park spreads out into a simple open field. A new granite curb brakes the speed of rainwater runoff. Soon we walked through the grass to a curving bridge over the creek. Friend Vicky Benedict wanted to know why the water was so clear. I tried to remember every detail landscape architect Spencer Tunnell improved with the hydrology engineers working on better water quality. Read on... (PDF)

• Urban Hikes: A zig-zag path through Olmsted Park
  By Sally Sears
  Reprinted courtesy of Atlanta INTown, December 2006
  
  It’s always an adventure to walk on Ponce de Leon Avenue. Best to pick a good partner, and I did. George Ickes is a rangy six-foot, five-inch neighbor with secret weapons in the trunk of his car.
  
  A rainy night had left Ponce soggy when we stepped off on a fall Tuesday morning. I’d parked across the street from Druid Hills Presbyterian Church, and we walked toward Decatur, past the Majestic Diner, where a woman at a window table nursed a crossword puzzle and a cup of coffee. (She did not smile. Must have forgotten a five-letter word for ”facial improvement.”)     Read on... (PDF)
  
   

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