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Virtual Walk: Front, Columbus and Prospect Parks

By Videos, Virtual Tours

Take a virtual walk around Front, Columbus and Prospect Parks. Front Park is one of three original parks included in Olmsted’s initial plan for Buffalo’s park system.

Its chief feature was the semi-circular terrace designed to command a panoramic view of Lake Erie and the opening of the Niagara River. Here, Olmsted remarked, one could observe “a river effect such as can be seen, I believe, nowhere else — a certain quivering of the surface and a rare tone of color, the result of the crowding upward of the lake waters as they enter the deep portal of the Niagara.”

Celebrating Olmsted and his vision

By From Stephanie

A CENTURY BEFORE THERE WAS AN EARTH DAY OR ARBOR DAY TO CELEBRATE, THERE WAS A MAN WHO ADVOCATED FOR THE ENVIRONMENT THROUGH THE DESIGN OF PARKS.

His driving passion was to bring nature and people into a healthy balance within a world fast becoming urban and industrialized. Read More

Virtual Walk: South Park

By Videos, Virtual Tours

Enjoy a virtual walk around South Park, a 156-acre Olmsted Park designed in 1894 that included plans for an impressive arboretum. Plans also proposed a conservatory (now the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens).

Phase 1 of the South Park Arboretum Restoration Project began in 2019, with support from several founding donors along with the First Niagara Foundation, in partnership with KeyBank. Learn more here: bfloparks.org/sparp

Olmsted Parks Conservancy spring prep, virtual giving campaign underway

By News

THE CONSERVANCY IS ASKING THE PUBLIC TO CONSIDER MAKING A DONATION TO SUPPORT THE OLMSTED PARK SYSTEM.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — This week would normally be a busy one for the Olmsted Parks Conservancy — Earth Day and Arbor Day planting events, along with some sort of celebration of Frederick Law Olmsted’s birthday, but the COVID-19 pandemic has changed things a bit this year. Read More

Virtual Walk: Riverside Park

By Videos, Virtual Tours

Enjoy a springtime virtual walk around the River Rock Garden in Riverside Park! This Olmsted Park was designed in 1898 by the Olmsted Brothers, and once had a landing on the river where boats from downtown would load and unload passengers. The River Rock Garden was restored in 2014 and is a reinterpretation of the original Minnow Pool.

Learn more history of your Olmsted Park System at the free self-guided mobile audio tour at http://bfloparks.org/audio-tours.