A 100 Year Vision

This past weekend I got to visit Biltmore for the first time. While the house was impressive (the barn more so for me - but then I am horsey), it was the grounds that amazed me.

When George Vanderbilt decided to build Biltmore, he employed Frederick Law Olmstead to create the grounds. By grounds I mean acres upon acres upon acres of formal and unformal landscapes. The land was bereft of trees and had large washed out gullys on it. Instead of creating just something that would be pretty during Vanderbilt's lifetime, Olmstead had the vision to create a landscape that would only come into its true beauty a 100 years later.

The drive to Biltmore's house is lovely. One feels as if someone cut a curvacious road in a pristine forest. However, it was all created by Olmstead. Each tree planted to produce this affect. And yet the landscape architect never saw it except in his mind.

I wish I had such vision instead of just seeing something for what it is now. What foresight and generousness spirit it must be who creates something amazing that he will never be able to see. Now we have such beautiful landscapes as Biltmore and Central Park because of his vision. I wonder if there ever will be another Olmstead.