Pastimes and Parkways

Before automobiles made parkways widespread, horse and carriage rides were a popular upper-class leisure activity that shaped the thinking of figures such as landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and John D. Rockerfeller Jr. In nineteenth-century America, carriages served not only for transportation but also for recreation, and families such as the Vanderbilts and Rockerfellers built carriage roads on their estates to enjoy the landscape and appreciate nature. Rockerfeller Jr. valued this experience enough to finance the design and construction of Acadia National Park’s carriage road system, while Olmsted made carriage roads a distinct feature of Central Park, separate from pedestrian paths and roads, as a democratic way for visitors to enjoy a nature-filled setting. Parkways later emerged with recreation rather than transportation as their primary goal, reaching their height in the early to mid-twentieth century as pleasurable driving, widespread car ownership, changing views of nature, and government programs such as Roosevelt’s New Deal encouraged their development. Robert Moses, designer of the Robert Moses Parkway, now the Niagara Scenic Parkway, advanced this parkway vision through broad, landscaped roads intended to be parks in themselves, though his legacy has drawn criticism for his shrewd methods and concentration of power. In the middle of the twentieth century, automobile culture further turned nature into something accessed and experienced through the car. More recently, parkway removal projects, including the removal of the Robert Moses Parkway in Niagara Falls, have reflected changing relationships with the environment and outdoor recreation by reconnecting communities with nature, improving access for alternative transportation, and expanding waterfront and park access for visitors and nearby communities.

Niagara Falls, New York · United States