Central Park Was Only the Beginning
December 19, 2022
Olmsted (Jeep Tour) offers an immersive if tepid drama inspired by her ancestor Frederick Law Olmstead, designer of New York’s Central Park, and his devoted but beleaguered wife. In 1859, widow Mary, with three young children, marries her late husband’s older brother Fred and is relieved to discover he’s a compassionate man who loves children. However, Fred’s work on Central Park, an 800-acre parcel of swampy land that formerly housed a pigsty and a slaughterhouse, distracts from his home life: “I vowed to give this city the beating green heart that it needs to thrive,” Fred declares. By the end of the year, the lavish park has attracted two million visitors. As Fred’s fame spreads, he only becomes more restless, to Mary’s dismay. Fred drags the family from one venture to another, installing parks in cities across the country and traveling to California in 1863 to manage gold mine investments, and Mary dutifully follows. Though Mary’s narration is a bit strained and heavy on exposition, Olmstead enriches the quotidian family drama with ample historical context, such as the couple discussing the Emancipation Proclamation with their children. Historical fiction fans may want to take a look.