At this writing, the site was closed for renovation, but it's expected to reopen in late 2009. Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is considered the nation's preeminent creator of parks. In 1883 at age 61, while immersed in planning Boston's Emerald Necklace of parks, Olmsted set up his first permanent office at Fairsted, an 18-room farmhouse dating from 1810, to which he added another 18 rooms for his design offices. Plans and drawings on display include projects as the U.S. Capitol grounds, Stanford University, and Mount Royal Park in Montréal. You can also tour the design rooms (some still in use for preservation projects) where Olmsted and staff drew up their plans; highlights include a 1904 "electric blueprint machine," a kind of primitive photocopier. The 1¾-acre site incorporates many trademark Olmstedian designs, including areas of meadow, wild garden, and woodland; Olmsted believed body and spirit could be healed through close association with nature. The site became part of the National Park Service in 1979; Olmsted's office played an influential role in the creation of this federal agency. In 1916 Olmsted's son, who carried on his father's work here, wrote the words that were to serve as a statement of purpose for legislation establishing the Park Service that same year: "To conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."