Pioneer Information
The second child of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr., and his wife Mary, Olmsted was born and raised in New York City. In 1883, she moved with her father, mother, and brothers John Charles and Frederick, Jr., to Fairsted, the family residence and Olmsted firm office in Brookline, Massachusetts. Although she never joined the family firm, Olmsted showed an interest in architecture and landscape architecture and even drew landscape plans for Felsted, the family’s summer retreat in Deer Isle, Maine, designed in 1897 by architect by architect William Emerson. She demonstrated a passion for visual arts throughout her life, often sketching, painting, or photographing scenes at Fairsted or from her travels through Europe. Olmsted never married. In 1915, at age 54, she moved to Plymouth, Massachusetts where she lived until her death in 1948.
