Charles Eliot

• Name — Charles Eliot • Born — 1 November 1859 • Birthplace — Cambridge, Massachusetts, US • Died — 25 March 1897 • Place of death — Brookline, Massachusetts, US • Resting Place — Mount Auburn Cemetery • Known for — Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston, The Trustees of Reservations • Education — Harvard University • Occupation — Landscape architect • Family — Eliot family • Father — Charles William Eliot • Relatives — * Samuel A. Eliot (brother) • Ephraim Peabody (grandfather) • Charles Eliot Norton (cousin) • Robert Swain Peabody (uncle) • Francis Greenwood Peabody (uncle)

Eliot was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1859 to Charles W. Eliot and Ellen Derby Peabody. Charles had one brother, Samuel A. Eliot, who became a minister. Their father became President of Harvard University in 1869, the same year Ellen died. They were part of the prominent Eliot family originating in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1878, Charles was admitted to Harvard College. In 1880, he organized the Champlain Society, a group of classmates who sailed to Mount Desert Island, Maine, for the summer. Eliot was its director. On the island, they studied botany, geology, meteorology, marine life, ornithology, and entomology. Charles wrote his parents later that autumn recommending to look between Somes Sound and Seal Harbor if they wanted to build a house on Mount Desert Island: "Somewhere along that coast you will find a suitable spot, with beautiful views of the ocean, and hills, deep water anchorage, fine rocks and beach, and no flats." A year later, his father purchased 120 acres and built what is considered to be the first summer cottage in Northeast Harbor. On graduation from Harvard in 1882, Eliot remained at Harvard, pursuing horticultural courses at its Bussey Institute to prepare himself for the profession of landscape architecture.

In 1883, Eliot became an apprentice for Frederick Law Olmsted and Company, the architect of Central Park. He worked on designs for Cushing Island, Maine (1883), Franklin Park (1884), the Arnold Arboretum (1885), and the Fens (1883) in Boston, and Belle Isle Park (1884) in Detroit, Michigan. In 1885, on Olmsted's advice, Eliot traveled to Europe to observe natural scenery as well as the landscape designs of Capability Brown, Humphry Repton, Joseph Paxton, and Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. Eliot's travel diaries provide one of the best visual assessments of European landscapes in the late 19th century. Returning to Boston in 1886, Eliot opened his own office. His commissions included the First Parish Church in Weston, Massachusetts (1888) White Park (1888) in Concord, New Hampshire, Youngstown Gorge (1891) (renamed Mill Creek Park) in Youngstown, Ohio, and Salt Lake City's plan for a new town (1890). On March 5, 1890, Eliot published an article, "Waverly Oaks", to defend a stand of virgin trees in Belmont, Massachusetts (near Boston), in the process making a plea for preservation of the oaks and outlining a strategy for conserving other areas of scenic beauty in the same way that the Boston Public Library held books and the Museum of Fine Arts pictures. This article resulted in a conference held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1890 on preservation of scenic beauty. This led to the enactment of Massachusetts legislation creating The Trustees of Reservations in 1891 — the world's first organization created to "acquire, hold, protect and administer, for the benefit of the public, beautiful and historical places." Within four years, Britain's National Trust was created along these lines. • Illustration — Charles Eliot, Brush Hill, Milton, Massachusetts. c. 1895 • Illustration — Eliot Bridge Memorial Plaque, Cambridge, Massachusetts After the death of their partner Henry Sargent Codman, Olmsted's son Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and stepson John Charles Olmsted asked Eliot to become a full partner at their firm. In March 1893, the firm's name was changed to Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot. Within a few months, Eliot assumed the leadership role as the elder Olmsted's health continued to fail. Private commissions included the Cairnwood Estate, Biltmore Estate of the Vanderbilts in North Carolina, and Lady Meredith House in the Golden Square Mile, Montreal, Canada. In 1895, the Massachusetts legislature ordered the taking of nearly 3 mi of private seacoast land on what is now Revere Beach Reservation. The Metropolitan Park Commission was entrusted with the land in 1896. Eliot was chosen by the Park Commission to design Revere Beach Reservation for the best use by the public. Eliot stated in November 1896, "We must not conceal from visitors the long sweep of the open beach which is the finest thing about the reservation." Revere Beach would become "the first to be set aside and governed by a public body for the enjoyment of the common people." Over the next year, some 300 structures were cleared from on and around the beach, the train tracks were moved approximately 400 yards away from the water, a boulevard was put in place to separate buildings and houses from the sand, and a bandstand and pavilions were constructed. An estimated 45,000 people showed up on opening day to enjoy the first public beach in the United States. Fittingly, the small rotary at the start of the beach's southern end is named "Eliot Circle."

In 1888 Charles married Mary Yale Pitkin from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They had four daughters: Ruth, Grace, Ellen, and Carola. Mary Eliot was a member of the Yale family of Yale University; her mother was Lucy Tracy Yale. Mary's father was Horace Wells Pitkin, a successful businessman in Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; and Philadelphia. Horace's sister Emily married Seth Cheney, an artist. Mary Yale Pitkin's brother was Yale missionary Horace Tracy Pitkin; her grandnephew was New York Senator Mortimer Yale Ferris. Her grandfather was Reverend Cyrus Yale, a minister for 40 years at the Town Hill Church in New Hartford, Connecticut. The extended family often spent summers at their farm, Eaglesnest, on Town Hill Road in New Hartford. Eliot died March 25, 1897, at age 37 from spinal meningitis.

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