John Yapp Culyer: The Engineer Who Moved Trees and Shaped America’s Parks

Colonel John Yapp Culyer (1839-1924), an American civil engineer, landscape architect, and architect.

The Brain Behind the “Tree-Movers” May 18, 1839 Today is the birthday of the American civil engineer, landscape architect, inventor, and plantsman John Yapp Culyer. John was commissioned to work on parks in major cities across America – like Chicago and Pittsburgh. He was the Chief Landscape Engineer of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, which opened to…

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Oregon’s Giant Sitka Spruce: A 700-Year-Old Living Legend Saved

Sitka Spruce Pine Cones

The 700-Year-Old Christmas Tree December 18, 1958 On this day, the Statesman Journal out of Salem, Oregon, reported on a 700-year-old Tree Saved From Axemen. “[In Seaside, Oregon], a giant 700-year-old Christmas tree has been added to a five-acre tree farm park dedicated to the public. The Sitka Spruce, 195 feet tall and 15 feet, 9…

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Marianne North: The Fearless Flower Painter of the World

Marianne North thumbnail image

The Marianne North Today is the birthday of the intrepid traveler and botanical artist Marianne North who was born on this day in 1830. Marianne’s father was friends with Darwin and Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, who was the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. When she was 25 years old, Marianne’s mother died, and…

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