olmstead was probably what we call the first landscape architect. mr. olmstead didn't care for that term, landscape architect. what he looked at was this big picture. he had done everything from central park in new york city, he had done prospect park in brooklyn. he had a vision that could span huge acreage, and also that ability to see what that -- what he called the picturesque, that pretty little vignette would look like. so a man of great vision. and he sort of started landscape architecture in the united states. so frederick olmstead had worked with george vanderbilt in the past and worked with the vanderbilt family a number of times in the past. he was the preeminent person to have an estate like this laid out. he was also at the end of his career. i think that means he didn't have anything left to prove. he could bring in all of his experiences and leave his ego out of it a little bit and paint this really broad beautiful picture that included forestry, which is a significant thing that many of our guests don't really see consciously. they see t

one good decision in 1999 called olmstead v. lc. it was a georgia case. again, it was two women who were put in an institution and they had argued that they didn't want to be there, that they should be free to live on their own out in the community, and this made its way all the way to the supreme court. and the supreme court sided with them and said, yeah, the constitution, the least restrictive environment is a constitutionally based right of persons with disabilities. imagine that. so, that means that persons with disabilities, rather than being put in institution, they have a right to live out in the community, in group homes or wherever, but not in an institution. so, that was a good. now, i got to close up. where are we now? where are we now? i think where we are now is with ef to remain always vigilant about how persons with disabilities aree have to remain always vigilant about how persons with disabilities are provided accessibility and accommodation. we have islamcases all the time. we had one in des moines, iowa. a restaurant refused to widen i

research i had done previously actually really was applicable most of all, the research that i did on olmstead which involved trying to learn about and describe landscapes. the landscapes he was creating were for pleasure, for recreation, but there are certainly thoughtful landscapes in which the features of the landscape really came into play. if there's a beautiful bridge, it's where it is for a reason. if there's a meadow, it is where it is for a reason. antietam i found -- i was amazed when i started working on it -- i should mention by the way, about a thousand acres, antietam is 3,000 acres. they are similar in size. and what really amazed me was although it wasn't by any kind of intent, all of the features, the sunken road, antietam creek, the burnside bridge, they all came into play, and so the need to describe this landscape and how it was navigated by the men on the field that day, you know, it made it the fact that i had some grounding writing about landscape architecture actually came in handy to work on a book on antietam. >> uh-huh. >> thank you very much, everybody. [applause]