We herewith present a general plan for laying out the ground which you hold for a public park.

Three years ago we examined the hill which is included in the site at present under consideration with reference to its appropriation to park purposes and in a Report which was afterwards published, expressed an unfavorable opinion of it, showing that while it possessed one advantage, it lacked the most important desideratum, namely ground suitable to be formed into a broad open stretch of greensward. Acting in part upon our advice in this respect, you have since added, to the original site, as much land of the character required as could be conveniently obtained.

We still find however that seventy of the whole area of about ninety acres is upon a declivity. For this reason we have first of all considered it important to make the most of the restricted area of comparatively level ground and to so order our plan as not to encroach upon it with any constructions or plantations which would seriously interfere with its simplicity of surface or free scope of vision over it.

Secondly, we have considered that it would be impossible on ground of the topography of your site, without inordinate expense and a sacrifice of more important objects, to layout a drive so as to accomplish the purpose which we should have in view in a town park of simple surface and large area, namely, to cause those using the drive to completely lose sight for a long time of all exterior objects and especially of all objects not of a rural or pastoral character. Regarding this as impracticable, we are left to shape the course of our drive chiefly with reference to ease of grade and convenient access to the more important points of view and accommodations for recreation.

Thirdly, we find that owing to the general declivity of the surface, no body of water can be introduced in our plan, that would not be of a petty character, without leading to a larger expense, including that for the formation of appropriate connecting scenery and subsequent cost of management, than we think the result would justify.

Fourthly, we have considered it highly important that the larger part of your ground should have a character admitting of the simplest and cheapest method of maintenance which could be devised.

Fifthly, we have thought it desirable that our plan should be of such a character that the larger part of it could be carried out rapidly and the public obtain the use of it, while it might not be objectionable to provide for some [362] features the execution of which could be left to the future, provided this did not involve the maintenance of an unseemly and inconvenient blot in the midst of the finished ground. These preliminary considerations being appreciated, the general features of the plan will be readily understood.

The principal divisions of the park are a Common and two closes.

The Common.

There is nothing which people desire more in a park than to walk upon the turf; there is no regulation so offensive or so difficult to enforce as one requiring them to keep off from it. When it is attempted even with an expensive police force, unless the walks are absolutely fenced in, encroachments upon the turf near them are seen to be made which keep it in an untidy condition and oblige frequent repairs. Economy, good order and safety, therefore, lie in a policy which gives the largest possible freedom, that is to say, in laying open so much turf and giving such convenient alternation of shade and sunny ground, that, with a little care to prevent the too frequent use of any part for a special purpose, as for games which cause wear to be concentrated about a goal or wicket, the largest use that can be made of it will cause no serious Injury.

Under this plan and policy, no part of the ground is likely to be inconveniently crowded and all parts are constantly open to public observation. There is therefore no cover for, and temptation is limited to the indulgence of, rude or indecorous inclinations. The one necessity is that the extent of open turf should be large relatively to the number of people who will resort to it, and that nothing should be attempted, on the ground devoted to this purpose, which requires to be very carefully treated or which would be liable to serious injury from such usage as would be incident to athletic sports.

For this reason we propose to lay the larger part of your ground completely open to the public, to study landscape effects of a large, free, simple, character, the beauty of which shall be dependent on trees and turf alone, and, the further to extend our margins and avoid expense, to dispense with exterior fences wherever the boundary comes upon the public streets.

Little if any grading will be required upon the common except where necessary to adjust the surface to the edges of the drives and walks which pass around and across it, and here only sufficient to avoid abruptness and admit of the flow of storm water in suitable directions to avoid gullying. The surface of the common will then require, after thorough drainage, to be made almost as rich as fair tobacco soil, to be trenched and subsoil-plowed, finely harrowed, seeded heavily with red top, and rolled. The work can be done by any good farmer, with common farm implements and may be let by contract if preferred.

During the first year after sowing, the grass should be mowed and [363] rolled as often as once a fortnight—dock or other weeds which are not destroyed by this treatment should be removed by hand.

After the first year if the work has been well done, close turf will have been established and the public may be admitted to use it; a large flock of sheep (the South Down breed being preferable) should be put upon it and it will require no further mowing. A boy or armless man, with a dog should tend the sheep, which should be folded at night.

The Playsted.

It will be observed that all the comparatively level ground is held in one unbroken body, the drive and walks about it being so laid out as to command a view over it from all sides, but not to encroach upon it. With this at the two ends are associated the only natural groves upon your site. This part of the common, which we designate the Playsted, is intended to be used for Base, cricket and Foot ball Playing, for infantry parades, and for any general festival purpose which will collect a large number of persons on foot. A part of it near the grove in the East should be made quite level and adapted to the game of croquet. In the rear of the grove, to be screened from public view by a high hedge, an open air gymnasium for women is provided for, in connection with which is a cottage containing a dressing room; a similar arrangement for men is made in an angle of the park boundary, opposite the middle of the playsted. The cottage in this case might contain an armory, a police station, ball club rooms &c.

The Bergmote Close

This is an inclosure of all that part of the hill which is too steep to be used with safety as the common is intended to be, and the principal feature is a place at the top commanding the finest distant views in different directions with accommodations for the convenient assemblage of a considerable number of people in carriages and on foot; for this reason we designate it the Bergmote Close.

Near the summit a suitable site is designated for a monumental tower intended to serve the purpose of a prospect tower.

The upper part of the hill is intended to be planted for the most part closely with shrubs, that the view may not be obstructed; the lawns to be carefully prepared and closely mowed; the lower parts, especially on the north side, to be planted with a large proportion of evergreen trees. A considerable proportion of these may be pines and cedars of as large a size as can be conveniently [364] moved with a frozen ball, on sleds from Cedar mountain & Plain-ville, where they should be selected, engaged & prepared by trenching about immediately. Their removal can then be made as convenient, one, two or more years hence.

The construction of the area around the reservoir will be somewhat expensive, but that a place should be here arranged large enough to accommodate a considerable number of carriages as well as people on foot we understand to be determined by our instructions.

Without reducing the size or bridging over the reservoir, we can devise no more economical arrangement than that we have shown. A smaller level space would often be crowded to a degree which would be exceedingly inconvenient and provoke disorder. A cheaper arrangement would be to form a terrace around the hill at a lower level at which the view from carriages would be less extensive.

The Bergmote Close, as it will contain thickets and dangerous ground, is intended to be seperated from the common by a wall with gates at each entrance so that the public may be shut out from it at night. As there is no road crossing it, this can be done without inconvenience; and a considerable expense for lighting and police will be avoided.

The wall, where it follows the entrance drive, is designed to be laid upon the slope formed by the cutting of the road in the hillside and is to be built of rough stone and to be as irregular in its face as it can be conveniently made. Its course should be sinuous and its height vary. Pockets should be left in its foundations at an average distance of about five feet, in and back of which soil should be deposited. In these and in crevices of its face, vines and creepers should be planted. It should be crowned by an irregular, picturesque hedge chiefly of evergreens, some plants of which should be set well down its face.

The body of this hedge may be formed of your own indiginous Red Cedar with a few Hemlocks, Mountain Pine and American Arbor Vitae; the latter being used sparingly. To these should be added on the edge of the wall the glaucous and pendulous varieties of the Red Cedar, Common and Prostrate Junipers and Savins, Canada Yew, weeping Larches, Kalmia, Andromedas, Mahonia Aquifolia, the Ink Berry, Buckthorns, Hawthorns, Bay-berry, Sweet Briar and the Matrimony vine; these latter especially with periwinkle, stone crop, ferns and sweet ferns should be worked as much as practicable in the crevices down the face of the wall. In specially shaded nooks the hardier varieties of the English yew (stricta and adpressa), Holly and the Retinospora Ericoides may be introduced. The whole should form an intricate thicket under which the wall would scarcely be distinguishable from a natural hedge.

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The Fountain Close.

This occupies a concave depression facing the South, the lower part of which is intended to be enlarged by excavation to the extent required for the level esplanade, A. A. and the fountain basin which it encloses. The material obtained by this excavation, added to what will come from the grading of the drive in the immediate vicinity, will elevate the grade of Hart Avenue at the lowest point about sixteen feet and give it the character of a terrace overlooking the close. The fountain basin occupies your lowest ground and is intended to be supplied with three jets which we believe will be the highest on the continent. In connection with the esplanade there is also an artificial cascade, which would be largely supplied from the drainage and waste of the Park; this may be so arranged as to be illuminated.

On the street side of the fountain the site of a pavilion (B) is designated with an orchestral balcony (C). In a secluded situation, screened from view but easily accessible from the pavilion, is a stable and range of sheds (D). Walks are extended along the hillside, a part of which are closely protected on the north and are especially designed to be sunny and convenient for the use of feeble persons and invalids in chilly weather or early spring (EE); others are shaded (FF). There are walks also under trellises covered with vines and two large arbors. The upper parts of the Fountain close are to be planted with evergreens, to increase its sheltered character; elsewhere the borders are to be planted chiefly with flowering shrubs and should include some masses of Rhododendrons.

The fountains will be in view from all parts of this close and the music of a band in the balcony will also be heard to advantage in all parts of it.

The fountain close is designed with the expectation that a very economical form of construction will be used, the basins being enclosed by a plain curbstone, the water in them standing nearly on a level with the esplanade, which may be of gravel or concrete. The Pavilion may be of timber construction with decorations in wood of the chalet style painted in bright colors; the cascade may be formed of rough stone and concrete, the trellises and arbors of unbarked Red Cedar and sassafras; the flowering shrubs and vines may be mainly grown from cuttings while the construction of the earth work is proceeding.—On the other hand the highest degree of elegance in form and finish will be appropriate throughout all of this ground. The Pavilion may be an arcade of highly wrought stone. The esplanade may be of marble and tiles; the ground immediately about it may be formed in terraces and decorated with vases, statues and beds of flowers. A better place for a sub tropical plantation could hardly be designed than would be afforded by the surrounding sheltered slopes backed up with evergreens.

The fountain close should be formed on the side of Hart Avenue by a wall which at the top should take the form of a terrace parapet. Elsewhere [366] the means of enclosure should be mainly concealed in the plantations and might be a simple form of iron fence or a strong wood paling.

It would be obvious that the whole of the Fountain Close is easily kept under police inspection and its maintenance will be comparatively inexpensive. The Pavilion and sheds are expected to be a source of revenue.

It is presumed that the construction of the Fountain Close, would not be undertaken until after the rest of the park had been mainly completed. It can be postponed and the site for it incorporated with the Common as long as may be desirable, as the roads and walks of the Park form a complete system independently of it.

The Drive

The Drive is so laid out as to give access from the lawn to the higher parts of the ground without abrupt turns or excessive expense for grading. On the hillside the inclination is calculated to be generally at the rate of one in twenty and nowhere to be steeper than this. The extent of park drive is about two miles.

A Terrace and concourse is formed on the drive at a point commanding a direct view of the fountains, of the playsted and opposite the music balcony.

The circuit of the Fountain Close forms a Promenade drive.

Communication may be had across the park from four points of entrance on the north and South sides; and near the middle a very direct cross cut is provided.

The plan of walks needs no explanation; the length of them provided for is about five miles.

The street designated Hart Avenue not having been formed at the time that the park was surveyed, we have assumed for it a width of eighty feet, of which fifteen is taken off the park. Vine street we have incorporated in the park, giving it an outside walk from twenty to thirty feet wide. We should strongly recommend that both Hart Avenue and Vine street be widened by setting back their lines opposite the park to one hundred feet; that a lane be laid out in the rear of the lots facing upon them and that a series of broad streets be laid out at right angles to them.

We beg also to suggest that the course of a broad street leading westward from the end of the park should be soon determined by law. A road in this direction having attractions for pleasure driving and walking, would ultimately add much to the value of the park.

There will be from time to time in the future, occasions when a temptation will occur to erect buildings for public convenience, as for agricultural or Horticultural exhibitions in the Playsted. This is much to be deprecated and for this and other reasons we should recommend the Borough [367] to acquire a piece of land on Vine street fronting the playsted while it is yet of little value, with a view to various future municipal building requirements.