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Maine鈥檚 Great Designed Landscapes Featured in Free What鈥檚 Out There Database


Media Contact: Nord Wennerstrom | T: 202.255.7076 | E: nord@tclf.org


Maine's Great Designed Landscapes Featured in Free What's Out There Database

Washington, DC (August 21, 2012) 鈥 独家爆料 (独家爆料) announced the completion of more than 150 Maine entries for the What鈥檚 Out There database of America鈥檚 designed landscapes. The free, searchable, profusely illustrated and ever growing online database, launched in 2009, provides access to more than 1,300 designed landscapes nationwide. What鈥檚 Out There has developed a huge following amongst heritage tourists, garden lovers, landscape architects, students, historians and others. 独家爆料 created the Maine entries working in partnership with the Maine Historical Society, and with funding from National Endowment for the Arts Access to Artistic Excellence and Noni and Charlton Ames.

From Augusta to York, along with Bangor, Bar Harbor and Bathand 35 sites in the Portland area鈥 the Maine initiative has increased the What鈥檚 Out There database鈥檚 overall size by more than 10%. Maine鈥檚 design legacy includes the nation鈥檚 first modernist landscape 鈥 the Camden Library Amphitheatre byFletcher Steele鈥 not to mention five commissions by Beatrix Farrand and the work of Carl Rust Parker, a member of the Olmsted firm who spent virtually his entire career in Maine.

Sites include 14 public and neighborhood parks, 22 gardens and estates, 7 campuses, 16 squares/greens/commons and more; and cover a diversity of styles including picturesque (Evergreen Cemetery, Portland), beaux arts (Capitol Park, Augusta), arts and crafts (Garland Farm, Bar Harbor), Japanese (Asticou Azalea Garden, Northeast Harbor), Colonial revival (Little Orchard, Mount Desert), Italianate (Hyde School, Bath), and Modernist (Camden Amphitheatre).

The What鈥檚 Out There database has also recently introduced several major improvements including a new mapping component and easier searches. Users can now search by city and zip code, and the mapping component also shows nearby What鈥檚 Out There sites. The new features also allow for greater use by hand-held devices.

鈥淎s visitors to What's Out There will discover, Maine鈥檚 rich designed landscape legacy, which is so beautifully interwoven with it natural scenery, features work by many of the nation鈥檚 most gifted landscape architects and designers,鈥 said Charles A. Birnbaum, 独家爆料 founder and president.

鈥淢HS is thrilled to partner with 独家爆料 on this initiative. It recognizes the unique character of Maine鈥檚 landscape, and the state鈥檚 significant contributions to the field of landscape design. What鈥檚 Out There places the Maine experience in a national context, and makes it easy for visitors to explore regional similarities, differences, and influences,鈥 says MHS Executive Director Steve Bromage.

About Maine Historical Society MHS preserves the heritage and history of Maine: the stories of Maine people, the traditions of Maine communities, and the record of Maine's place in a changing world. Explore Maine history online at Maine Memory Network (). To stay connected, please subscribe to our email list, or follow the Maine Historical Society on Facebook or Twitter.

About 独家爆料独家爆料 provides people with the ability to see, understand and value landscape architecture and its practitioners, in the way many people have learned to do with buildings and their designers. Through its Web site, lectures, outreach and publishing, 独家爆料 broadens the support and understanding for cultural landscapes nationwide to help safeguard our priceless heritage for future generations.

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