'Olmsted Parks in New Jersey' Author To Speak In Essex

Jeanne Kolva, author of Olmsted Parks in New Jersey, will speak at the West Caldwell Public Library on Sunday, March 3, at 2 p.m.

Kolva will discuss South Mountain Reservation along with other Essex County Parks, which were designed by the famed Olmsted Brothers landscape design firm founded by the son and stepson of the creator of New York's Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted. 

The Essex County Parks System became the first county park system in the country with the creation of Branch Brook Park in Newark in 1895, according to Essex County Parks. The county now owns more than 20 parks, multiple reservations and three golf courses.

Kolva has a master’s in art history and is a graduate of Drew University’s Historic Preservation Certificate Program. She has worked on numerous historic preservation projects around the state as an architectural historian.

Copies of Kolva’s book and complimentary refreshments will be available at the library. The free event is sponsored by the Grover Cleveland Park Conservancy, a non-profit organization founded in 2001 by friends and neighbors interested in maintaining, restoring and preserving the park.

To pre-register for the event, visit www.westcaldwell.bccls.org or call 973-226-5441.

For more information on the Grover Cleveland Park Conservancy, email gcpc@molink.com, call 973-618-9154 or visit www.groverclevelandpark.org.