History of the American Lawn: How we Got Here and Where We're Going

 

A nation of copycats

The first thing you need to know is that the history of lawns in America really starts in England.  Unlike the warm summers we enjoy here, the cloudy, temperate English climate is ideal for turf. Even so, until the mid 19^th century, lawns were a symbol of wealth, as landowners relied on grazing sheep or labor-intensive methods like scything to keep the grass low.

This began to change with the invention of the lawnmower in 1830. Suddenly, an average middle-class homeowner could enjoy the prestige of a lawn.

  And indeed, the association of lawns with wealth and a refined lifestyle existed from the beginning, as this excerpt from inventor Edwin Budding’s patent shows: “Country gentlemen may find in using my machine themselves an amusing, useful and healthy exercise.”

 

Meanwhile, wealthy Americans in the 19^th and early 20^th century were heavily influenced by English architectural and garden styles.  American estates slavishly copied the greenswards of England, making lawns a symbol of wealth and class in the New World as well as in the Old.

Lifestyles of the not so rich and famous

For the average American, however, lawns were virtually nonexistent. The yard, both front and back, was a utilitarian space devoted to supporting basic domestic needs like caring for livestock and if a family had time, growing vegetables. A lack of public sanitation meant that yards typically housed outhouses and cesspools, and often the backyard was treated as a giant refuse heap. In fact, it’s not unusual for current-day owners of Northeastern brownstones to find old bottles, buttons and cutlery when digging around in older parts of their yards.

This began to change when advances in public transportation created the first suburbs. Combined with the creation of public sanitation services and electric refrigeration, yards were no longer required to be strictly utilitarian and homeowners were free to consider other alternatives.

The beginning of the suburban stereotype

So where did Americans turn for guidance on what to do with their suddenly liberated landscapes? Garden clubs and the media, of course! Garden clubs and civic beautification committees heavily promoted an ideal suburban landscape of shrubs and lawn. By the 1930’s nearly all garden advice in books, newspapers and magazines advocated lawn and foundation shrubs. In a 1937 Better Homes and Gardens article extolling the virtues of regional architecture, despite the local character of the houses themselves, all featured virtually identical lawn and foundation plantings in the yard.

 

What now?

Fast forward to today. Oversized lawns, considered by some to be an American icon, are in reality an English import, poorly suited to much of our climate, and glamorized by an historical version of bossy HOAs and Martha Stewart wannabes. For the first time, many of us are questioning our unthinking devotion to our lawns and the tyranny of weekly mowing and instead considering alternatives that sustain the environment, reflect our regional cultures and support our personal lifestyles.

Are you ready to join the revolution?

By Susan Morrison

Sources:
From Yard to Garden, The Domestication of America’s Home Grounds by Christopher Grampp Wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_lawn_mower

Photo credits:  Top, Scorpions and Centaurs; bottom, Susan Harris