Charles Sprague Sargent

  • American

Charles Sargent was born in 1841 into an elite Boston family. His father was a successful merchant and banker as well as an amateur horticulturist. Among Charles Sargent's well-known relatives was a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, the painter John Singer Sargent, and his father's cousin Henry Winthrop Sargent. Henry Sargent, friend and patron of landscape gardener Alexander Jackson Downing, would be an early inspiration to Charles Sargent and pique his interest in horticulture. After graduating from Harvard in 1862, Sargent served in the Civil War and then spent three years traveling through Europe. - NPS

Lineage

Timeline

Y/M/D Description Association Composition Place Locale Food Event
Y/M/D Description Association Composition Place Locale Food Event
1868/00/00 Charles Sargent becomes the manager of his father's estate, which he refined into one of the most widely admired private landscapes in the United States. Architect Sargent's Pond Brookline, MA
1872/05/00 In 1872, Harvard University establishes the Arnold Arboretum on the former farm of Benjamin Bussey. Bussey had willed his land to Harvard University. Shortly thereafter they appoint Charles Sargent as its first director. Work Arnold Arboretum Boston
1874/06/00 Not realizing the difficulties involved in establishing an arboretum, Sargent writes to Frederick Olmsted that the City of Boston might provide the needed money. For the rest of their careers, Olmsted and Sargent will remain frequent collaborators. Work Arnold Arboretum Boston
1883/01/00 After more than nine years as Director, an agreement with the City of Boston frees Charles Sargent to proceed with the Arnold Arboretum. Work Arnold Arboretum Boston
1887/00/00 William Cutting begins planting his conifer collection based on plans by the landscape architectural firm of Frederick Law Olmstead Supervisor Bayard Cutting Arboretum Islip, NY
1895/00/00 Boston Free Hospital for Women moves to a new, larger building. Notable as the first teaching hospital for Harvard and as the first hospital in the country to use radiation treatment for cancer, the landscaping was tended by Charles S Sargent. Landscape Architect Free Hospital for Women Building Brookline, MA
1895/01/25 After the ceremony many of the guests go by automobile to the Sargent estate where a wedding breakfast is served followed by a small reception. Father of the Bride Sargent's Pond Brookline, MA Marriage of Mary Sargent and Dr Nathaniel Bowditch Potter
1898/09/25 Sixty year old John Muir persuades Charles S Sargent and William M Canby to hike to the ridge of Grandfather Mountain. Visitor Grandfather Mountain North Carolina
1905/00/00 From 1905 to 1926, Thomas Harbison travels throughout the American South and Southwest as a plant collector for the Arnold Arboretum under the direction of Charles Sargent. Supervisor Arnold Arboretum Boston
1922/00/00 Thomas G Harbison work is critical to Dr Sargent's production of the second edition of his landmark Manual of the Trees of North America published in 1922. Author Arnold Arboretum Boston
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