I was talking to my neighbor a couple of days ago and he mentioned that his lawnmower had conked out at the end of the summer and he hadn’t gotten it back from the repair shop yet. Well, that got me to thinking about grass (the kind you mow.) I’ve often said that I thought it would be easier to just pave our lawn area and paint it green. Maintaining a lawn takes a lot of work.
I don’t know who came up with the bright idea that the area surrounding your house should be lush and green, but apparently, that’s what has become most acceptable to modern society. Having a nicely trimmed green field leading up to your front door has become kind of a status symbol. And in some communities a messy front lawn gets you in trouble with your neighbors and may even result in a fine from some homeowners associations.
It seems that the grass lawn as a status symbol originated in European aristocracy. The first “lawns” were grassy fields surrounding English and French castles. Castle grounds had to be kept clear of trees so soldiers/guards protecting the castle had a clear view of the surroundings to prevent enemies from sneaking up through the forest. The word lawn comes from the word launde, which meant a “glade or opening in the woods.”
I’m not sure how the lawn became the “standard” for single family dwellings, but the movement was certainly helped along by Frederick Law Olmstead, the “father of American landscape design.” Olmstead designed Central Park in New York and also designed suburbs where each house had its own little lawn. Suburbs proved popular because a lot of people wanted to move away from the industrialization of cities and away from all the concrete. The first lawn mower was developed by Edwin Budding in 1830, but didn’t draw that much attention until the average person was faced with the chore of keeping their own lawns nicely trimmed.
But it appears that the guy that has to shoulder the blame for all of us having to cut the grass every week during the summer is Abraham Levitt. Levitt was the founder of Levittown — declared the “ideal” of American suburbia in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Levitt, and his sons, created the first suburb where healthy lawns were already in place when the occupants took possession of their new homes. The homeowners were given pamphlets about the importance of maintaining a perfect lawn, with tips about how to keep it green, lush, and weed-free. So, thank Abe for that hour or two, or more, that you spend every week keeping your property up to neighborhood standards.
Claire’s dad always had a “perfect” lawn — it would be the envy of most golf courses. He always had a beautiful lawn. I’ve always had a yard.
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