ABSTRACT
The theme is New Arcadia. It chronicles the Puritan settlements of New England and such communities as New Harmony. It follows with the uniquely American perspective on the politics and values of a new nation. Jefferson, with his Louisiana Purchase and Lew and Clark Expedition, begins the track; at the same time, he continually rethought Monticello, which became a laboratory for his botanical interests. The University of Virginia was his finest architectural production, culminating with Pavilion IX or his ode to Paris. Behind Jefferson came Emerson, the leading apostle of nineteenth-century America and its most influential thinker. A score of painters, led by Thomas Cole, not only captured the picturesque scenery of the new country but they—together with the efforts of Olmsted—offered a unique and still evolving perspective of its heritage.
