Read the full report here.
Along an escarpment that has been carved and re-carved by the everchanging courses of the Amite River, a series of springs emerge at the toe of a hillside east of downtown Denham Springs, Louisiana. As a byproduct from geologic processes of the southern Louisiana landscape, the springs have provided fresh water for both wildlife and native people for thousands of years. In the 1700s, European settlers also realized the value of the springs as healing waters. A small village developed around the natural springs, and in the 19th and early 20th centuries, people from the nearby cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans regularly escaped the polluted and overcrowded urban centers to recharge in the picturesque country retreat along the slow and winding river. The original springs—from which Denham Springs owes its name—are arguably one of the most significant historic, cultural, and natural resources in the Denham Springs community.
Because of its location within the Amite River watershed, and perhaps as a result of forward-thinking fore-fathers, the springs and the land around it have been preserved as a park for over one hundred years. The park’s early preservation as a refuge for the community is telling. Early pioneers and leaders of Denham Springs recognized that the springs were a significant natural resource worthy of preservation for the sake of the community.
This sentiment continues today, as the city has made a concerted effort to focus on improving green spaces within and around Denham Springs. As evidenced in many of the recent planning reports and within public questionnaire results, the community also acknowledges that the springs and Spring Park are a significant part of their identity. Their vision for Spring Park is a place where people can gather, reflect, and experience the story of Denham Springs.
This master plan’s approach continues this legacy by uncovering and revealing the stories of Spring Park’s history, culture, and ecology. This report details and presents the master planning process by establishing the concepts that inform the vision for the future of Spring Park. The first part of the document is an analysis which explores the larger historical, archaeological, and environmental contexts. It then focuses in on local site conditions within the boundaries of Spring Park. The second part of the report synthesizes the analysis into one vision—a physical plan that merges community programming input with historic, cultural, and environmental research.
Role/Scope: Primary author, landscape architect. Research, analysis, master planning.
Firm: McKnight Landscape Architects.
Graphics: McKnight Landscape Architects.
Read the full document here.
Situated atop the natural levee just north of False River, the historic courthouse has served Pointe Coupee Parish residents since 1902. Built in the Romanesque Revival architectural style, it endures as a jewel of the community. The iconic red brick façade provides a backdrop for a small public square with memorials dedicated to General John Lejeune, one of the most significant generals in the U.S. Marine Corps, and Kitty Kimball, former chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court.
The 1902 courthouse, together with the 1939 addition and the surrounding landscape, create a place of cultural and architectural significance. Although a Historic American Building Survey (HABS) has not been initiated for the structure, it appears that most exterior architectural facades retain a large percentage of historic integrity. However, the landscape appears to have been altered over the last century.
Over time, the landscape surrounding the building changed as lawn and greenspace were removed in favor of parking. Light fixtures, benches, and signage were also added and memorials were erected. This development pattern is common in historic landscapes. Depending on the age of the landscape and reference sources available, it is often difficult to determine the original design intentions. However, our motive is not to recreate an exact replica of a 20th century Romanesque Revival landscape, but rather to understand what previously existed and to create a contemporary interpretation of it.
The brief historic review is part of the site analysis for an overall courthouse master plan. The primary design scope includes a new landscape treatment and the relocation of a parking lot to create a new Courthouse Square.
Role/Scope: Document author and lead landscape architect.
Firm: McKnight Landscape Architects.
Established in 1806, Beauregard Town is the second oldest neighborhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. French engineer Arsene LaCarriere Latour designed the neighborhood in the Grand Manner form, a baroque style of city planning which was popular in Europe at the time.
The audio tour features many historic houses and landscape features in north Beauregard Town. The full tour is available upon request.
Click here to download a sample of the tour.
Role: Primary researcher, script author, co-producer with Doug Gay, director, Baton Rouge Music Studios. Additional guidance provided by Susan Turner, FASLA, John Sykes, Bennett Rhodes, and Frank McMains.
Firm: Independent, Suzanne Turner Associates, Baton Rouge Music Studios.
Read the full report here.
After General Ulysses Grant defeated Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston in the Civil War Battle of Shiloh, a national cemetery was established on the land where many soldiers perished in April of 1862. Several layers of history are present and interpreted including an American Indian era, Civil War era, War Department era, and the National Park Service era.
Role/Scope: Primary author of the Cultural Landscapes Inventory.
Firm: Suzanne Turner Associates.
Read the full report here.
Hensley Settlement is a 139-acre historic district within the Cumberland Gap Historical National Park in Bell County, Kentucky. The Settlement contains forty buildings and structures including multiple farmsteads, a cemetery, and a school house.
As an example of 19th century Appalachian subsistence farm living, the purpose of Hensley Settlement is to preserve, interpret, and educate the public on the farmsteads and material culture of the extended families that lived there.
Role/Scope: Co-author of Cultural Landscape Report and Cultural Landscapes Inventory with Suzanne Turner, John Welch, Herpreet Singh, and Ashley Braquet.
Firm: Suzanne Turner Associates.
Read the full report here.
Fort Rosalie, in Natchez, Mississippi, was built by the French in 1716. The fort was captured by the Natchez Native Americans in 1729, which destroyed most of the French Settlement. The French regained the fort in 1731, and held it until 1763, when the British won the Seven Years War.
Today, only a part of the fort remains under an earthen mound, as most of the structure was destroyed when land collapsed into the Mississippi River in an extreme event in May 1869.
Role/Scope: Research, author of existing conditions chapter for the cultural landscape inventory.
Firm: Suzanne Turner Associates.
View a brief excerpt of the full report led by SWA and Carbo here. Co-author of pages 21-26.
Originally a freshwater swamp, the Baton Rouge Lakes are an interconnected system of six small and large lakes surrounded by Louisiana State University, City/Brooks Park, and residential neighborhoods. The system was originally a natural distributary of the Mississippi River, prior to construction of the levees.
The master planning effort was initiated by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation and led by a collaboration between SWA and Carbo.
Role/Scope: Researcher and co-author for the historical review with Suzanne Turner and John Welch.
Firm: Suzanne Turner Associates.
Read the full master plan document here. Co-author of the historical review section, pages 18-21.
Memorial Park is a 1,464 acre park west of downtown Houston. Prior to its use as a park, it was the site of a WWI training camp. After the closure of Camp Logan, the Hogg family bought the land with the intention of turning it into a park memorializing the soldiers who trained there and died in service.
In 2015, landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz led a multidisciplinary team of consultants in creating the Memorial Park Master Plan.
In addition to mapping, I served as the drone pilot and documented the extent of tree canopy loss resulting from the 2011 drought.
Role/Scope: Research, co-author, mapping for the historic review section of the master plan.
Firm: Suzanne Turner Associates, a subconsultant to the Memorial Park design team led by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects.
View the brief client presentation here.
A brief cultural and historic review provides inspiration for this landscape master plan for an industrial facility in south Louisiana. Set within one of the original arpents (a French method of dividing land) along the Mississippi River, the owners of the facility sought to reveal layers of the past through design.
The nearby lands were once home to a sizeable Native American settlement, remnants of which were still present in the mid-20th century, but were erased during the industrialization of along the Mississippi River in the 1970s.
In addition to the Native American story, adjacent lands were also home to Mount Houmas, a 19th century sugarcane plantation. Most of the landscape today continues to be dominated by sugar cane agriculture.
Role/Scope: Landscape architect - schematic design, concept development.
Graphics: McKnight Landscape Architects.
Firm: McKnight Landscape Architects.
