Composing Olana: A Journey on Foot Through an American Landscape

The first and only book devoted to the landscape Frederic Church designed at Olana--what he considered his greatest work of art--timed to coincide with the bicentennial of his birth

Modelled on her acclaimed On the High Line (now in its third edition from Fordham University Press), Composing Olana unfolds as a series of walks along the seven carriage roads Frederic Edwin Church built here in 1860s-1880s. Along the way, LaFarge unpacks the history of everything we see, and much that we don’t, in the greater landscape, from the Ice Age geology that created it to the artists and conservationists who preserved it. We learn about lesser-known women painters of the Hudson River School; the Native Peoples who lived here before the Europeans arrived; and the mentorship of Church’s only teacher, Thomas Cole.

Archival letters, diaries, and historic accounts reveal Church’s vital role in preserving Niagara Falls; his contributions to Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and his engagement with music, photography, and global exploration throughout the second half of the nineteenth century.

Published to coincide with the 200th anniversary of his birth, Composing Olana enables readers to finally comprehend Church’s vital, and still not properly recognized, place in the American story. Illustrated with dozens of historic and contemporary photographs, it is both a guidebook and a meditation on American art, landscape, and preservation.

An innovative companion website, OlanaBook.com, provides hundreds of photos, audio clips from the soundscape, and an interactive version of the specially created ＂Rambler’s Map.＂ Designed as an accessible and lively companion for armchair readers and park visitors, Composing Olana shows why this landscape, still intact today, matters so profoundly in the history of American art and public parks.

Annik LaFarge is a writer, editor, photographer, and lecturer who has been writing about American parks and landscapes since 2008. The first edition of her book about the High Line was published in 2012 and won the IPPY Award for Travel Guidebook. In 2019 her blog LivinTheHighLine.com was selected by the Columbia University Libraries Web Resources Collection Program for inclusion in the Avery Library Historic Preservation and Urban Planning web archive, which ensures its continuing availability to researchers. She is the author of On the High Line: The Definitive Guide, 3rd Edition (Fordham University Press / Empire State Editions, 2024); Chasing Chopin: A Musical Journey Across Three Centuries, Four Countries, and a Half-Dozen Revolutions (Simon & Schuster, 2020 and 2021); and Composing Olana: A Journey on Foot Through an American Landscape (Fordham University Press / Empire State Editions, 2026). All three books have an innovative companion website that works hand-in-glove with the print edition of the book, organized by page number with hundreds of photos and including audio & video.