Romanticism and American National Parks

Abstract

The national park idea was conceived at a time when nature romanticism dominated Americans' sense of landscape aesthetics. Among the basic tenets of romantic philosophy discussed are the specific definitions of the picturesque and the sublime, importance of historical and romantic associations, role of emotional response to natural scenery, perception of God in nature, restorative powers of nature, and perceptions of aesthetically pleasing landscapes as pleasure resorts to be enjoyed in an escapist mode. During the last decades of the 19th century American national parks functioned primarily as romantic-pleasure resorts. While public perception of the parks has diversified greatly throughout the 20th century, subsequent changes in philosophy have tended to expand upon rather than replace perceptions that are fundamentally romantic in origin.