One of the basic questions I had been investigating now had a partial answer. The artists of the Hudson River School were indeed early environmentalists. They had expressed concerns about the effects of progress, which they accepted as inevitable, and it could be said that their paintings brought to public attention the sublime beauty of the remaining wild lands of the continent. By the last quarter of the 19th century there was enough public and political concern to begin setting aside tracts of wilderness to preserve as national parks, so it could be said that the artists directly contributed to this.

        However, a second trip to the Adirondack Museum brought another reason for the popularity of wilderness landscapes to my attention. I attended a lecture on that very topic and came to realize that the paintings were directly linked to the sudden growth in the tourism industry in the Catskills and Adirondacks. It seems that the Mountain House hotel that Thomas Cole visited in 1825 had just been built a year earlier. Steamships, railroads and new roads in the Hudson Valley had made it increasingly easier for the recently affluent to escape the cities for vacations in the country. While I had often made a generalization to my students about the paintings of the period having few or no people in them, I had explained that by connecting it to the spiritual role of nature. The lecturer at the Adirondack Museum pointed out that when there were people in the paintings, they were not loggers or farmers struggling to make a living, but guides, or hunters, or poets seeking inspiration or recreation in the wild. Even though the paintings were filling the role of creating a national image, they were also subtly supporting tourism. While the Hudson River painters experienced a quick climb to popularity, there was at the same time, a rapid number of tourist hotels built among the mountains and lakes of the Adirondacks and Catskills. Following that was the growth of the Adirondack “Great Camps”, huge, luxurious summer “camps” built by the new, wealthy industrialists of the East who invested in vast amounts of wild land. Were they early environmentalists or merely shrewd investors?  Was Thomas Cole the philosophical young artist out to seek spiritual peace through his wild landscape paintings, or a clever man who recognized a good deal when he saw one. He painted grand, inspiring landscapes that were accessible from the tourist hotels. Perhaps he was commissioned by them, or given free accommodations in return for highlighting the natural features of the local terrain. Maybe he simply realized that there was money to be made in painting the places people were coming to visit. The artwork shown in galleries and homes of the wealthy portrayed the very same places they flocked to for their summer vacations or hunting expeditions. Another situation of mutual support appears evident.

        As in the case of many human endeavors, a number of interrelated things seem to have had an impact on the growth of the first uniquely American form of artistic expression: the grand wilderness landscape. These paintings both illustrated America as well as shaped people’s perceptions of America. They played a significant and dominant role in the formation of the American character as can be seen in our whole fascination with the myth of the western frontier. My final personal questions that I had hoped to find answers for in my independent study were why I was so drawn to the landscape as a form of artistic expression, and how could I share that and inspire similar feelings among my students. I don't have clear answers to either, but know that I feel a kinship with the artists of the past who wanted to evoke spiritual feelings as well as environmental consciousness through their paintings. The land is ours, as the dominant living creatures of the planet, but it is ours to care for, not to abuse. I feel so fortunate that I live within sight of, and am just a short drive from places that are still wild and free of the obvious marks of humanity. The lakes are polluted by acid rain, and the tangled, mature forests suffer to some extent from the lack of natural recycling, since our technology has prevented extensive forest fires for nearly a century. There are roads and fences and transmission towers on some of the mountains, and marked hiking trails and boat launches, but it is still possible to go to places where they can be avoided. Where the only sounds you hear are the whispering leaves.

        I am most grateful to the Council for Basic Education, and the National Endowment for the Humanities, for providing this opportunity for me to study a topic of my own design. There is no doubt in my mind that the scholarly readings as well as the outdoor activities and my work on my own paintings has had a significant impact on me. My respect for the natural environment and the artistic accomplishments it has inspired, has been enhanced, and I will be sharing this with my colleagues and my students. The strength of my own appreciation for the environment has already affected they types of lessons I have designed for my classes. I have managed to continue to find time to work on my own paintings, as well as more hiking excursions into the Adirondacks, even though I am back in my full time schedule of teaching. It was sheer pleasure to be able to devote an entire summer to the pursuit of this personally enriching topic, unencumbered by any other responsibilities other than home and family. Thank you.