Genius of Place: Regional and Vernacular Landscape Architecture

Highlight the significance of your community’s local landscape architecture works as contributions to a recognizable local or regional style.

by the ASLA Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) Leadership Team

What makes a landscape distinctly of its place? Looking at designed and vernacular landscapes of the late twentieth century all the way back to the landscapes that were modified before the nation was formed, what are the stories of these significant landscapes and how were they shaped by regional and cultural factors? How have these regional landscape characteristics endured and transformed on specific sites, in specific projects and resulted in regional styles?

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw American landscape architects increasingly seek alternatives to imported European landscape traditions. Across the country, designers responded to regional climate, vegetation, geology, topography, cultural traditions, and patterns of settlement. The result was not a single American landscape style, but a range of regional approaches that were not purely professional inventions. Vernacular landscapes—shaped over generations by farmers, gardeners, community builders, and indigenous stewards—established the patterns that designers would later interpret and carry forward. 

Together, designed and vernacular landscapes demonstrate how communities have read and responded to their particular place in the American land: the Prairie landscape of the Midwest, the distinctive landscapes of Northern and Southern California, the pastoral traditions of New England, the woodland landscapes of the Mid-Atlantic, the subtropical and plantation landscapes of the South, the seasonal recreational landscapes of the northern Minnesota lakes, and the arid landscapes of the Southwest, among others.

This is an open call to complete a historical report that highlights the history, significance, and character-defining features of a selected landscape. Optional measured drawings or large-format photographs may accompany the report. All completed reports become part of the HALS Collection at the Library of Congress, contributing to the most comprehensive archive of American designed and vernacular landscapes. 

ASLA challenges the larger landscape architecture community to celebrate the plurality of place by contributing to the Historic American Landscapes Survey and build up our national archive in the Library of Congress. To answer the call to action is to strengthen the role and presence of the landscape architecture profession in shaping our country by bringing light to landscape histories and our shared American heritage. 

Through this year’s optional theme, we seek to honor the diverse stories that define the American landscape. The theme is meant to serve as a suggestion to help you select a landscape, but this is not a competition, so all historic landscape submissions are welcome. We will recognize all submitted reports at the ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture in September 2027. All are welcome to submit a report. 

Submission Details

Information on how to describe and analyze historic landscapes for the HALS collection can be found in the HALS History Guidelines. Contact your state ASLA Chapter’s volunteer HALS Liaison for assistance and to ensure there is no duplication of documentation efforts.

If you’ve already compiled a cultural landscape report or history on a local project of importance, converting this into a HALS report is a relatively quick process with the result of the history living on in the public domain of the Library of Congress.

Complete submissions should include the following elements:

HALS Short Format Historical Report
Use the HALS Short Format Report Template to describe the history, significance, and character-defining features of the documented landscape.

Copyright Release Form
All entries should include a signed Copyright Release Form acknowledging that all materials in the submission will be dedicated to the public domain. Since the copyright status of some materials is uncertain, please do not reproduce any graphics in your HALS documentation unless they are covered by a signed copyright release or clearly in the public domain.

Supplemental Measured Drawings or Photographs
While not required, HALS historical reports can be supplemented with measured drawings or large-format photographs of the documented landscape. Drawings must comply with the requirements of the HALS Guidelines for Drawings; large-format photographs must comply with the HABS/HAER/HALS Photography Guidelines. Electronic copies of the drawings or photographs should be included in the submission.

Backstory

For 16 years, ASLA has collaborated with the National Park Service to host the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) Challenge, a competition to document historic landscapes that tell the stories of our nation. As of 2026, the National Park Service Heritage Documentation Programs division has suspended all competitions. In these extraordinary times of Federal cuts, the ASLA HALS Leadership Team is calling on ASLA members, students, historians, and other practitioners to submit documentation of historic landscapes in our communities. HALS began in 2000 and builds off the longstanding legacy of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) program, which has been running since 1933. With approximately half of the HALS documentation coming from donated reports, we want to emphasize the importance of this community’s work in preserving the diversity and plurality of documented landscapes in the country. 

Celebration & Acknowledgement Deadline

Completed submissions must be received by August 31, 2027, to be recognized at the ASLA 2027 Conference on Landscape Architecture in September.

If you don’t meet this deadline, please continue to work on your report and submit it when you’re finished! This too, is worthy of a celebration!

Following the Donated Documentation guidelines for addition to the Library of Congress collection, please email completed submissions to both ASLA and Scott Keyes, Chief, Heritage Documentation Programs, at the National Park Service:

• [email protected] for acknowledgement at the ASLA Conference and
• [email protected] for addition to the Library of Congress collection.

For more about the Heritage Documentation Programs-documented (Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS)) landscapes and sites featured in this post's images:

• Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, HALS VT-1-17
• Valley of the Moon, HALS AZ-21-7  
• La Bajada Community Ditch and Mutual Domestic Water Association, Acequia, La Bajada, HAER NM-18
• Moanalua Shopping Center, HABS HI-509
• Sunset Magazine Demonstration Desert Garden, HALS AZ-18
• River View Farm, HALS VA-87  
• Merritt Parkway, HAER CONN,1-GREWI,2-
• Ritchie Farm, HALS NC-11