This site was the summer home of the eminent historian Francis Parkman. Parkman bought his cottage here in 1854 from the Chickering family (of piano fame). He named the house Sunnyside and he loved tending to his gardens while he was a resident. He was a great cultivar of rose and lilies and was active in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society as well as being a professor of history at Harvard. He did teach Horticulture for one year at the Bussey Institute but that was a bit too much for him.
As a young man, after graduating from Harvard, Parkman took off with his cousin, Quincy Adams Shaw on a trip out west. He wanted to write histories of the French and Indian War period but felt he needed to learn about Native Americans to do the job well. Francis and Quincy spent time out west, living at one point with the Lakota Sioux. Parkman got quite sick on the journey and never had a very strong constitution afterwards. Shaw made contacts on the trip that helped him start up his copper mining business (and build his big house just down the way from his friend). Parkman chronicled their experiences in the fantastic book The Oregon Trail. And he did end up writing the seminal histories of the French and Indian War, books still useful to historians. His life’s work being on the intersection of European and Native American cultures is why the Indian figure is featured on his memorial.
Because of his reputation, Francis Parkman was allowed to live out the remainder of his lifetime at “Sunnyside” by Olmsted and the park planning crew. When he died in 1893, the house was torn down and the Parkman Memorial (sculptor: Daniel Chester French) was installed in its place. It’s inscription says “Here were for many years he lived and where/He died friends of Francis Parkman have placed/This seat in token of their admiration for his/Character and for his achievements”.
Francis Parkman is the only JP resident (so far) to be featured on a US postage stamp.