Background
Cary Blunt Millholland was born in Cumberland, Maryland, on December 11, 1902.
Cary Blunt Millholland was born in Cumberland, Maryland, on December 11, 1902.
She graduated from Wellesley College in 1924 and then continued her studies informally while traveling around Europe and East Asia. She went on to enroll in the landscape architecture program at the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, from which she graduated in 1934.
She was one of five children of James Allaire and Harriet (or Harriett) Woodward Millholland. Her travels in Asia developed her interest in trees as a landscape element. She died on January 21, 2001.
After obtaining her degree in landscape architecture, she worked in several different temporary jobs: for architect Gertrude Sawyer, for landscape architects Ellen Shipman and Rose Greely, and for the Historic American Buildings Survey.
In 1937, she opened her own practice in Washington, District of Columbia, which she ran for five years while also doing freelance drafting work for other firms around town. Parker worked for the United States. War Department during World World War II, initially as a draftsperson and later overseeing the fabrication of relief maps for the Office of Strategic Services.
After the war, she reopened her practice, which continued (with interruptions) until 1975. During the 1950s, Parker"s husband was stationed in Central America, and she accompanied him there, living in Nicaragua and Guatemala, where she collected orchids.
After their return to the United States, she taught at the Catholic University of America (1960–1963).
Parker"s landscape design projects include the central plaza at Saint John's College in Maryland. The Octagon House in Washington, District of Columbia And elements of Point Farm in Calvert County, Maryland, which is now the Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum.
She created the original plan for a garden for United States. Secretary of State Christian Herter, later expanded on by landscape architect Perry Hunt Wheeler. She also worked with First Lady Lady Bird Johnson on several projects for beautifying Washington, District of Columbia Parker was active in the American Society of Landscape Architects (American Society of Landscape Architects ), serving at various times as secretary, vice-president, and trustee of the Potomac chapter.
She was elected a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1965.
As part of an oral histories project, the Society of Woman Geographers conducted an interview with Parker in 1993. The interview by Ada Currier is in the SWG archives.
American Society of Landscape Architects. Society of Woman Geographers. Garden Club of America.