Browning, Armistead W., Jr., 1938-1987

Born in 1938, Armistead Willis Browning, Jr., was a landscape architect, environmentalist and teacher who dedicated his life to environmental preservation and education. Browning was the founder of Turtle Creek Designs, a landscape design consulting firm in Pocopson, Pennsylvania. The firm did residential work and large-scale environmental studies. Browning worked extensively with the Brandywine Conservancy in Chadds Ford and Pocopson Township, producing landmark studies of the scenic, historical and natural features of the Brandywine Valley Region. From 1977 until his death in 1987, Browning taught courses in landscape design and native plant horticulture at the University of Delaware. His weekly column, "Notes from Turtle Creek," appeared in The Kennett Paper . He was also an accomplished and prolific photographer of the landscape and the natural world.

Armistead W. Browning, Jr. was the son of A. Willis Browning and Mary Harvey Browning, and the nephew of Edmund H. "Ted" Harvey, the founder of Delaware Wild Lands, Inc. Ted Harvey served as "an early inspiration for Mr. Browning's commitment to the preservation of ecosystems," ( News Journal ). He was raised in Chester County, Pennsylvania and spent a large part of his life exploring the woodlands, wetlands and meadows of the Brandywine River Valley. Browning earned a B.A. in English literature from Williams College in 1962, an M.A. in History of Architecture in 1967, and an M.A. in Architecture (with a focus in landscape architecture), from Columbia University in 1971. He also studied at Yale University School of Forestry, where he was a special student in ecology in 1975.

From 1967 to 1968, Browning worked for Columbia University's Office of Architectural Planning as a NY draftsman. From 1971 to 1975 he worked as a landscape designer at A.E. Bye and Associates. He was also an associate in environmental planning at Community Design Associates from 1972 to 1975, an associate at Breck Associates from 1977 to 1981, and served as president of Locust Grove, Ltd, from 1981 until his death. Ongoing professional experience included working as a consultant for National Wildlife Magazine in Washington, DC; as a lecturer at the University of Delaware and a faculty member of Longwood Gardens. Browning guest lectured or lectured part-time at Delaware Community College in Media, PA, at the University Of Pennsylvania Graduate School Of Landscape Architecture, at the Maryland Federation of Garden Clubs, at the Delaware Federation of Garden Clubs, and at Harvard University Graduate School of Landscape Architecture. In addition, Browning ran his own landscape design consulting firm, Turtle Creek Design, which focused on residential work and large-scale environmental studies; and Turtle Creek Environmental Center, a private practice focusing on residential landscape design, environmental management consultation, woodlot and forestry management, and alternative homestead methods.

Browning was extremely involved in environmental conservation and study, living in a log cabin on a portion of his family's old farm and working with the Brandywine Conservancy, "producing landmark studies of the scenic, historic, and natural features of the Brandywine Valley region," (Newsletter). He was responsible for helping to organize the division of the 6,400 acre Buck and Doe Run Farm property (known as the King Ranch), and at the time of his death, was planning with his wife to convert part of Turtle Creek Farm into an environmental center. According to an unidentified obituary, Browning was "a birthright Quaker and an admirer of American Indian views of man-nature relationships." Browning was married to Jessie Cocks-Browning. On December 24, 1987, Browning was found dead at Turtle Creek Farm, the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Newsletter of the University of Delaware Library Associates. No. 20, April 1991. News Journal. Obituary: "Armistead Browning, Jr.: architect, conservationist," December 26, 1987.