American pioneers had to overcome the dangerous wilderness; Americans at rest want to return to nature—not the wilderness, but a tamed and peaceful nature.

Having cut down nature to build cities, we bring back the country through parks: New York's Central Park gives us a dreamlike, idealized New York with forests, lakes, hills, meadows, foot and bridle paths, and architecture to complement the picturesque settings; vacationers sought rusticity with comfort, and nature brought indoors became the fad. The ultra-rich built a private resort town around a country club (The Newport Casino, R.I.— both classical and colloquial, the first example of the Shingle Style); they found shelter in marble palaces (they called them cottages)—the Vanderbilts contributed to this genre; Addison Mizner concocted Palm Beach for it.

Postwar Florida resorts bear the stong imprint of Hollywood—in the great hotels of Miami Beach and in the fantasy of Disney World, which gives us the elemental, mythically American Main Street. (58 minutes)