Carlton Sturges Abbott (1939- ) was born in Salem, Virginia. His father, Stanley W. Abbott, is best known as primary designer and first resident landscape architect of the Blue Ridge Parkway. During his father's stint on the parkway, the family lived in Salem. Afterward, they relocated to the Tidewater region. The younger Abbott attended the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia, graduating in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. His post-graduate work took place at the famed Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. Abbott applied his skills in a number of fields including architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, sculpture, and graphic arts. His Williamsburg, Virginia, firm, Carlton Abbott and Partners, Architects and Landscape Architects, has designed over fifty local, state, and national park projects.

Carlton Abbott is as well-known for his art as for his architecture. He has put on numerous one-man shows of his work and his graphic designs and renderings have received over sixty awards of merit. For his architectural work, Abbott has received dozens of awards, including Fitz-Gibbon Architecture Firm award and the William C. Noland Medal. He was appointed as a Visiting Professor of Design at the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia in 1977. Carlton Sturges Abbott was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 1983.