Poetry in Bronze and Marble - Brookgreen Gardens

Looking at the impish "Faun" as we left the gardens yesterday made us all smile or even chuckle a little.  Such a whimsical and earnest little creature!  We quickly moved into the welcome center and were transported into the real world of sculpture immediately.  The thing I found really cool about the whole visit was the absolute ease with which Mrs. Huntington integrated her own magnificent works into those of others who were more, less or equally talented.  She exhibited what I would describe as an absolutely pure love of art and nature and was deeply appreciative of the talent of 'mortal' artists and profoundly cognitive of the exquisite cosmic beauty in the world around her as illustrative of the grandest of all art masters.  I think the phenomenon is best illustrated by the repetitiveness with which a particular subject is

The Young Diana - Anna Huntington

displayed by an enormous range of artists and yet we judge each one for its own unique characteristics and we don't do "side-by-side" comparisons!!  Mrs. and Mr. Huntington were remarkably thoughtful and insightful people and their foresight in creating this incredible place - for the world to enjoy - it deeply appreciated.  During the time they spent here they welcomed visitors

Atalaya Castle - South Carolina

from all over the world and nurtured blooming careers in many different fields.  As a matter of fact, one of the best illustrations of their nature lies in the construction of their home on the other side of Highway 17 in what is now Huntington State Park and just a 'stone's throw' away from some of the best seafood restaurants on the East coast - in Murrell's Inlet, S. C.   In the last post I mentioned the 300+ acres that are dedicated to the sculpture gardens and zoological park - well - in all, the Huntingtons purchased three plantations surrounding this area and their property ultimately extended to several thousand acres.  Shortly after purchasing the original property, the Huntingtons decided to build their residence on the South side of Highway 17 to include studio space for Anna.  Archer was a lover of Spanish architecture and studied it extensively.  He obviously drew heavily from his knowledge of the Andalusian coast in his masonry design and even named their home "Atalaya" after a castle in Spain.  The name - meaning "watchtower" - is appropriate because the home is situated where it can forever oversee the happenings in this beautiful setting.  Completed in 1933, Atalaya, was built without a comprehensive set of plans and grew to thirty rooms and a central studio plaza.  Mr. Huntington insisted on using local workmen for the entire project in recognition of the devastating effects of the Great Depression on the local job market.  A while back we had a talk about "serendipity" and the interconnectedness of things in our universe.  Consider this.  The Huntingtons came to South Carolina because Anna suffered from tuberculosis and had been advised to move to a warmer climate than that of her beloved New England.  That decision ultimately led to the creation of this immortal legacy in sculpture but, even more than that, it created organizations, opportunities and ongoing employment for hundreds, if not thousands, of South Carolinians for the last ninety years.  Now don't get me wrong, Mr. and Mrs. Huntington left indelible imprints on countless spots on our planet but the fact is that because of a sheer 'accident' of health - time - and availability of land - the people of our state - and of the world have been left with a matchless bequest.  Thank you Anna and Archer.  We will treasure your gifts forever!!!  Sorry for waxing nostalgic there ... but - we'll close for now and let you rest up.  We have a ton of statues left to look at so come on back soon.  See ya.

The Legacy of Anna Hyatt Huntington - Brookgreen Gardens

While we are gearing up for our next journey we got to talking about the flowers we showed in that last brief post and it started us thinking about some of the gardens we've seen (natural and planned.)  And for us that led quickly to a discussion of some of our favorite spots along the coast, the very best of which would have to be Brookgreen Gardens (..to which Sherwood introduced us..)  right up Highway 17 from our hangout in Litchfield Beach, S. C.  Now here's the deal ... in 1930 a New Yorkindustrialist named Archer Hunter, along with his wife Anna (a superb sculptor in her own right) decided to combine their profound love of sculpture with their dedication to nature and purchased 300 acres near the South Carolina coast as the site of a magnificent sculpture garden and nature preserve.  (We showed you some pictures from the zoo in the nature preserve a while back.)  In addition to the incredible collection of animals, birds, fish and insects in the preserve, there are more than 2,000 species of native plants, bushes trees and shrubs including some of the most enormous and beautiful Live Oaks you will ever see.  And, on top of all that - the grounds contain nearly 600 works by close to 250 artists.  It is now considered the finest collection in the world of sculpture from the last two centuries.  But - this is not a commercial folks.  The fact is that the spirits of Anna and her husband are permanent residents in this incredible place and I know of no other place I have ever been that offers clearer evidence of the love two people had for each other, their planet and their fellow man than Brookgreen Gardens.  It is profoundly beautiful, exquisitely peace invoking and purely spiritual in nature.  If you can come here and not be moved, you have some wires that need adjusting!!  I planned to do only one post for this visit but I realized that It would be way too long if I tried that.  So - we will probably do at least two and more if necessary.  The bad part is - I'm not sure how many of the sculptures I will be able to identify by name.  I apologize for that in advance but there are extensive resources available that itemize the statues here so I might have to leave that part of the exploration up to you.  I'm going to start off with some of the "groundwork" items you find here beginning with the statues at the entrance to the gardens and a  work that contains a poem by Anna that is deeply moving to me.   I'll ask a personal favor - go back up and click on the photo on the top left and read Anna's poem.The last paragraph is how I see my home state too!!!  Some of the other pictures here show some of the tile work in the walkways and the shaded corridors leading from one gallery section to another.   The neat thing about Brookgreen is that the sculptures appear almost out of nowhere to surprise you.  The one a little above and to the right - almost hidden in the ivy covering the wall - is a fantastic scene of ocean waves breaking onto the shore.  One of my very favorite images of all!!  And - even the ornamentation for some of the windows is a work of art.  Amazing.  The astonishing variety of flowers and shrubs is breathtaking but the really neat thing when you visit in the spring or summer is the myriad of butterflies that own the flowers.  You enter Brookgreen to the north side of Highway 17 on Pawley's Island, S. C. and are immediately transported to another dimension.  The drive leading to the reception center - and to the other key points such as the Zooligical Compound and the Rice Plantation Boat Tour - is gorgeous to the max.  There are places you can stop and take a stroll through the immense Live Oaks but you might want to wait until the end of your visit for that - there's too much to see to slow down now!!  Right outside the welcome center you get the idea about what kind of sculptural environment you have entered when you encounter a remarkable set of bronzes showing a group of children raising the flag at the beginning of a new day and the group saying the Pledge of Allegiance.  The children surrounding the flag are so incredibly life-like you listen a bit more carefully to see if you can, indeed, hear the words of the pledge as they are being spoken.  Whoa!!!  Nearby you spot an old gentleman enjoying the morning paper as he relaxes on a park bench.  I'm not putting it here - but - I've got a great picture of Linda sitting next to the old fellow trying to engage him in

Len Ganaway by Derek Wernher

conversation.  (Hmmmmmm.... knowing her she probably succeeded and I just didn't see it!!)  It is a remarkable piece and you can even make out the stories in the edition he is reading.  These works are relatively new but not very far away you quickly encounter some older masterpieces.  In fact one of the first ones you see is a "double" treat.  It is "The Faun" by Leo Lentelli - but it is situated in the center of another beautiful work - "The Tortoise Fountain" by Janet Scudder.  (Look carefully at where the cherub is standing.)  Believe me folks, we have not even begun to enter the incredible world of sculpture that awaits us in Brookgreen but I think it might be best to take a bit of a break for now.  I sort of 'sprung' this set of posts on you so we'll give you a chance to catch your breath and get a cool drink of water before we begin to wander through the countless paths of this magical sculpture wonder world.  Come on back as we continue.  See ya.

A Pause While We Re-Group....

Well folks, some of you made it all the way to the end of the Key West trip with us - and many of you didn't!!!  We enjoyed re-visiting the keys and having you with us on this outing.  We have a lot of things to show you in the near future - including an upcoming  trip to our own Charleston, S. C. - one of our favorites - and some "train travel" that I think you will have fun with.  And ....  as an interlude for all of us - I'm adding some pictures of the flowers we had around the house last spring - because - we've been doing some work in the woods behind the house and I want to take you for a walk back there.  There are some really unusual flowers that begin popping up about this time each year I think you will enjoy seeing!!!  I hope you will consider joining us for our future excursions because we really like sharing our experiences with you.  We are going to have limited activity for a couple of days as we get ourselves prepared to travel with you again but we'll be giving you updates on what we're doing (including things like checking out Amtrak schedules and figuring out what kinds of tickets we should be considering for our rail travel.)   In the meantime, thanks for your interest in our travels.  After all - we truly consider ourselves as traveling for all of us!!  We will continue to believe that as long as we consider each other as "brothers and sisters" there is hope for our world and we hope you can share that thought.  We'll be back very soon.  See ya.

Meanwhile, Back On Mallory Square - The Sixties Return!!!

Sorry we had to close the last post before we got to the ""Sunset Celebration" but, you know how it is - a day on the water will wear you out!  So, we opted for turning in early (after a bit of time out by the pool, strumming the guitar and singing with some of our new friends) so we could get up early for another day of exploration in 'paradise.'  Key West really is a very pretty - and really laid back - place to spend a relaxing vacation.  The folks who come here are definitely in "party mode" from the very outset so being serious is a very hard thing to do.  And - on top of the crowd already here - there is an almost constant stream of cruise ships putting into port here to spend the day shopping, sightseeing, dining and - finally - "celebrating the sunset." Interestingly this somewhat unique 'rite' has been going on a very long time and it was even mentioned by James John Audubon in his writings from the area in the 1820s and, later, in the 1830s.  (Wow - if you ever want to learn about someone who made the absolute most out of the 66 years they spent on this planet, you need to check out Mr. Audubon's biography.  He has long been one of my favorites and his prints maintain an honored place on our walls!!! And - he liked the sunset at Key West!!! Hey - what can I say.) But despite the attention of Audubon and some characters from the 30s, 40s and 50s (including 'Papa' Hemingway and Tennessee Williams) it wasn't until MY era that things really got cranked up.  In the 1960s, with the advent of the "Hippie" generation it was only natural for the REALLY laid back drop-outs to wind up in Key West.  And - for the generation that discovered LSD there was nothing better than to 'drop a hit' and check out the sunset on Mallory Pier.  (Now Mallory Square.)  Since that time the daily celebration has gone through an incredible number of changes!  Early on the local merchants and residents viewed the activity as somewhat kinky but generally ignored it.  Later, as more people started to capitalize on the folks visiting the pier with vending booths, food carts and other mercantile offerings, the local businessmen decided they needed to step in and curtail those activities.  A couple of enterprising hippies outflanked them, however, and formed a 'cultural association' that sought to protect the 'free enterprise activities' going on at the pier.  Eventually a truce was reached and now, with the setting sun of each new day, the pier and the square are absolutely filled with every kind of performer, vendor and visitor you could possibly imagine.  This is something to experience folks!!!  I'm sure some people would describe the celebration as a 'tourist trap' and others would say it is just a silly activity participated in by folks who have too much time on their hands.  Still others would consider it something put on by unscrupulous merchants trying to soak the visitors for what they can get from them.  Well, some or all of that might be true folks.  But - remember this.  This area was home to pirates long before the idea of a 'cruise ship' was even a dream so  - have things changed so much????  Anyway, I've been there.  I've seen the people having a great time watching the entertainers, tasting the food options, listening to or watching the talented performers.  And - I've looked way off in the distance - across a turquoise sea beckoning the adventurous into the Gulf of Mexico - and I've seen that sunset.  That magnificent, 'one-of-a-kind'  never to be repeated sunset.  And I was exceedingly glad I was there, at that place, at that time.  This is an incredible world - and an amazing journey that we are all on.  Enjoy and celebrate each sunset you see.  We'll be back soon with more adventures!!!   See ya.

Fort Zachary Taylor and Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas

Early next morning ......  errrr  ... make that NOT early next morning!! ... we got up, got dressed and
found our way to the very tip of Key West  (we're talking about where the water meets the edge of the road)  - at the very border of the city - and of the U. S. - and found a wonderful restaurant - Blue Heaven - for breakfast.  We were planning to do a number of things today - including visiting Fort Zachary Taylor and - participating in a "Sunset Celebration" down at Mallory Square but first, we had to get ourselves waked up and figure out our itinerary.  After breakfast, as we strolled back to the car - feeling remarkably close to normal after the previous night's harrowing experience on Duvall Street - and walked to the waters edge to commemorate the fact that we were at the very end of the U. S.!!!  Just to put things in perspective, from here (water's edge) to Hemingway's home (the highest point around) the elevation rises to a precipitous .... 14 feet!!!  Hmmm...  Anyway .. all that set us to thinking about the huge impact tourism has on Key West and what it would be like if something happened to that aspect of life here.  Well --- as it turns out, they had

Key West International Airport

Marjorie and Robert

a chance to find out!!!  Back in 1982 - based on a strange agreement with President Jimmy Carter - Cuban Premier Fidel Castro decided that since so many people seemed to want to go to the United States - he would help them out. (In addition to the fact that the Cuban economy was in the midst of a major recession.)  He emptied the mental institutions and prisons and put thousands of people of every conceivable background into small boats and sent them northward from the Mariel Harbor to the U. S.  in what would come to be known as the "Mariel Boatlift."  Of course, when the refugees arrived in the U. S. - and it came to be known that many were prisoners or mental patients, anxiety began to rise.  Consequently, the U. S. Border Patrol decided to limit the influx of people and as a part of their strategy put roadblocks up on the "Overseas Highway" from Miami to Key west.  The disruption in tourism was devastating.  Consequently, the mayor of Key West announced that if that's they way they were going to be treated, they would secede from the Union and form their own country - "The Conch Republic."  All this was, of course, only "tongue-in-cheek"

Fort Zachary Taylor

but it did add to the tourism options and now, every April 23rd they celebrate "Independence Day" in Key West ... er .. The Conch Republic!!!  Anyway - as we mentioned before, one of our primary objectives today was to be a visit to Fort Zachary Taylor.  Construction began on the fort in 1845 - as part of the nations plan to defend the coastline of the U. S. - and continued until 1866.  In 1850, when President Zachary Taylor died in office the decision was made to name the fort after him.   The fort has had an interesting history and has served as both an army and navy facility.  Now, however, it is a Florida State Park and a National Historic Site and one of the most popular "beach" areas around Key West.  It is accessible by land and, for that reason, has had widely varied uses throughout its history.  A section of the fort was used by President Truman as his "Southern Retreat" during the late 1940s and early 1950s.  Fort Taylor seemed a little tame for our "adventurous souls" and we learned that there was another fort we could visit and it offered a more exciting excursion - so after conferring with our new found friends, Marjorie and Robert, we jumped at the chance to go to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Torgugas.  We packed up for a much longer adventure and boarded the ferry for the 70 mile cruise.  We eventually learned that Fort Jefferson also had a very unusual history and one that paralleled that of Fort Zachary Taylor in many ways.  Begun in 1846, the year after Fort Taylor, Fort Jefferson would come to be the largest masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere, ultimately consisting of over sixteen million bricks.  The fort is located in

Fort Jefferson

the "Dry Tortugas" a series of low islands about 70 miles west of Key West and a very unusual feature of the area.  First described by the adventurer Ponce de Leon in 1513, the importance of the Dry Tortugas has been debated by countless explorers, military leaders, politicians and local residents throughout the years.  The first structure actually located here was a lighthouse built on the "Garden Key" which would ultimately come to be the lighthouse incorporated into the confines of Fort Jefferson.   The Dry Tortugas get their name from the fact that they are (1) very dry and (2) the place where Ponce de Leon and his sailors found large numbers of sea turtles (tortugas.)  Fort Jefferson was used as a component in the coastal defense plan but, because of its isolation and relative obscurity it became a "detention center" for both military and civilian prisoners.  Perhaps the most famous prisoner in the lonely outpost was Dr. Samuel Mudd who, along with three co-conspiritors, was convicted of complicity in the plot to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln.  It was a really great excursion and we were quite tired at the end of the day.  So ... we're going to stop here for now - but - we've still got that "Sundown Celebration" to share so come on back and join us.  I apologize for the lateness of the last couple of posts but we've had some other things going on.  We'll get back on track right away though!!!  See ya.