This 12 months marks the 2 hundredth birthday of Frederick Legislation Olmsted, and Bok Tower Gardens can be becoming a member of the celebration. As one of many websites formed by the Olmsted legacy, Bok Tower Gardens has joined a nationwide celebration known as “Olmsted 200″ in honor of the person who believed parks had been for all of the individuals.
A go to to the gorgeous Bok Tower Gardens needs to be a should for everybody’s bucket record. The journey to this bucolic backwater could also be a bit tedious, however good issues come to those that wait. A brief drive from freeway 27, serene traces of orange groves line the street main as much as the gardens. Arriving at one or two o’clock, guests can be greeted to the sounds of the tower’s carillon bells.
In 1921, Edward W. Bok, the backyard’s visionary, was spending the winter months within the residential Mountain Lake group positioned adjoining to one of many highest hills on Florida’s Lake Wales Ridge, at 298 ft above sea degree. He loved taking night walks to the highest of “Iron Mountain,” among the many virgin pines and sandhill scrub, to take pleasure in Florida’s dramatic sunsets and chicken life. The thought got here to him to protect this hilltop and create a chicken sanctuary – a spot of magnificence, serenity and peace.
Integral to Bok’s concept was the supply of a well-known panorama architect, Frederick Legislation Olmstead, Jr. Having made preparations to purchase land on the hilltop, Bok commissioned Olmsted to vary this arid sandhill into “a spot of magnificence second to none within the nation.” The primary 12 months was spent digging trenches and laying water pipes for irrigation, after which wealthy black soil was introduced by the 1000’s of hundreds.
Bok hoped that the tower can be a Taj Mahal for America. In February of 1929, President Coolidge arrived to officiate the grand opening of the tower which has seen thousands and thousands of holiday makers since that point. Bok took up residence close to the property and his home could also be toured right now for guests to admire the construction’s Tuscan type.
To plan your go to to Bok Tower Gardens, go to boktowergardens.org.
