I’m not a gardener, never have been, never will be. It’s just not in me. I find it miserable work. Though I enjoy the fruits of the labor be they flowers, vegetables, or fruit. If I had to do it I would. Mike on the other hand finds it relaxing. He likes to garden and looks forward to it. It’s beyond me just like my comic book hobby is beyond him. He appreciates it makes me happy. I appreciate produce and flowers.
Join me as I checked in on Mike’s garden. It’s coming along fine. The kritters enjoyed watching me take photos of the garden. Except Rappy, she slept in the sun. Can’t say I blame her.
How in the heck Mike gets in there to bring in the harvests he does is beyond me. I think of gardens as being measured in portions of an acre with nice wide rows not a jungle where if you step wrong you crush your next harvest. It’s his garden done his way. Left to me, I’d be living in a condo but it makes him happy. So there for the dense garden makes me happy.
Gilbert m Simmons Memorial Library #74000093 on the National Register of Historic Places. It designed by Daniel H. Burnham and built as a donation to the city by Z G Simmons. It was dedicated May 30, 1900 to the memory of his son Gilbert M. Simmons.
Back in the early Spring Rappy (my greyhound) and I went to Library Park to make pictures. You see Library Park is one of the locations on the National Register of Historic Places in Kenosha. The library the Gilbert M. Simmons Memorial Library was added back in 1974. The Library Park Historic District including the library, historic homes, and St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church was added to the register in 1988. Library Park itself was added in 2000.
You can read about each home in more detail on this flyer by Kenosha Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. I’ll give just a small blurb in the comments on each photo. You can take a virtual tour of the interior of the library here at Kenosha Public Library website. Oh and hear a librarian tell of her encounters with ghosts in Simmons Library here on YouTube.
Now that I have information from the Kenosha History Center I see I missed some important homes and building in that historic district. I’ll go back some time soon and make it another post. Enjoy an sunny but cold early Spring day in the park.
Saturday when I had the pleasure of the Pike River Rendezvous and the tour of the Kenosha Light Station I went around the corner to the Kenosha History Center. It’s a wonderful small museum dedicated to the history of the Kenosha, earlier called Southport, community.
The Center has a collection of things related to life in Kenosha. There’s everything from cars once made here to toys played with by children growing up here. I too had a Mrs. Beasley doll like the one one display. I enjoyed my stroll through the museum as one of a few people that had found this gem.
I was surprised more people weren’t stopping by the Center. First off, it’s free – they ask for a small donations if you are able but if not that’s fine. It was air conditions and on a hot day it was nice to come in and cool off. It had indoor plumbing bathrooms which beat the port-a-pottys at the Rendezvous all to pieces. (I will only use a portlet in case of emergency.) It was just a block from the Rendezvous and half a block from the Light Station. But the final reason was it was very interesting to see how the community developed from the time period of the Rendezvous to today.
I made pictures as I do when I go places. I do apologize for the warm coloring of some but it’s the type of lighting used in the museum to preserve the artifacts combined with the no flash photography rule. I’m always appreciative of museums that allow photos and understand why flash photography is out. Don’t want to fade the color of the objects. Textiles are especially vulnerable to that. That also accounts for the grain in the photos due to the higher the ISO. (The more light sensitive the higher the ISO. The higher the ISO, the more noise to picture ratio on single pixels. Eh, what I refer to as grain which is a throw back to silver grains in the higher ASA films back in the day when I did my own darkroom work.)
Sit back and enjoy a tour of a few things that caught my eye.
Kenosha Light Station, National Register of Historic Places #90000995
Saturday when I attended the Pike River Rendezvous the Kenosha History Center was having a fund raiser for the restoration of the Simmons Island lighthouse. I made a donation and toured the keeper’s house as well as a bit of the lighthouse. The house is completely restored downstairs. Upstairs is in process with one room is complete.
I didn’t go all the way up in the lighthouse. The deck up there was closed so there’s not much to see at the top. It was extremely hot so I just went up part way and enjoyed the wonderful wrought iron stairs in there. Why don’t we make every day things beautiful any more? Like stairs and warehouses?
The lighthouse and the keeper’s house were built by the federal government in 1866. It is 74 feet above lake level. The light only operated for 40 years but light keepers lived in the house until the 1940s. There are other harbor lights they tended and posted weather warning flags on this lighthouse. It is being currently being renovated. It’s funded by donations and grants. It was placed on the National Register of Historic places in 1990.
Yesterday I went to Simmons Island here in Kenosha. I went to the Pike River Rendezvous. It is a historic reenactment of life in the late 1700s and early 1800s in this area. It is open and free to the public. The reenactors like to share their stories, history, goods, and services. There was a battle with pirates on the shores of Lake Michigan.
I’d like to thank all the participants that were nice enough to allow me to photograph them and their things. So many were gracious to allow it and look forward to seeing themselves there. If you stop by please say hi. I’m sorry but I lost my notes on who is who. I would so like to give you credit for being such a gracious host/hostess.
Oh one nice thing for me is I got to drive the Mustang. Mike had taken the car to the airport to go on his long weekend of active duty. Aaron had taken the truck to go to work so I got to take the lady out for a drive. I didn’t put the top down because there was a prediction of storms rolling in about 11am or so. Don’t worry honey I was careful and even parallel parked her just fine.
Back in early Spring Mike was itching to get out in his new toy. But being a man he can’t just to out tooling around to see where the road goes, he needs a goal, a destination.
Which is where I come in. I’d been wanting to get out and get some photos of historic homes in Kenosha that are on the National Register of Historic Places. So I provided a list of destinations, Mike put the top down and got behind the wheel. I hopped in the passenger side with my trusty Nikon DSLR and we were off. So enjoy a quick historic photo tour of a few of the places in Kenosha on the National Register.
A few weekends ago, just before or after the garden tour, Mike and I went to the Land & Air Show at the Kenosha Airport. It’s a car and plane show. Yes, Kenosha has a small airport. We even took along Mike’s Mistress and she had her top down. He enjoyed looking at engines and mechanical things. I loved getting pictures of shapes, colors and textures. So we both were very happy. Which I guess is why we’re a good couple for over 25 years, we can find something in the other’s interest that intrigues us.
Oh if you look at how brown the grass is you get an idea of what the drought is doing to us here in Wisconsin. We’ve gotten some rain since then but not nearly enough.
Any way, here’s a picture post of the day – Enjoy.
A few weeks ago Mike and I took the Secret Gardens tour of Kenosha. Mike enjoyed gardening ideas. I enjoyed the photo opportunities. Despite the drought the gardens were lovely. I’m sure the owners put in a lot of hard work and watering expense to make them ready for the event. Sit back and enjoy this colorful photo post.
Way back in the early eighties or late seventies during the study of Medieval History my beloved high school teacher Mrs Elizabeth Morrell started my interest in red doors. She mentioned that in that time when most people weren’t literate information was communicated by used of symbols. One example she gave was the red door – a symbol of sanctuary.
St Matthew Episcopal Church Kenosha
Red doors were unlocked; red doors were places you could go and not be pursued; red doors were shelters from the elements without eviction; red doors could offer spiritual saving as well as physical; red doors were sanctuary from the travails of life. I was impressed that this meaning held so much that if the king’s men were pursuing you and you ran into a red door – the only way to get you was via negotiation or wait until you emerged. That’s why during this time most churches had red doors and many do today.
I’m not sure why the concept has stuck with me for thirty years. It has and it’s echoed in my mind at the sight of every red door since. I think somewhere deep inside I wondered ‘if I go through that red door will I find my sanctuary from the travails of life?’ Not found that door yet, but then again like any good story it’s the obstacles that make life interesting.
Now when I have camera in hand and spot a red door I take a picture of it. I like documenting the various doors to various types of sanctuary. The one above is a traditional door on a traditional church. This one isn’t.
Wine Knot restaurant and bar offers a different type of sanctuary.
It’s the back door to the Wine Knot restaurant and bar here in Kenosha. True this one has a visible lock on it. I’d guess the one above has a lock of some type, times just call for it today. Still I’m amused pondering the type of sanctuary offered by Wine Knot compared to St. Matthews. Though honestly I’d prefer the sanctuary of a good meal with friends in a comfortable cozy restaurant over a sermon while sitting on a hard wooden pew. That’s just me, to each his/her own. I’d say my ultimate sanctuary for dealing with life travails is solitude. That’s when I negotiate with the king’s men perusing me in life and come out to life on my own terms. It’s not behind a red door, or at least not often but I found it.
I also liked that the Wine Knot door wasn’t perfect, it was weathered and worn from years of offering sanctuary to hungry souls. I played about with different filters and frames for it. You can click on the image to go to my Flickr account and see other versions.
My fascination with red doors will continue. I’ll try to make a picture of various ones I encounter in my travels. I wish the library had red doors. I find sanctuary in there quite often. Maybe that’ll be a suggestion of mine for the historic Simmons Library downtown – paint the doors red.
As always you know where to find me until next time!
I have a shameful secret to admit. I majored in history (my second time in college my first degree was a business one) yet when I lived in Charleston, South Carolina area (Mt. Pleasant to be more exact) I never went over to Ft Sumter. The very place that fired the first shot of the Civil War I never saw.
My 2nd great grandfather James Madison McCravey was a Confederate.
Heck the boats to it left from my island just a few blocks from where we had an apartment and I never went. **hangs head in shame** I went to the Yorktown and the ships there, I knew the historic district downtown like I knew my own palm, toured Fort Moultrie several times…but never made it to Sumter. I deeply regret letting that chance get away.
After photographing the Southport Beach House here in Kenosha and learning it is on the National Registry of Historic Places. I decided I would visit all the places on the National Register that I could here in Kenosha.
First step was to get a list of the places and that called for a visit to the website of the register . Ah-ha there are twenty-seven places in Kenosha county that are on the register. WOW! more than I thought. I look through the list and determine five of them I can’t visit. Four are restricted/location not disclosed as they are prehistoric fossil sites and they don’t want unauthorized digging there. These would be the Barnes Creek Site, Chesrow Site, Wehmhoff Mound, and Lucas Site. One is a sunken ship in Lake Michigan the USS Wisconsin an Iron Steamer. I won’t be visiting those that brings the number down to twenty-two.
I go over the list again. I can check off the Southport Beach house. I’ve done it. It started this whole evaluation process. Also the Kemper Center and Durkee Mansioncan be marked off as I did it on the Christmas tour last year. Though I hope to get a better look at the Kemper center inside.
Kemper Center in December 2011
So that leaves what? Twenty places to go. Some are private homes. That’ll mean just a shot of the exterior from the street. The Library Park, Library Park Historic District, and Gilbert M Simmons Memorial Library – did those just before I got sick. That’ll be going through the images doing a reshoot of things that didn’t turn out and writing a post.
The Gilbert M Simmons Memorial Library in Library Park in Kenosha. This area counts as 3 National Register of Historic Places Library Park itself is #00000733, Libaray Historic District #88002657, and the Simmons Library is #74000093.
That means I’m down to seventeen places. These are whittling away fast. Tomorrow Mike and I are going bowling. While out we can stop by and get another site photographed.
Wish me luck on this on-going project. I’m going to miss another historic place that’s near my home. There’s no reason for it. The good news is I’ll share the places I’ll see with you.
As always it’s great to hear from you! Feel free to comment, start, or share this post. You know how get me if you’d like to chat privately. Until next time!
Mary Louise Eklund 