Day trip to Wilmington, NC

A signature feature of Airlie Gardens, between Wilmington NC and Wrightsville Beach, is the Airlie Oak, which dates to 1545. There are flowers and beauty all around, but this huge Live Oak is such a commanding presence that I had to photograph it, no matter how many others have done the same before me. This was my first chance to see Airlie.

Surrounded by all the healthy plant life, I was attracted to a stark, dead trunk.

The Spanish moss hanging from the Live Oaks makes all kinds of decorative patterns.

This is a section of the underside of tangled roots of a fallen, dead tree.

There are gorgeous sculpted insects throughout the Airlie grounds, often perched in very natural looking poses - though they are considerably larger than real-life varieties!

This view from a small marsh, across manicured grass to Bradley Creek in the background was one of my favorite tableaux of the day, as it seemed, aside from the grass, to have been left alone.

The metal sculptures are sometimes hidden within the plantscape. They are not painted, rather they are anodized and textured, taking on colors when sunlight direction is suitable. Find the (live) lizard:

The lizard may be easy to see in the photo, but it wasn't easy to spot on location. On the other hand, this butterfly was hard to miss.

I should have carried a long "bird lens" with me, but I didn't, so the best I could do with this heron was a sort of environmental portrait.

The Bottle Chapel is a tribute to artist Minnie Evans, designed and built after her death by artist Virginia Wright-Frierson.

The Airlie Butterfly House is a pleasant stop. I did not have a macro lens with me, but caught a few shots with a "plain" 50 mm. Here is one.

A dragonfly sculpture was much easier to approach, and also much larger, allowing detail shots without special equipment.

Leaving Airlie Gardens, we drove into and across Wilmington, and parked a few blocks from the Cape Fear waterfront. From there, we set out on foot again.

The Bellamy Mansion Museum, on Market Street, is an antebellum building that was completed on the eve of the Civil War. It has been largely restored, and exhibits art works of architectural and historical interest. Above its third floor is a rooftop room known as Belvedere. There is indeed a beautiful view in all directions. I'll show just one.

The slave quarters, later servant quarters, were relatively comfortable for their day, though of course compared to the mansion...well, there is no comparison. After emancipation, many of the slaves stayed on as artisans. I can only hope that there was some satisfaction for such skilled workers in the quality of what they were creating. The idea of accepting enslavement of human beings is pretty much beyond my ability to imagine.

Leaving the Bellamy, we headed toward the Cape Fear River. Sometimes, interesting sights show up where you least expect them. Apparently cacti can do very well in a temperate, humid climate. These were in a street corner garden of a residential neighborhood.

Here's a peek at the usually overlooked side of the Cape Fear River Walk, at what is currently its southern end. There are plans to expand it beyond the current mile length.

A few feet away from the scene above:

Sometimes unmaintained buildings have an odd kind of beauty, at least to me.

The USS North Carolina Battleship lies directly across the Cape Fear River from downtown Wilmington, so it is a commonplace sight. However, I had never been in the area at sunset, and decided to see what I could catch from a pier location chosen so that the sun would drop past gun emplacements.

With the light disappearing, we vanished from Wilmington and headed home.

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Sunset to sunset

Walking a shore road north of Kennebunkport (evening of the day I did the Kennebunk tractor photos of my previous post), I admired the post-sunset colors in a part of the sky quite different from the direction where the sun had gone down.

Next day, it was time to drive up to Bar Harbor, Maine.  There, an afternoon walk on the shore path turned up a miniature city of cairns.  A trio of black birds buzzed the structures as I grabbed this shot.

Heading for a city street to return to the harbor by a different route, I exchanged pleasantries with a hungry squirrel (whose tail was pretty scrawny).  I had a wide angle zoom lens on the camera, but the little rodent made no allowance for that, no adjustment of his comfort radius, so I cropped my photo to the equivalent of a moderate telephoto and got this.

The 16-35mm lens (at the long end) was just right for these flowers and leaves catching the sunlight.

Back at the harbor, I enjoyed exploring some dock vantages that gave a somewhat European look.

After sunset, the secondary color effects were nice, if subtle.  I love the textures of scudding clouds, water wavelets, and tiered rocks.

Heading part way down the same shore path taken earlier, I found the moon playing with a familiar leaning boulder.

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Washington Irving estate, "Sunnyside", Tarrytown, NY

The American author Washington Irving is best remembered for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, but he was the creator of a great many works of biography and history, as well as numerous short stories. He lived roughly during the period between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, 1783-1859, and made his fame during a period of about seventeen years that he lived in England, France, and Spain. His success continued after his return to the USA. Irving was the first American to live entirely by the fruits of his writing, and our first professional author was a true celebrity of his time.

The Irving estate was kept by the family until the mid twentieth century. It is now maintained by Historic Hudson Valley, and made available to the public through tours. The gardener's house and the newer buildings that now function as a museum are deeply nestled amid foliage and hillocks.

Here is a tree that was present during the American Revolutionary War!

Our tour docent related much of the history of the estate: how Washington Irving chose the grounds, modified the landscape in true romantic style, expanded the small cottage in stages, and watched with misgivings as the railroad passage was built along the Hudson River a stone's throw from his home. When the line was put into use, the train would stop to let Irving board or debark, and when passing would blow the whistle in acknowledgment of the famous author's house.

Although photos of the interior were not permitted in the tiny rooms, I was allowed a shot of the copper water heater and cast iron stove in the basement level kitchen. The system of hot running water was cutting edge technology for its day.

A few excellent photos of the rooms are available at the Historic Hudson Valley website.

As our docent bid farewell at the end of our tour, she described some of the things we would yet see as we climbed the path to return to the estate entrance.

The interior of the granary, now storing firewood:

The ice house:

Another docent educating an attentive young girl:

Wildflowers by one of the ponds that Washington Irving had sculpted, in the romantic tradition of improving the landscape.

The end of a fascinating visit!

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