CONTINUING OUR WALK AROUND WILLIAMSBURG ON 10-21-22

I have enjoyed looking up a few of the homes in the town.  This is the Bowden-Armistead House, a three-story Greek Revival surrounded by black wrought-iron fencing.  (There is a good explanation of what Greek Revival is at The Spruce.)  It is an antebellum relic, the last remnant of the post-colonial homes and businesses present before the 1930s restoration of Williamsburg was finished.  I also looked up 'antebellum'.  It is defined as "Occurring or existing before a particular war, especially the American Civil War."

The Bowden-Armistead house is privately owned so is not open to the public.  I noticed a few privately owned homes along the road.  I was surprised and wondered how many tourists had walked through their gates without reading the sign.  This one was built in 1858 by prominent lawyer Lemuel J. Bowden, and the locals were astonished at the cost, which was more than $10,000.  It is located on Williamsburg's main street.

I loved the old wrought iron fencing.

Stepping right back into the past with all its history.  There is more information at this website.

You will find several people walking around town or at the entrances of some of the old stores, dressed in colonial garb.  They must have been asked a thousand times for a photo, but they are always gracious and speak as if they were actually from colonial times.

On one of our trips here many years ago, I remember a colonial gentleman with a lovely smile,  nodding his head as he touched his hat to say, "Good day to you Mistress."  I could get used to that!

Old-world charm at its best, very gracious indeed, and they do the town proud. 

The leaves put on a gorgeous display of Fall, and the weather was incredible!

Here is a poem from Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

"Go sit upon the lofty hill, 

And turn your eyes around,

Where waving woods and waters wild

Do hymn an autumn sound. The summer sun is faint on them

The summer flowers depart

Sit still - as all transform'd to stone,

Except your musing heart."

That's the end of my post today.  There will be more as soon as I can put another post together.

Have a great day and...

REVISITING SANTA FE AUGUST 17TH, 2013 - PART 2

Continuing from my post yesterday, more from the Archives.  

There is a road in Santa Fe that has museums on either side, as well as the botanical garden I shared in a previous post.  You can see what there is if you click here.

It is 12.15 p.m. and we  have just left the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art.  Its history can be found here. After taking a few photos I suddenly thought I should have asked the lady at the front desk if it was okay.  Sadly no photos allowed inside but I understood perfectly.  I apologized and said I should have asked when I first came in.  She was very very gracious telling me that there was a sign but it was a small one and hard to notice. I could take photos outside however.   So, no photos of the inside but by following the links you can get a good idea of what it was like.  The artifacts collected were magnificent!

The last place I like to visit on my way out is the gift shop.  The lady behind the counter was talking to another customer about opera and they were discussing Susan Graham, the Mezzo-Soprano who was performing in The Grand Duchess of Garolstein in Santa Fe.  The gentleman she was speaking with told her that his son had a small singing role and they were visiting to see him perform.  Susan Graham was born in New Mexico but raised in Texas and I have seen her perform at our local movie theater when the New York Met have televised live. 

When the gentleman had left and I gave her my purchases, I told her how much I enjoyed those live performances and that started off another conversation as she told me that with the altitude, many of the opera singers who perform in Santa Fe have difficulty singing.  The opera house keeps oxygen back stage for the performers who are affected.  When I told Gregg this we thought this might explain why we have been feeling extra tired and a bit heady.  Santa Fe is 7,199 feet above sea level.  I think for some it takes a while getting used to.  We have been fine ever since.

From this museum we walked next door to the Museum of Indian Art and Culture.  Their link can be found here.

Again we weren't able to take photos inside but what we saw in the sculpture garden captured our attention.  From the nearby marker I read that the statue above is called "Songs of the Past by Allan Houser, Warm Springs Apache.  Bronze 1993.  From the private collection of TIA"

This one read "Kiva Priest by Robert Dale Tsosie, 2003 - Picuris/Navajo - Indiana Limestone - Purchase through Arnold and Doris Roland Purchase Fund."

The mother and child above is shown as "Transcendence, 2007 - Tami Garcia - Santa Clara Pueblo - Bronze - Edition of 12 - Loaned by Blue Rain Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico."

Another mother and child sculpture, "Doug Hyde (Nez Pierce/Assiniboin/Chippewa) - Shared Knowledge - 1986 - Bedford Indiana Limestone - Purchase through New Mexico Arts Division Art in Public Places Program."

This was my favorite statue.  It towered above our heads.  Gregg is standing in front of Apache Mountain Spirit Dancer by Craig Dan Goseyun - 1995 - San Carlos Apache - Bronze - Courtesy of Sam and Ethel Ballen.  I will be sharing more of this magnificent statue later.

Unfortunately I don't have any information about this one.  I usually take photos of markers but missed it somehow.  Also, I have seen photos of this statue on line when trying to find out what it was without success.  These photos don't do it justice.  When the sun hits it, it shines like gold.  It is stunning to see.

At the suggestion of the lady in the first museum we visited, we had lunch at their restaurant.  She explained it would be very difficult to find a place to eat in town that day.  We both had salads which were very good and shared a piece of blueberry custard pie.  Sorry, forgot to take those pictures.  After lunch we had a wonderful walk around.  The sculptures outside were very interesting.  Inside was just as fascinating.  

The photo of this cute little dog was taken in Santa Fe.  We had tried to get a room in town earlier but there is a famous yearly Indian Market going on that attracts thousands of people.  You can click here to see what it is all about.  We took a drive through downtown and it was busy, busy, busy but very interesting. We gave ourselves a great driving tour.  We were in so much traffic we were at a crawl and were able to take everything in.  We both agreed that we will enjoy coming back one day and stay for a few days.  Here are a few of the photos taken from the car.

I thought the above sign was worthy of sharing.  

This lovely sculpture of the burros is in an area called Burro Alley.  Early in the 19th century hard-working burros were brought into Santa Fe carrying the much needed wood for building and fire.  The donkeys were lined up in the alley and unloaded, hence the name, "Burro Alley".  

A restaurant on the top of this building caught our eye.  Hopefully one day we will be able to have a meal there while overlooking the town.

These beautiful children danced in traditional clothing.  Awesome to see and so young.  One looked little more than a four year old.  They are keeping their age-old traditions alive.

This website shows you more of the historical sites with photos in Santa Fe.

I was intrigued with the adobe buildings of the southwest.  You can read about them at this site.

I would have enjoyed taking some of these home with me.

And that was it for our trip to Santa Fe, and here we are on the road again heading to Albuquerque (New Mexico).

We drove on and reached our hotel at 3.48 p.m.  It was good to stop early that day.  We again slept like a couple of logs that night.

And that's the end of today's post on an old trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We are looking forward to going back one of these days.

  

OLD POST FROM SEPTEMBER 2002 - POW WOW ON THE MALL

As I have mentioned before, I enjoy going through our old photos, and found these on the blog I closed a few years ago.  For some reason, and I still have no idea why, people were having trouble downloading that old blog, so I made the decision to close it and start fresh with this one.  I also had to buy a new laptop and the time just seemed to be right to start fresh.  

I actually started blogging in April of 2008, and started this one right at the end of 2015.  I might repeat posts that I did on the old blog, every now and again.  I have already shared photos from those archives.

Going back to September 2002, we found out about the Pow Wow.  It was to celebrate the building of The National Museum of the American Indian, and was taking place nearby on the Mall.

It was an exciting event and as I have been interested in learning all about different cultures since I was a little girl, I could not wait to go into the city over the weekend. We don't live that far away from our Nation's Capital as the crow flies.

I took these photos from my seat. (I don't normally show children's faces on here, but as this was taken 12 years ago, I figured their features are totally different now all these years later).  It was very hot that day and several people left the tent before it started. There was no way that I was going to miss such a wonderful event, and I watched as the big tent filled with people who were going to participate in the Pow Wow. I spotted this darling little girl and her brother. She was doing a superb job of looking after him, and later on I saw her getting ready for her part in the Pow Wow.

There were whole families involved and the traditional clothing was quite spectacular.

This revered gentleman with his grandson was being honored for service to his country as a Navaho Code Talker during WWII.

Here a grandfather and grandson were waiting to perform in their tribe's drum circle. 

And I can't tell you enough how much I appreciated this experience.  And so I watched and waited and took photographs of people getting ready. 

I count at least three camera's in this shot.  There was a young lady taking a movie of the audience. 

And so it began.

 

The traditional clothing was intricate, colorful, incredible, beautiful, unique.  

Wallace Coffey of the Comanche, with actor and folk singer Floyd Red Crow Westerman, from the Lakota Sioux (sadly, since I wrote this post, he passed on in December 2007). As well as being seen in various roles on the big screen and TV, Mr. Westerman is also a fierce advocate of Native American rights and is a leader in the North American Indian Movement. I am very familiar with this exceptionally talented actor, as I grew up watching movies he took part in on our British TV, and have to say it was a thrill to see him within camera range.

Wallace Coffey has served as Masters of Ceremonies for Pow Wows and Indian cultural events for well over 35 years. 

What an incredible day and one that I wouldn't have missed for the world.

A great memory now and I hope you have enjoyed the revisit.  Enjoy your day and thank you for looking.