Cleveland in HDR – The 6th City Collection

“Fountain of Waters” by Chester Beach in the Cleveland Museum of Art Fine Arts Garden

From the Cleveland museum of Art website : ” I know of no other example of landscape art as beautiful as this where such a large part of the population pass daily and enjoy it.” Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., of the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm, is of course referring to the Fine Arts Garden. The garden fills the approach to the Cleveland Museum of Art from Euclid Avenue, and is bordered on the east and west by East Boulevard and Martin Luther King Boulevard, respectively. The Fine Arts Garden was formally presented to the city of Cleveland by the Garden Club at a dedication ceremony on July 23, 1928.

The Cleveland Museum of Art was built on land donated by industrialist Jeptha Homer Wade II. This land is located in Wade Park, which was donated to the city in the nineteenth century by Wade’s grandfather, Jeptha Homer Wade I. Prior to the construction of the museum, Wade Park was a popular recreation area that included a lake for boating and skating, walking paths, and picnic areas.

Construction of the museum decimated the landscape surrounding the building. For several years after the museum opened in 1916 the park was minimally maintained by the city. The unsightly bit of land between the museum and Euclid Avenue was the subject of much criticism during this time. In 1923 the Garden Club of Cleveland, whose library was housed at the art museum, appointed a committee to study the problem of beautifying the area.

Through various fund raisers garden club members were able to hire the firm of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of Central Park in New York City, to design the Fine Arts Garden. These images represent the firm’s vision for the Fine Arts Garden.

In addition, members of the club, the art museum, and community at large donated funds to commission artist Chester Beach to sculpt the “Fountain of Waters” and signs of the zodiac statues. Funds also were donated for the purchase of marble benches, terraces, and other pieces of statuary for the garden. All of the funds to establish the garden, over $400,000, came from private donations. Maintenance of the garden is funded through an endowment established by Mrs. John Sherwin, president of the Garden Club at the time the garden was planned.

The Museum Archives houses records related to the planning and construction of the Fine Arts Garden including records of the Fine Arts Garden Commission, records from the Olmsted Brothers firm, planting plans and blueprints, and photographs. For more information, see the Records of Fine Arts Garden finding aid.”

For more info: www.clevelandart.org/collection-focus-article/fine-arts-garden

Today’s Quote: The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time.” – Abraham Lincoln

The Cleveland Cultural Gardens are a collection of public gardens located in Rockefeller Park in Cleveland, Ohio. The gardens are situated along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive within the 276 acre of wooded parkland on the city’s East Side. In total, there are 31 distinct gardens, each commemorating a different ethnic group whose immigrants have contributed to the heritage of the United States over the centuries, as well as Cleveland.

For more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Cultural_Gardens

http://www.culturalgardens.org/

Here is some info from the Cleveland Cultural Gardens website: “Dedicated in 1935, the Czech Garden was designed by landscape architects B. Ashburton Tripp and Maurice Cornell. At the center of a circular lawn, flanked by an Eagle Pylon and a Lion Pylon, is a sculptured frieze depicting the history of the migration of Czechs to the United States. Atop the frieze and facing the lawn are busts of Bedrich Smetana, a composer, Dr. Miroslav Tyrs, an educator and organizer of Sokol gymnastic societies, Jan E. Purkyne, a physiologist, and Bozena Nemcova, a novelist. The garden also contains busts celebrating Frantisek Palacky, a historian and statesman, Anton Dvorak, the composer of the well-known “New World Symphony,” the Reverend Jendrich Simon Baar, a priest and novelist, Karl Havlicek, a journalist imprisoned because of his political views, and Thomas Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia. Most of these statues, as well as the frieze, were the work of Frank L. Jirouch, a Cleveland-born sculptor of Czech descent who sculpted many of the busts in the garden.

On April 1, 1939, the President of Czechoslovakia planted two linden trees from Bohemia in the garden. In 1949, the Czech delegation added the Tyrs, Nemcova, and Purkyne bust, and in June 1962, Masaryk’s statue was added. At the dedication ceremony, United States Senator Frank Lausche lauded the choice of Masaryk, giving the dedication political resonance in the broader context of the raging Cold War. Lausche stated, that The love of liberty lives strong in the hearts of the Czechoslovakian people in America. … Our government will not make any pact for the degradation of Czechoslovak liberty.”

For more information on the Czech Garden: http://culturalgardens.org/gardenDetail.aspx?gardenID=7

Today’s quote is one of my favorites and comes from the garden itself: This Garden is dedicated, to our beloved Czech parents who by their teachings and by precept and example have established for us a high ideal of American citizenship.

Today’s photo is of the Hungarian Cultural Garden which is located off East Blvd in Cleveland. This garden was completed and formally dedicated in 1938 and is just one of the beautiful gardens located in this area. For more information:

http://culturalgardens.org/gardenDetail.aspx?gardenID=14

Today’s Quote: “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget”. – Thomas Szasz

Today’s Photo: Sunrise in the Italian Garden

This photo was taken early one morning about a year or so ago. If you have never spent any time here you are really missing something. Here is some more information:

http://blog.culturalgardens.org/index.php/category/italian-garden/

“A garden must combine the poetic and the mysterious with a feeling of serenity and joy” – Luis Barragan

Today’s Photo: Standing Alone

Today’s photo was taken at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I thought everyone could use a little bit of spring on a day like this. It’s only a few months away!

Today’s Quote: You laugh at me because I’m different; I laugh at you because you’re all the same – Jonathan Davis

Today’s Photo:  Mapleside Farms

It is easy to see why Mapleside Farms in Brunswick, Ohio was recently voted the most beautiful farm in America. This photo was taken shortly after a storm passed over the farm. The purplish tint
to the photo is really how it looked that evening. Families, including my own have been coming to this farm for generations to enjoy the food and the view. Here is a history of the farm from their website:

“The land where Mapleside Farms sits was first settled by the Tillotson family from Massachusetts. They were drawn there in 1817 by the area’s fertile soil. Elmer and Clara Eyssen bought the farm from the Tillotson family in 1927 and moved
their family from Lakewood way out into the country. At that time the land consisted of the current property plus many acres across Pearl Road as well as some property on Center Road/Rte. 303. In the earlier years of this beautiful farm, a large stand of maple trees on the side of the hill were used for maple syrup production and became Elmer and Clara’s inspiration for naming their land, Mapleside Farms.”

The farm was recently purchased by Greg and Kelly Clement who are both lifelong Brunswick residents and grew up with Mapleside as an important part of their lives. They have made many wonderful improvements while still keeping the original feel of the farm. I have no doubt that Mapleside will be enjoyed for many more generations.

For more information please visit their website:

http://www.mapleside.com/

Quote of the day:

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars.- Martin Luther

Today’s Photo: The Italian Garden

This is a photo of the fountain located on the upper level of the Italian Garden. The Italian Garden was on October 12, 1930 before a crowd of 3000 local Italians. It is just one of the over 30 gardens that make up the Cleveland Cultural Gardens.  The gardens are located along M.L.K. Blvd and East Blvd, not far from Wade Oval.

I am ashamed to say that I didn’t know this wonderful place even existed until a few years ago. I love walking though the gardens and looking at all of the statues, plants, flowers and fountains. They tell a story of all the different immigrants that came to America and to Cleveland. Some of my own ancestors that came from Germany, Switzerland, and Ireland were living in Cleveland by the 1840’s. In fact my grandmother lived in a house on the corner of Ansel Rd. and Ann Ct., right across from the gardens and the Hitchcock Center for Women. She said the center used to be a seminary and she would walk in the gardens when she was a teenager. All Clevelanders should visit the gardens at least once, they are beautiful and will make you proud of Cleveland and all the immigrants that helped built this city.

For more info on the
gardens please go to the website:

http://culturalgardens.org/default.aspx

Or visit on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cultural-Gardens-Of-Cleveland/178974030093