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| Listening to the Bells |
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| Singing Tower |
The Bok Tower Gardens are located in
central Florida on one of the highest points of land in the area. Although it
is called Iron Mountain, it is actually more of a hill, but for Florida it
provides a beautiful location for this National Historical Landmark. Built by
Edward W. Bok the publisher of Lady’s
Home Journal, the tower and surrounding gardens were built in the 1920’s.
The 250 acre site contains many different gardens containing rare and
endangered Florida plants, and trails and roads allow you to wander through the
site.
Although not originally part of the
gardens, a neighboring estate
built by Charles Buck of Bethlehem Steel as his
winter get-a-way has been added and it was an excellent guided/self-guided
tour. This Mediterranean style mansion is spectacular, with hand carved doors,
all different as well as a different patterned tile floor in every room. One
interesting feature is the main staircase which has a different hand-painted
tile pattern on every stair riser. As we are down here in Florida escaping the
cold north, it was interesting to see how the rich and famous “snowbird”.
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| Main Stairway in Pinewood Estate |
The centerpiece of this beautiful garden is
the 205 ft. Singing Tower. Made of different marble the tower has a pink tint,
and contains beautiful sculptures and art-deco windows allowing the music from
a 60 bell carillon to reach most of the park twice a day. Pools, including a
reflecting pond that allows the entire tower to be reflected in the water
surround the tower. Originally Mr. Bok wanted Pink flamingos living in the park
to coordinate with the pick marble, but they were unable to survive the cold of
central Florida.
Surrounding the tower are numerous
comfortable benches allowing guests to sit and enjoy the daily concerts by
world renowned carillonneurs. On our visit we got to hear Polish carillonneur
Anna Kasprzycka. A very pleasant way to spend a beautiful Florida afternoon;
sitting in a garden with carillon music drifting through the trees and flowers.
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| Beautiful Palm in the garden |
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| Part of the Children's Garden |
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| Beautiful Tile Floors in Pinewood Estate |
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| Wildlife in the Garden | |
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Ah ... you truly make me miss Florida! Although we've had a day of sun here, the heat is what I'm really missing! Too bad you can't add audio to the blog. I'd have loved to hear the bells!
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