Visit to the Bok Tower

Thursday, April 21, 2016
This is a little out of order since I forgot to save a spot - oh well

Before all the shed moving, and as a break from all the emptying of our shed and moving of boxes to the house, Ken and I took a day off and enjoyed a great visit to the Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Florida with our friends Frank and Bette Foulke.  Since our car was loaded with stuff and acting as a moving van, Frank agreed to drive the hour and 45 minutes to Lake Wales while Bette and I had a great chat in the back seat.

Bok Tower is part of a huge National Historic Landmark within a complex that includes gardens, visitor center and museum, cafe, gift shop and home - Pinewood Estate and Gardens (a 1932 Mediterrenean-style home once owned by a VP of ?).  There was a great deal of construction work going on as they are now adding some specialty gardens including a Children's Garden.

As we got out of the car, we had this view of the 205 foot singing tower built by Edward W. Bok in 1939 and dedicated by Herbert Hoover.  Bok was the publisher of the Ladies Home Journal and lived by his grandmother's motto: "Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it."

At the entrance to the complex is this motto carved in stone.

Inside the Visitor Center and museum is this lovely picture of the tower with the tower under construction reflected in the water.

Since it was lunch time when we arrived we decided to have a quick bite to eat at the lovely cafe where we could sit outside and enjoy views of garden and this lovely "screen" created by hanging air plants.

A lovely reflecting pool was also in this courtyard area

With a rather different walkway created by setting stones on edge

By the time we finished there was just enough time to take a shuttle ride to the tower where we could sit on benches that not only over looked the gardens and tower

but also a small screen showing the carillon player as we enjoyed the lovely music.

Once the performance was over we walked all the way around the tower admiring the beautiful stonework and other details including this bronze door with scenes representing the six days of creation.

This upside down clock was on another side and we spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how to read it. The chart at the bottom lists the months and latitude degrees so it not only showed the time but the month right down to within 10 days of that month.

On one of the garden paths is a reflecting pond where you can take a picture of the full tower

Nearby was a memorial to Edward Bok

And a couple of different artists were working at their easels capturing the beauty of the place

The tower and gardens sit on the top of one of the highest points in Florida - a little over 300 feet so there were several points where you could actually see the horizon.  

We wondered the paths for a while but soon Frank had had enough so we worked our way back to the museum where he could enjoy a bit of rest as well as see some of the things there

They had the first carillon keyboard on display (which is really levers played with the fist that then pulls a connected metal rod to the appropriate bell and rings it)

along with interesting information about the building of the tower as well as the size of the bells.  The largest bell is the size of this cutout behind Frank and Bette

Outside the building is this garden with benches and chairs for just relaxing and enjoying the surroundings.  You could hear the carillon when ever it was being played no matter where you were.

At the entrance to the Visitor Center was this table with samples of all the flowers presently in bloom in the gardens

It would have been nice to see all of them in their natural habitat but the vote was to leave and come back another time and see more.  So while Frank and Ken rested, Bette and I went into the lovely gift shop just to see what all they offered - and Bette did find a birthday gift for their son-in-law so purchased it.  Then we went back to the car and drove down the "mountain" past a huge orchard of orange trees that were being picked.  And set off for home again.

What a lovely day and break from all our labors dealing with the shed and move that was to come.