~ wander.essence ~

charleston: the battery, the old slave mart museum, & magnolia plantations

wanderessence1025 September 20, 2020

Sarah and I arrived early in Charleston, parking in a garage near Waterfront Park, and walked into the park. Situated on eight acres on Concord Street, it was built on what used to be marsh and water. The Pineapple Fountain is artful and has a surrounding wading pool.

Pineapple Fountain at Waterfront Park

Pineapple Fountain at Waterfront Park

Sarah ran and I walked south along The Battery. It was a chilly morning, just above freezing, but at least we had blue skies. South was the Cooper River, with views of Fort Sumter, Castle Pinckney, and Sullivan’s Island. Landward was the adjoining White Point Gardens and elegant mansions. The Gardens boasted cannons; a statue of General William Moultrie, commander in the Battle of Sullivan’s Island; another statue “To the Confederate Defenders of Charleston;” and the USS Hobson Memorial, which sank after a collision with the carrier USS Wasp in 1952.

White Point was originally called Oyster Point because of the enormous outcropping of oysters whose shells glistened in the sunlight.

The Battery was named for hosting cannons during the War of 1812. The sea wall was built in the 1850s. Charlestonians gathered here in a party-like atmosphere to watch the shelling of Fort Sumter in 1861, ignorant of the horrors to come in the Civil War.

The promenade was a great place to stroll or jog.

The Battery

statue of General William Moultrie at White Point Gardens

“To the Confederate Defenders of Charleston”

The Battery

cannons at White Point Gardens

The Battery

We returned to the north and walked past Rainbow Row, one of the most photographed sites in the U.S., although I didn’t know why as the colors were not that vibrant and it was hard to get far enough away to get the line of pastel houses all in one photo. It includes only nine pastel-colored mansions facing the Cooper River. These bright historically-accurate colors are remnants of Charleston’s Caribbean heritage, a legacy of English settlers from the colony of Barbados who were among the city’s first citizens.

Most of the houses date from 1730-1750. Originally they stood right on the Cooper river, with their lower stories used as storefronts on the wharf. The street was later created on top of landfill, called locally “made land.”

These were the the first Charleston homes to be renovated and brought back from their early 20th century dereliction, inspiring the creation of the Preservation Society of Charleston (the first such group in the U.S.).

Rainbow Row

Rainbow Row

Rainbow Row

We continued to Waterfront Park where we looked out over Charleston Harbor.

Waterfront Park

Waterfront Park

Pineapple Fountain at Waterfront Park

After our run/walk, we drove back across the Arthur Ravanal Bridge to Mount Pleasant, where we showered and dressed. As today was Mike’s and my 31st anniversary, I sent him a message: “Happy anniversary, honey! Sarah and I have already walked all along the Battery. She ran, I walked.” He wrote back: “Happy anniversary to you as well! Sounds like a nice morning. I’ve been working from home since 7:30. Sitting in dining room for once. Actually got a little over 8 hours sleep for first time in a long while. Needed it badly…” I knew he was stressed out dealing with our son, who was having meltdowns over his massage therapy course and the state of the world, so I was happy he’d had a good night’s sleep.

our Airbnb in Mount Pleasant

We returned into the city to visit the Old Slave Mart Museum, where, sadly, no photography was allowed inside. I could only guess Charleston didn’t want its reputation sullied on social media by the horrific slave trade that took place here for so many years. The conditions were horrible, as can only be expected when human beings are treated like property.

After 1808, the U.S. banned the importation of enslaved people, thus increasing both price and demand. Auctions generally took place in public buildings where everyone could watch. In the 1850s, public auctions were put to a stop when city leaders discovered that European visitors were horrified. The slave trade moved indoors to “marts” near the waterfront, out of the public eye. This is the last remaining such structure. Built in 1859, its last auction was held in November of 1863.

The museum had great exhibits about the transatlantic slave trade and the architectural history of the building. The main exhibit area held documents, tools and displays about this sordid chapter in local history. It was an eye-opening and disturbing museum.

Old Slave Mart Museum

After our visit, we wandered past the French Huguenot Church. This is one of the oldest congregations in Charleston and the only remaining independent Huguenot church in the country. It was founded around 1681 by French Calvinists. Deliberately used as a firebreak during the great fire of 1796, the sanctuary was rebuilt in the stucco-coated Gothic Revival style, completed in 1845.

French Huguenot Church

We headed to Husk Restaurant for lunch, which turned out to be one of the finest meals we had in Charleston after Chez Nous.

Husk

Husk

I enjoyed a “Fistful of Berries” Bourbon: Husk blueberry shrub, ginger beer, lime, & vanilla. Sarah had an “Alley Cat” – white port, red bell pepper juice and shrub, honey, and Meyer lemon bitters.

Sarah ordered two appetizers: one was Sweet Water Valley Pimiento Cheese on Grilled Crostini, pickle relish, crispy country ham and chives; the second was a soup of Heirloom candy roasted squash, duck confit marmalade, curly kale, roasted fennel, sorghum, and pepper mash.

For lunch I had Shrimp and Geechie Boy Grits, with sweet peppers and onions, fennel and tomato broth. It was so delicious! Sarah had Husk fried chicken, roasted cabbage and onion, confit fingerling potato and mushroom jus. Sarah treated us for lunch. 🙂

dining room of Husk

“Fistful of Berries” Bourbon

Soup of roasted squash

Sweet Water Valley Pimiento Cheese Grilled Crostini

Shrimp and Geechie Boy Grits

Soon after lunch, we saw the mural we’d seen our first night in Charleston, this time in daylight.

mural near Poogan’s Porch

After lunch, we strolled through the Old City Market, which is like a pedestrian shopping mall, full of southern -style souvenirs and sweet-grass baskets. I bought a couple of Charleston mugs and a Gullah print for $5.

Old City Market

shop at Old City Market

As we drove to Magnolia Plantations & Gardens, we passed an old roadside trailer with a sign “Timbo’s Hot Boiled Peanuts,” and I remembered fondly a childhood friend of mine whose mother, born and raised in Charleston, had introduced me to boiled peanuts.

drive to Magnolia Plantation & Gardens

Magnolia Plantation & Gardens cost a fortune for admittance. Sarah wasn’t keen on going because all she wanted to do was shop. This got to be quite a drag. I realized our relationship over her adult years has been for me to go down to Richmond, where she lives, and eat, drink and shop. We’d never done much more than that, which saddened me.

The founder of Magnolia Plantations was Thomas Drayton, Jr., son of a wealthy Barbadian planter. He came from the Caribbean to build his own fortune. He immediately married the daughter of Stephen Fox, who began this plantation in 1676. Magnolia has stayed in possession of an unbroken line of Drayton descendants to this day.

I loved all the Spanish moss on the trees and the long Japanese-style bridges.

peacock at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Spanish moss at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Biblical Garden at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Spanish moss at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Sarah at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Sarah at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Cypress knees at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Spanish moss at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Sarah at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

The gardens felt slightly kitschy. Not manicured, it had a wild playful feel. Chinese lanterns were set up for the holidays, making it look a bit gaudy. It claims to be the first garden in the U.S., dating to the 1680s, but also the first public garden, dating to 1872. It is one of the earliest tourist attractions in the U.S. It has themed gardens: The Biblical Garden, the Barbados Tropical Garden, and the Audubon Swamp Garden, complete with alligators and named after John James Audubon, who visited here in 1851. There was an extra charge for the Swamp Garden, which we didn’t visit.

Chinese lanterns at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

bridge at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

Chinese lantern arch at bridge at Magnolia Plantations & Gardens

On the way back, we decided rather than go out to eat, we’d check out a couple of markets and get something for dinner to go. At Gita’s Gourmet, we got containers of Brunswick Stew and Chicken Poblano Soup, hummus, Alouette Everything cheese spread, crackers, and feta-stuffed olives.

As we ate our dinner, Sarah introduced me to the TV series The Good Place, which I found rather annoying. She complained that every time she introduced me to a TV show, I automatically didn’t like it just because she recommended it. How ridiculous! There is no accounting for why people like certain shows and not others. I dislike shows about the afterlife, futuristic shows, horror or violent shows, or fantasy. This one was about the afterlife and I found the characters grating.

Then she introduced me to the show This Is Us, which I liked very much, and we ended up watching several episodes of it. Thus I proved her wrong, that I could in fact like shows she recommended.

We also argued about the focus on food and fancy restaurants. I didn’t want to keep eating the amount of food we were eating at every meal, nor did I want to spend huge amounts of money every time we dined. She is a foodie through and through, and sees vacations as a time to sample local cuisine. I also love to sample local cuisine, but I don’t feel the need to have a huge spread at every meal.

She said maybe it was best we didn’t travel together and I agreed. Basically, we wanted different things from a holiday. I liked to see a variety of things and have a variety of experiences, whereas she enjoys eating, shopping and relaxing. I thought it probably was best we didn’t travel together, except maybe an overnight focused on eating and shopping.

It was very disappointing, as I would love nothing better than to travel with family. But I thought it best if we just kept close to home for family gatherings.

*Steps: 15,963, or 6.82 miles*

*Wednesday, November 13, 2019*

fargo to jamestown, north dakota

wanderessence1025 September 17, 2020

The first thing this morning, I left Fargo and crossed the Minnesota-North Dakota border to Moorhead to visit the Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center.

stained glass at the Heritage Hjemkomst Interpretive Center

I wanted to see the Hjemkomst Viking Ship, whose name means “homecoming.” It was built by Robert Asp, a Moorhead high school guidance counselor whose dream was to build a replica Viking ship and sail it to Norway. Construction began in 1972 and continued slowly.

Asp oversaw the maiden voyage on Lake Superior in August, 1980, but he succumbed to leukemia a few months later.

His family worked tirelessly to complete the harrowing Atlantic crossing and realize Robert Asp’s vision. In the summer of 1982, thirteen crew members began the voyage to sail the Hjemkomst 6,100 miles from Duluth, Minnesota to Bergen. Crew members said the roughest part of the journey was on Lake Superior. They arrived to a hero’s welcome in Bergen, Norway on July 19, 1982.

I was in tears after watching the half-hour film on this story.

Hjemkomst Viking Ship

Hjemkomst Viking Ship

route of the Hjemkomst Viking Ship

Hjemkomst Viking Ship sails into Bergen

inside the Hjemkomst Viking Ship

I also toured the Hopperstad Stave Church Replica. Stave churches, built using vertical wood posts known as staves, date from the end of the Viking Age in Scandinavia. They combined Norse building traditions and medieval Christian styles. This church is a full-scale replica of the Hopperstad Church, built circa 1140 in the town of Vik, Norway.

Guy Paulson, a retired research scientist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, began carving the church in January 1997. Although dedicated in 1998, the project took five more years to complete. The pine structure includes 24,000 cedar shingles, replicating a dragon to scare pagan gods away. Pagan elements are intertwined with Christian elements because people worshiped pagan gods but the King of Norway declared Norway would be Christian. He had to ease people into Christianity. The carvings of redwood, basswood and pine include both Viking Age and Christian symbols.

Paulson was inspired by the Hjemkomst Viking Ship to build the church.

Hopperstad Stave Church Replica

At the museum was a photography exhibit, “Truth in Focus: A Retrospective from Colburn Hvidston III,” which showed work from Hvidston’s 68 years behind the camera. Photos covered three distinct periods in Hvidston III’s life, with his long career at the Forum serving as the middle “anchor” period. He claimed to have never worked a day in his life at the Forum. Instead he claimed to have conned his publisher out of a paycheck for having a good time. He considered his main aim as a photojournalist was to mirror or illustrate reality.

President John F. Kennedy arrives at the Fargo Airport on June 19, 1960

September 14, 1960 Vice President Richarad Nixon arrives in Grand Forks campaigning against JFK for the office of president

The reverse is often true, but one seldom sees a cat treeing a dog.

On March 6, 1966, these two Grand Forks residents faced a major excavation job to fee their vehicles from the infamous blizzard’s aftermath.

Hvidston’s young son Mike noticed this situation yelling from the backseat, “Hey dad, the wheel fell off the car behind us!”

Expressing concern about the gathered crowd being kepat at a distance, CA governor Ronald Reagan, with his wife Nancy, disembarked at the Fargo airport at a campaign stop for the GOP presidential nomination, which was ultimately won by Gerald Ford.

First Stop N Go opens, Fargo 1966

Two laborers doing excavation utility work near the sidewalk simultaneously notice the legs of a female passerby on a Grand Forks construction project in 1964.

Goodbye Old Paint! A rider and his steed part company at the National Hight School Rodeo which took place at the Fargo Fairgrounds in 1970.

There was another exhibit about World War I. As European countries sunk deeper into war, Clay County, Minnesota residents reacted to newspaper reports of the appalling destruction in Europe with a mix of horror and indifference. On the East coast, many supported an intervention on the Allied side, but in Clay County, few supported the war. All seven county newspapers either opposed intervention or were neutral. That changed once war was declared.

According to the exhibit, “U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, an idealist, saw Americans fighting against despotism, militarism and barbarism. Wilson was also an authoritarian who expected Americans to volunteer their money, their time, and themselves to the war effort even if they had to be forced to do so. Anyone who did not was seen as ‘Pro-German’ or even a traitor.” America was unprepared for war, having to quickly raise, train and equip a 4 million man army. It took a year before large numbers of Americans entered combat, and 8 months later, it was over and 116,000 young Americans were dead.

America was completely unprepared for war in April of 1917. Soldiers marched in their civilian clothes because there were not enough uniforms. In training camps, soldiers learned to follow orders, stand in line, march, sleep outside, and kill. After about 3 months, the boys were sent to France.

Donating to the Red Cross, buying Liberty Bonds, and eating less meat and wheat was supposed to be voluntary, but the hyper-patriotism of the time left little room for real choice. Pressure to conform and do one’s duty was intense. Anyone not contributing was liable to be called a slacker, pro-German, or even a traitor.

Liberty Loan Drives were forced on customers whose accounts were deemed to have enough money. Banks could deny farmers operating loans. Newspapers published the name of purchasers and amounts purchased. Vigilantes might visit one’s home.

Due to a worldwide food crisis during the war, the US Food Commission organized the efficient conservation and production of food. It carried out an intensive education campaign to convince Americans to plant gardens and voluntarily reduce consumption of meat, fat, sugar and especially wheat. It worked. The U.S. never had to ration food during the war.

Map of the WWI powers

Enlistment poster

Victory Liberty loan and bond posters

The Home Guard

Notice that alarming shortage of seed corn

Food Will Win the War

Buy a Liberty Bond

Always a fan of quilts, I found one displayed at the museum.

quilt at the museum

******

I returned to North Dakota at 10:53, and walked around downtown Fargo. At first, it was very dark and gloomy, but as I strolled, the sun started to peek out. I loved the classy Hotel Donaldson at one end. Someone had told me it had a great rooftop bar, but with the rain I hadn’t been able to enjoy it the night before. The art-deco Fargo Theatre was at the other end. The Fargo Theatre had been renovated and showed artsy, quirky films. The theater opened in 1926 as a vaudeville and silent-film hall. I also found some other cool vintage art deco signs.

Fargo, North Dakota

fading ad in Fargo, North Dakota

O’Day Caché in Fargo, North Dakota

The Toasted Frog

White Banner Uniforms

Fargo Theatre

twist

Hotel Donaldson, Fargo, North Dakota

Spirit Room, Fargo

Painted utility box in Fargo

Fargo, North Dakota

I went by the Visitor’s Center at 2001 44th Street South. There I posed, wearing a hat with ear flaps, with the original iconic wood chipper from the movie Fargo. I bought a couple of postcards and a lot of information about various places I planned to visit. The clerk there said about Medicine Wheel Park in Valley City: “It’s worth a minute.”

Fargo Visitor’s Center

me with the iconic wood chipper from the movie Fargo

puzzle map of North Dakota

buffalo at the Visitor’s Center

the wood chipper from Fargo

******

Back on I-94 W, I passed Kindred at 12:35 and it was 64°F. It was flat, flat, flat through Casselton and Lynchburg. Corn abounded as I drove through Wheatland and Chaffee. Hay bales and cows marked the territory from Absaraka to Embden. I passed Ayr, Buffalo, Alice, and the Maple River as I drank a Naked Mighty Mango. Anytime I drank mango juice I was reminded of Oman and other Asian countries where I lived and worked. I also ate a box of artisan salami and cheese with crackers and a Reese’s Cup, my happy bar, for dessert.

The flat landscape was shadowed by dramatic skies and clouds, with tatters of blue and sunlight peeping through. I passed Oriska and Fingle. I was still seeing corn, silos, and a single wind turbine. I thought it interesting how some silos were pointed and some round.

In Valley City, I went to the 30-acre Medicine Wheel Park on the Valley City State University Campus. It featured two solar calendar replicas, Indian burial mounds, and a solar system model, which stretched from the Sun to Pluto. Boulders representing the planets were spaced apart in exact proportion to their distances from the sun on a scale with one foot equaling @3 million miles. The Earth’s orbit corresponded to the outer circle of the Medicine Wheel.

The project was done in 1992 by university students. Inspired by the Big Horn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming, it reflected the beauty of the earth’s journey around the sun and the grand cycle of the seasons.

Medicine Wheel Park

I visited Chataqua Park to see the High Line Bridge, a 3-span, 255-foot bridge. At 3,860 feet long, it is one of the longest and highest single-track railroad bridges in the country.

High Line Bridge

High Line Bridge

******

Back on I-94W, I crossed the Continental Divide at 1,490 feet. Corn still abounded near Spiritwood. The sky looked like a Harvey Dunn painting, dappled with yellow bands of crops lit by the sun, glowing golden. Cattle and hay bales dotted the rolling landscape. I arrived in Jamestown close to 3:00.

As I drove into Frontier Village, I saw hay bales and thought they were bison! I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.

In Jamestown, I went to Frontier Village, a collection of historic buildings that the community thought should be saved. A post office, trading post, 1881 church, fire department, jail, barbershop, and dentist were some of the structures that recreated small-town life in the 1800s. The village also had a caboose, medical display, frontier cabin, General Store, a “Writer’s Shack” with a tribute to local writer Louis L’Amour, and a saloon, as well as a print shop and an art gallery. There was also a frontier bank and blacksmith’s shop.

These buildings all had special meaning to the history of Jamestown.

Frontier Village

Stage Coach and Pony Rides

Frontier Town Hall

White Cloud Crafts

Caboose and Train Depot

inside the train depot

pioneer laundry

Log Cabin

bed and doll in log cabin built in 1898

1929 Chevrolet

General Store

Pioneer Church

Dedicated to All Deceased North Dakota Pioneer Citizens Buried in Unmarked Graves

Dentist

Jail

$500 Reward notice

$1,000 Reward for Tom Nixon

Grain Belt Beer on tap at the Saloon

Frontier Village

Barber Shop

Frontier Village

Blacksmith Shop and Frontier Bank

Sheriff’s Office and The Blue Blazes Saloon

Jamestown Fire Department

pioneer stuff for sale

stuff for sale

Village Trader

Frontier Town Hall and windmill

Louis L’Amour was born in Jamestown, ND on March 22, 1908, the youngest of eight children. His mother was trained as a teacher and embedded the importance of books in all her children. Louis often listened to stories of his great-grandfather Ambrose, who was scalped by Sioux Native Americans. In 1923, when Louis was 15, the LaMoore family left Jamestown due to the poor farm economy.

Louis went on to become a successful and professional writer. He wrote and published 117 novels, 400 short stories, and poems. Forty-five films and television series were produced based on his writing, movies such as Conagher featuring Sam Elliott, and Shalako featuring Sean Connery and Bridget Bardot.

Louis L’Amour books

At the far end of the Frontier Village was the World’s Largest Buffalo Monument: Dakota Thunder. It had been watching over Jamestown since 1959. In the late 1950s, the new Interstate Highway was making its way across North Dakota. The Chamber of Commerce decided Jamestown needed a man-made attraction to draw tourists. It commemorated the vast herds of buffalo that once roamed the prairies. The total cost was $8,500. On the 50th birthday celebration, a Name-That-Buffalo contest was launched. On July 24, 2010, Dakota Thunder received his name. It is 26 feet tall, 14 feet wide, and 46 feet long, and it weighs 60 tons.

World’s Largest Buffalo Monument: Dakota Thunder

me with the World’s Largest Buffalo

World’s Largest Buffalo Monument 1959

I also visited the National Buffalo Museum, where I watched a film about how the buffalo, actually called bison, were nearly eradicated as settlers sought to destroy Native Americans’ source of food. Bison were down to 1,000-2,000 and now have been revived to nearly 400,000.

National Buffalo Museum

Buffalo trails were the first roads used by colonial settlers moving westward, and influenced settlement in the Ohio River Valley. By 1790, Lexington, Frankfurt, Louisville and Cincinnati had developed along old buffalo trails. The westward development pushed the animal west of the Mississippi River. The trails eventually guided the Union Pacific route along the Platte River.

The buffalo was the mainstay of the Indian. All parts of the animal were utilized. Buffalo hides were used to make bags, robes and tipis. A tipi is a conical tent made of animal hides and used by the Plains Indians. The durable tipi provided for a warm, waterproof, and easily transportable home. Most Plains Indians were highly mobile hunter-gatherers, and the tipi could be broken down and quickly packed when a tribe needed to move.

The buffalo robe was one of the most common articles of clothing on the Plains. It was worn year-round, as a wrapper, hair side in for warmth, hair side out in milder weather. Plains robes were for everyday use. Others were decorated with quillwork and beading, and were painted with native dyes or pigments obtained through trade.

Buffalo meat was eaten, and what couldn’t be eaten was dried for later use. Bones and organs were used for food or made into tools. Buffalo horns were used to carry gunpowder.

The American buffalo completely influenced the lives of the Plains Indians. The animal became a powerful symbol in dances, societies, visions, cures, rituals, and religion. Ceremonies were held in its honor – the buffalo was revered like no other animal.

Small ranchers sell bison meat to specialized markets. It is illegal to administer grown hormones to bison. Ted Turner, a big bison rancher, is one of many in the Hall of Fame, which includes those ranchers who have tried to increase numbers of bison. I learned that the buffalo is America’s national mammal.

The bison is the largest land animal in North America. There are two living subspecies of wild bison – the plains bison (bison bison) and the wood bison (bison athabasce). The bison in the National Buffalo Museum, as well as most bison raised for meat in the U.S., are plains bison.

Buffalo or Bison: What’s the Difference?

Modern Bison Skull

painting of bison

bag made of buffalo hide

Buffalo Tipi

Two types of North American Bison

Bison

Shirt made of deerskin

Buffalo and Elk on the Upper Missouri by Karl Bodmer

Bison Fighting

White Cloud was born on July 10, 1996, on the Shirek Buffalo Farm in Michigan, North Dakota. She joined the live bison herd at the site of the National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown in May of 1997. What made White Cloud so unique was the fact that she was a true albino bison and a pure bison, having been DNA tested for both albino genes as well as cattle genes. The odds of a true albino bison could not be calculated, making White Cloud both a phenomenon and a rare legendary animal. A white bison is considered to be a sacred creature by many Native American people, giving this animal a stature symbolizing peace, unity and hope. To others, the white bison symbolizes great changes in the world.

White Cloud (1996-2016)

White Cloud had 13 calves, including a white male named Dakota Miracle (2007-2019), who also lived with the Museum’s herd.

A captive bison lives an average of 20-25 years. White Cloud’s life expectancy was unknown because of her albinism. Genetic mutations can cause health problems, and the summer months were very hard on her. She could not regulate her body temperature well, causing her to drink a lot of water. She also suffered from sunburns.

White Cloud returned to her birthplace, Shirek Buffalo in the spring of 2016, where she died of old age on November 14th.

Last, I went to see the St. James Basilica, North Dakota’s Mother Church. It was elevated as a Minor Basilica on July 23, 1989. St. James was the 24th church in the U.S. to receive the designation.

St. James Basilica

inside St. James Basilica

Jamestown was a quiet and neat little town, but I almost got broadsided on a residential road that didn’t have a stop sign.

home in Jamestown

I checked in to EconoLodge Jamestown. For dinner, I bought a beer at a local grocery store and ate my leftover dinner from last night in my room.

Below is my journal spread from this day.

Journal spread for September 10, 2019

*Drove 118.3 miles; Steps: 10,198, or 4.32 miles*

*Tuesday, September 10, 2019*

on journey: watertown, south dakota to fargo, north dakota

wanderessence1025 September 16, 2020

After finishing my breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage, I checked out of my hotel and went to downtown Watertown in dreary and chilly weather to walk around the downtown area. I found some enticing shops, but it was too early for them to be open.

Watertown, South Dakota

I enjoyed the Watertown Artwalk 2019, which consisted of fourteen sculptures with names like Well Mannered, Hard Hat Jo, Farmer, When Pigs Fly the Wright Way, Pelican Ahoy, Cookie the Turtle, and When Wealth Was Pelts.

Well Mannered by Del Pettigrew (deceased)

Kangaroos by Dale Lewis

Phoenix by Paige (Frazee) Zempel

Endless Summer by Gregory Mendez

Hard Hat Jo by Lee Leuning & Sherri Treeby

Cookie the Turtle by Crysten Nesseth

mural lin Watertown, SD

sculpture in Watertown, SD

Farmer by Larry Starck

Nucleus II by Jeff Satter

I am always attracted to fading ads on buildings; they suggest a long-ago era that is vanishing over time.

Fading ads in Watertown, SD

At the Redlin Art Center, I saw a film about Terry Redlin (1937-2016). The artist originally planned to become a forest ranger, but he lost a leg in a motorcycle accident at age 15. He got a college scholarship for being disabled, so he decided to become an artist. He earned a degree from St. Paul School of Associated Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota and spent 25 years working in commercial art as a layout artist, graphic designer, illustrator and art director. Many of his paintings appeared on covers of magazines such as The Farmer.

The Redlin Art Center

sculpture of Terry Redlin

5th Annual Minnesota Wildlife Heritage Art Show

Redlin’s paintings are of outdoor themes and wildlife, often pictured in twilight. During the 1990s, he was named “America’s most popular artist” in annual gallery surveys conducted by U.S. Art Magazine.

He retired in 2007 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s (dementia). He died in Watertown in 2016 at the age of 78. The Redlin Art Center is dedicated to his works. It was built in 1997 for $10 million.

The focus of his paintings is on light, either natural or man-made. He loved wildlife, especially white-tailed deer and ducks. Also featured in his paintings are Midwest farms, family, friends, community, seasons, sunrise and sunset, snowy scenes, hunting and fishing outings, old cars, log cabins, fishing boats, and kite-flying.

painting by Terry Redlin

The paintings are beautifully rendered with great detail. He did a lot of individual paintings (over 160 are in the Redlin Art Gallery) but also some series: one is based on the lines from “America the Beautiful” and another, A Collection of Heartfelt Firsts, is based on his own life revolving around the same home.

O Beautiful for Spacious Skies (1990) was an attempt to express admiration for the pioneers who settled the country and to capture the sense of adventure and the grandeur of the immense western landscape.

O Beautiful for Spacious Skies (1990) from the “America the Beautiful” series

For Amber Waves of Grain (1990) was done to express admiration for the pioneers once they settled the land; it suggests a bright future. The scene, with waves of wild prairie grass, was inspired by a location near Redlin’s boyhood home in eastern South Dakota.

For Amber Waves of Grain (1990) from the “America the Beautiful” series

For Purple Mountain Majesties (1990) celebrates the leisure time after the hard work is done, in the shadows of the majestic Tetons.

For Purple Mountain Majesties (1990) from the “America the Beautiful” series

Above the Fruited Plain (1990) depicts the hard-working settlers who harvested a bountiful variety of food to feed a growing nation. “Here the farmer and his family haul to town a wagon overflowing with corn, baskets of apples and containers of milk.” Overhead, pigeons find their “home atop the grain elevator, a sturdy monument to the rich soil and the people who toil on it.”

Above the Fruited Plain (1990) from the “America the Beautiful” series

America! America! (1990) depicts the spirit of America with an isolated school house and the daily raising of the flag.

America! America! (1990) from the “America the Beautiful” series

An American Portrait: A Collection of Heartfelt Firsts depicts a series of “firsts” in the decades of a single family.

“His First Friend” – “Mother & Child Experience the Excitement and Happiness of a New Friend and Home” is the first of seven in An American Portrait, which depicts a journey through the life of a young American boy and his family. The story begins with the American dream of home ownership. Today, this young family is moving from the farm into town. They purchased a “fixer-upper.” As they unpack the truck, they are filled with promise. The young boy also meets his first friend, “Buddy,” his dog.

“His First Friend” – “Mother & Child Experience the Excitement and Happiness of a New Friend and Home” from the Firsts series by Terry Redlin

“His First Day” – “Mother & Child Experience the Difficulty of Leaving Home for the First Time” brings to life the smell of autumn. As the school bus pulls around the corner, Mom tries to comfort her young son. While the driver waits, she gently tries to coax him out of his Radio Flyer. With that first step onto the bus, he will leave, for the first time, the security of his home.

“His First Day” – “Mother & Child Experience the Difficulty of Leaving Home for the First Time” from the Firsts series by Terry Redlin

“His First Date” – “Mother & Child Both Experience the Tensions of Growing Up” shows Halloween, with the full moon rising and fog settling in. A visitor has decided to go along in “Daddy’s Caddy” while her Dad takes her brothers and sisters trick-or-treating. As the boy and girl sit side-by-side on the front porch, Mom knows this is the son’s “first date.” Keeping an eye on the two, Mom offers a tray of refreshments.

“His First Date” – “Mother & Child Both Experience the Tensions of Growing Up” in the Firsts series by Terry Redlin

“His First Graduation” – “Mother & Child Experience One of Life’s Great Achievements” shows the boy’s graduation from high school. The car out front is the “victory car” with the boy’s treasured teddy tied to the hood. The graduate will soon go off to college.

“His First Graduation” – “Mother & Child Experience One of Life’s Great Achievements” in the Firsts series by Terry Redlin

“His First Homecoming” – “Mother & child Experience the Delight of an Unexpected Early Arrival” shows the son returning home from school while the neighborhood sleeps. His arrival is unexpected, and the young man reunites with his dog. His home awaits under the light of the full moon. Colorfully wrapped packages and a freshly cut evergreen will soon surprise his family.

“His First Homecoming” – “Mother & child Experience the Delight of an Unexpected Early Arrival” in the Firsts series by Terry Redlin

“His First Good-Bye” – “Mother and Child Experience One of Life’s Proudest Moments” shows an American flag hung motionless as the family says goodbye to the young man leaving for military duty. Although filled with a sense of pride, this day brings mixed emotions for the parents.

“His First Good-Bye” – “Mother and Child Experience One of Life’s Proudest Moments” in the Firsts series by Terry Redlin

“His Last Good-Bye” – “Mother & Father Forever Live in Pain with the Ultimate Loss” is the final painting in the series. The family has prepared a homecoming banner and has decorated the Christmas tree. At this moment, a representative from the Navy and a Chaplain walks up the snowy steps, bringing the devastating news that the son has been killed in the war.

This final painting was inspired by one of Terry Redlin’s personal experiences. It captures the memory of his brother-in-law and good friend, Charles Langenfeld. Charles, a Navy Hospital Corpsman, was killed in the Siege of Khe Sanh during the Vietnam War in 1968.

“His Last Good-Bye” – “Mother & Father Forever Live in Pain with the Ultimate Loss” in the Firsts series by Terry Redlin

After watching the movie about Terry Redlin, I met two friendly ladies, Kathleen and April. Easygoing Kathleen told me she was from Elk Point, South Dakota. She said she was near 70 years old and still worked cleaning offices. They asked me all kinds of questions about my travels and my blog and wanted to know my favorite place in the world. I couldn’t name just one, but said it might be Turkey or Greece.

Kathleen had been to the Redlin Gallery ten times and she said there was always something new to see. Her friend was visiting for the first time. April was on disability but looked younger. She wrote down my blog address.

In the lower level of the Redlin Art Center, I found a fun exhibit about Langenfeld’s Ice Cream and ice cream in general.

The Langenfeld family manufactured ice cream in Watertown and Mitchell, South Dakota and Marshall, Minnesota. In the early 1960s, the family consolidated the ice cream manufacturing at the Mitchell plant. The Langenfeld’s Ice Cream company closed its doors in 1966.

Terry Redlin married into the Langenfeld business. His wife Helene was from the Langenfeld family.

it’s Langenfeld’s Ice Cream

ice cream themed Valentines

Ice cream themed sheet music

Ice cream themed comics

Ice cream themed magazine covers

Popsicle and ice cream truck

Popsicle

Frosty-Freeze Ice Creamer

Langenfeld’s Ice Cream: A Watertown Product

milk bottles

1948 ice cream truck

ice cream accoutrements

ice cream dishes

*********

By 11:00, I was on the road in the rain, corn and green pastures all around. As I zipped past South Shore and Stockholm, it started pouring. I passed the Waubay National Wildlife Refuge and Aberdeen and then I was engulfed in both fog and rain. After Harford Beach State Park, I arrived in Sisseton, population 2,470.

Here, I stopped into the Joseph N. Nicollet Tower and Interpretive Center. It was pretty miserable when I arrived. I learned about the French mapmaker Joseph Nicollet, who explored the Coteau Des Prairies in the 1830s, and the Dakota Indians in the film “Dakota Encounters.” The film told of the French mapmaker’s quest to map the triangular area between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in 1838 and 1839.

Joseph Nicholas Nicollet was born in 1786 in the alpine province of Savoy, France. His family was well established but had lost much when the French Revolutionary troops invaded Savoy in 1792. During the era of Napoleon, he was appointed professor and astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Paris where he soon made his reputation both in astronomy and what was then called “physical geography.”

In 1832, after his career was blocked by turbulent politics before the revolution of 1830, he suffered a loss of honors along with financial reverses. He sailed alone and penniless to the United States with the bold but unformed plan of mapping the great valley of the Mississippi River.

Although thirty years had passed since Lewis and Clark had reached the Pacific Ocean, the vast country beyond the Mississippi was still waiting to be mapped. When Nicollet arrived in Washington, he was sociable 46 years old, slight of build, and fond of music. With the support of the American Fur Company, he set off up the big river to Fort Snelling, Minnesota. From there, on July 29, 1836, he set out in a canoe, accompanied only by an Ojibway chief named Chagobay. He made computations at night and wrote poetically of his fondness for the Ojibway families. He spent the winter at Fort Snelling and recorded ceremonies to which no other white man had been admitted. He completed his map which corrected a serious error made by Zebulon Pike in 1805 that placed the mouth of the Crow Wing River too far to the west, making all western maps inaccurate.

On his return to Washington, he was appointed to lead the newly formed Corps of Topographical Engineers in an expedition to map the land between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. He went on July 9, 1838, accompanied by John Charles Fremont as his assistant.

On July 11, 1839, Nicollet and Fremont set out on a second expedition from Fort Pierre (South Dakota) to Devils Lake (North Dakota). On September 11, 1839, Nicollet left the prairies with regret. Already an ill man, he died before his report to the Senate was published in 1843 (from a pamphlet at the Nicollet Tower & Interpretive Center).

I saw Nicollet’s large map and was shown our location on the Coteau des Prairies, a 2,000-foot-high plateau that rises above the prairie of South Dakota. Nicolett was the first mapmaker to show elevations and topography changes. He also showed great respect for the Native Americans he met on the expedition and his map included Native American names for rivers, lakes and other features that are still used today.

Joseph N. NIcollet’s map

Paintings by wildlife artist John S. Wilson depicted the expedition and Native Americans as described in Nicollet’s journals.

Joseph N. Nicollet by John S. Wilson

artwork by John S. Wilson

Native Americans by John S. Wilson

I climbed to the top of the 75-foot-tall Nicollet Tower while being pelted with rain and assaulted by wind. The fog didn’t afford a great view of the valley formed by glaciers centuries ago, nor was I able to see the three-state view of North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota. All I could see was the foggy Coteau des Prairies.

views of the Coteau des Prairies from Nicollet Tower

I had picked up a salad with turkey breast and hard boiled eggs at a travel center and I ate some of it there in the parking lot and the rest on the road to Fargo.

At 1:10, I passed the Continental Divide, and by 1:30, I was welcomed to North Dakota. The speed limit changed to 75 mph. A sign said: BULLYING HURTS. STAND UP. SPEAK OUT. Exit 48 led to Kindred. At 2:37, I arrived in Fargo, where C’mon Inn beckoned from the roadside.

********

It was still pouring when I arrived at Bonanzaville, a pioneer village and museum in West Fargo. Bonanzaville is named for the large and well-capitalized Bonanza farms that were built by early railroad boosters as a way to attract settlers to this “Slice of Eden in the West.” Settlers followed with their plows and dreams. Between 1879 and 1886, about 100,000 people, many of them Scandinavians and Germans, came to live in the Dakota Territory. This was known as the Dakota Boom. Several Bonanza farms endured to the early 20th century.

It was a $10 admission fee to see 12 acres, 40 historic buildings, and 400,000 artifacts. The museum explored the history of the Red River Valley, from Native Americans and the first pioneers through the modernization of America.

There were exhibits about the great fire in Fargo and pioneer life. There was a Zenith Wincharger Generator. I found information about the Homestead Act and a Prairie Schooner.

First Peoples: Native American Life and Culture

Bonanza Farms Exhibit

Standard Oil Company

Bonanza Farms Exhibit

Rusk Auto Exhibit

Main Street Exhibit

Indian with Peace Pipe

Fargo Fire Department

Fargo Fire Exhibit

Main Street Exhibit

Each building in the reconstructed town had its own story.

Bonanzaville, Fargo, ND

The UR Next Barbershop was built in 1900 in Buffalo, ND.

U R Next Barber Shop

In The Hunter Times, there were some war-related headlines. Originally from Hunter, ND, the newspaper flourished until the 1940s. Among the machinery on display here is a strip casting machine, hand-operated press, flatbed press, and linotype machine.

The Hunter Times

headlines at The Hunter Times

inside The Hunter Times

Fargo’s First House was very rustic. The first permanent house in the Fargo area was built by immigrants in 1869. It has also served as a jail, hotel, and home.

Fargo’s First House

inside Fargo’s First House

The Checkered Years Home is from a bonanza farm.

Checkered Years Home

The Furnberg Store was built in the late 1800s near the train stop at Osgood, ND. The store provided settlers with necessary supplies and also served as a post office. The store closed in 1953 after nearly 75 years in business.

Furnberg Store

The South Pleasant Lutheran Church was built in 1890 and held services until it closed in 2013.

South Pleasant Church

South Pleasant Church

Habberstad Cabin was built by a group of Finnish settlers in 1874.

Habberstad Log Cabin

The Land Office Bank is a replica of a Cogswell, ND building. The land office was where hopeful new land seekers would file their plots and after proving up their land would receive titles to their property.

Land Office Bank

The Hagen House was built in 1897. Four generations lived here without electricity or indoor plumbing. A summer kitchen in located behind the house.

Hagen House

I stopped into the Arthur Town Hall (a movie house) and and old Coca-Cola machine. The town hall was built in the 1890s at a cost of $1,000. It held plays, meetings, graduations, and movies.

Arthur Town Hall

movie posters

The Trangsrud House was built in 1882 in rural Kindred. All the furnishings are original to the Trangsrud family.

Trangsrud House

The Pioneer Fire Company was built by area firefighters as a replica of an 1890s station. It contains several hand pulled carts, one of the original horse drawn wagons of the Fargo Fire Department, and replicated living quarters upstairs.

Pioneer Fire Company

In the Horse Drawn Vehicle Building, I saw buggies, wagons, drays, hitches, grain binders, and a replica Wells Fargo stagecoach. I saw horse-drawn vehicles for U.S. Mail, Standard Oil Co., Acme Dairy, Oak Mound School District 78, and a horse-drawn hearse from a funeral home in Davenport, ND.

Horse Drawn Vehicles

U.S. Mail – Horse Drawn Vehicles

Standard Oil Company – Horse Drawn Vehicles

Ice – Horse Drawn Vehicles

Acme Dairy – Horse Drawn Vehicles

stagecoach

hearse – Horse Drawn Vehicles

Melroe Tractor Building is named for Les Melroe, founder of Melroe Manufacturing which became Bobcat. It features many manufacturers including Cast, John Deere, and McCormick.

Melroe Tractor Building

In the Moum Agriculture Museum were tractors, farm machinery, the world’s largest bulldozer, and the first Steiger tractors ever built.

Moum Agriculture Museum

All information from Bonanzaville comes from signs and a pamphlet distributed by the Cass County Historical Society.

It was pouring rain by the time I left and I was cold and soaked through. I was happy to check in at the Kelly Inn.

After I rested and dried off, I had dinner at Granite Point: Down Home Chicken and Biscuits: boneless chicken breast buttermilk-brined, hand breaded and fried crispy. Served with garlic mashed potatoes and a buttered biscuit smothered with house-made sausage gravy. I ate half and saved the rest for lunch the next day.

I also had an “Unseriously Good Beer”: Gold Fever – a Belgian strong ale (fruity, spicy and strong).

Every night while I was traveling, I talked to Mike by phone. My sister-in-law had just had a knee replacement and was staying overnight at Washington Hospital Center. Mike and our son went to visit her, and it sounded like they had a grand time.

Here is my journal page for this day.

journal spread from September 9, 2019

*Drove 171.1 miles. Steps: 8,523, or 3.61 miles*

*Monday, September 9, 2019*

brookings to watertown, south dakota

wanderessence1025 September 13, 2020

It was raining and a chilly 56°F when I left the Ingalls Homestead at 1:00. I drove past more lakes and wetlands for 38 miles on 14E, while the Mama Mia! cast sang of having a dream and pushing through darkness for another mile. I passed Lake Sinai and then arrived in Brookings, population 22,943.

I went through the Subway drive-through to pick up a late lunch; it took forever, but a girl needed to eat. 🙂

Brookings is home to South Dakota State University; the South Dakota Art Museum is a small but beautiful museum on the campus. On this day, there were four stunning exhibits.

The first exhibit was Harvey Dunn (1884-1952). Dunn was an American painter and teacher.He was born near Manchester, South Dakota, on March 8, 1884. The son of homesteaders, he attended school in a one-room schoolhouse with his brother and sister and helped his parents with farming.

In 1901, Dunn began studying art at South Dakota Agricultural College (Now South Dakota State University). After a year, he enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which he attended from 1902 to 1904; there he met the famous illustrator Howard Pyle, who became his mentor from 1904 to 1906. He became a commercial illustrator and during World War I, he was chosen by the American Expeditionary Forces to document and illustrate the war for purposes of propaganda, recruitment and public education. After he returned from the war, his interest in commercial illustration declined.

Beginning in 1925, Dunn started making regular treks back to South Dakota from where he was living in New Jersey. It was during this period, from 1925 to 1950, that he created the bulk of what would become known as his prairie pioneer paintings.

He is best known for his prairie-intimate masterpiece, The Prairie is My Garden. In this painting, a mother and her two children are out gathering flowers from the quintessential prairie of the Great Plains.

The Prairie is My Garden 1950 by Harvey Dunn

The exhibit celebrated the artist’s desire to fully, deeply and sensitively render truths about humanity through his depiction of others. He emphasized the importance of empathy. I loved the amazing paintings The Prairie Is My Garden (1950), After School, After the Blizzard, and Jedediah Smith in the Badlands. The captivating paintings depicted people and nature fluid in their interactions.

After School, 1950 by Harvey Dunn

After the Blizzard, n.d. by Harvey Dunn

Jedediah Smith in the Badlands, 1947, by Harvey Dunn

Motherhood, 1927, by Harvey Dunn

The Return, n.d., by Harvey Dunn

Battleground (The Refugee), 1920 by Harvey Dunn

untitled (Lost in Desert, vultures gathering), 1935, by Harvey Dunn

Injuns, 1943, by Harvey Dunn

The Abandoned Farm, n.d. by Harvey Dunn

May Street, 1922 by Harvey Dunn

Another exhibit was on Afghan War Rugs: the modern art of Central Asia. Women wove rugs into rich pictorial images that recount a broader and more contemporary story of their land.

Purchased throughout Central Asia and Europe, the over 40 rugs in this collection were selected for their exceptional quality, rarity, and surprising content.

Western interest in rugs and carpets from Afghanistan grew in the 19th century and has continued largely unabated despite civil wars, Soviet intervention, and foreign attempts to mitigate war. But war rugs – rugs with armaments or examples of modernity – are the latest artistic iteration in a long history of traditional hand-woven works from Central Asia. Ethnic communities such as the Baluch, Turkmen, and Hazara teach us about Afghanistan, its history and politics, foreign involvement in the country, and evolution of design in rugs and carpets.

War rugs are unique to Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, to which many weavers fled following foreign invasions and civil war. Some feature maps, portraits of military heroes, monuments or cityscapes, but the most avidly collected examples showcase weaponry and armaments. Machine guns, assault rifles, bombs, mines, tanks, war planes, and drones figure prominently. War rugs produced after 1979 derive their imagery from television broadcasts, propaganda posters, and first-hand observation of a country under siege (from a plaque at the exhibit).

Rug with the Minaret of Jam acquired in Peshawar (Pakistan), 1991

Cityscape Rug, Acquired in Kabul (Afghanistan), late 1970s

Rug with Map of Afghanistan, Acquired in Peshawar (Pakistan), 2006

Rug with Map of Afghanistan, Acquired in Peshawar (Pakistan), 2007

Another fascinating exhibit was A Life’s Work: Paul Goble (1933-2017) Illustrations of American Indian Stories. Paul Goble was born in England in 1933. He grew up in a family where art and literature were valued and encouraged. He grew up with a deep fascination for the indigenous people of North America. As a young man, he made several visits to the U.S. to spend time on reservations in South Dakota and Montana. Goble moved to America permanently in 1977 and became an American citizen in 1984. He died in the Black Hills of South Dakota in 2017.

Throughout his career, Goble won countless awards for his writing and artwork. In 1979, he received the Caldecott Medal, which is one of the most prestigious awards in all of children’s literature. His Caldecott winner, the illustrated children’s book The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, is just one of over 40 books in a career extending back to his first title, Red Hawk’s Acocunt of Custer’s Last Battle, published in 1969. Throughout his career, Goble focused on Plains American Indian history and retellings of traditional American Indian stories.

Paul Goble has given his original paintings to the South Dakota Art Muusem. The art displayed was from his different books and different stages of his career.

He and his wife, Janet, live in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Illustration from The Legend of the White Buffalo Woman, 1998 by Paul Goble

Illustration from The Return of the Buffaloes, 1996, by Paul Goble

Illlustration from Iktomi and the Buzzard, 1994 by Paul Goble

Paul Goble

Paul Goble

Paul Goble

Illustration from Her Seven Brothers, 1988 by Paul Goble

Illustration from Star Boy, 1983 by Paul Goble

Illustration from The Great Race, 1985 by Paul Goble

Illustration from Buffalo Woman, 1984 by Paul Goble

S.D. Nelson: Sharing My Vision (1950 – ) shows the artist’s fluid style and traditional Native American imagery, which combines movement, color, and form into a visual celebration of life.

Nelson’s artwork appears in books, greeting cards, and CD covers. He has served as the author and illustrator for 11 children’s books. His books have received the American Indian Library Association Honor Book Award in 2016, and many other awards. He has lectured at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Nelson is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe of North and South Dakota. His paintings offer a fresh contemporary interpretation of traditional Lakota images.

S.D. Nelson

Dancing Beneath the Stars by S.D. Nelson (Illustration from The Star People: A Lakota Story, 2003)

The Tree of Life by S.D. Nelson (Illustration from Black Elk’s Vision: A Lakota Story, 2010)

Cover Design by S.D. Nelson (llustration from Spider Spins a Story: Fourteen Legends from Native America, 2007)

Lakota Emergence by S.D. Nelson

S.D. Nelson

Beyond the Many Stars by S.D. Nelson

sketch by S.D. Nelson

S.D. Nelson

The Battle of the Little Bighorn by S.D. Nelson (Illustration from Black Elk’s Vision: A Lakota Story, 2010)

Buffalo Brother by S.D. Nelson (Illustration from Gift Horse: A Lakota story, 1999)

Last, I stopped in at the South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum, also on the campus. It is dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of South Dakota’s agricultural history and rural heritage. There I found giant harvesters, tractors, and displays of engines. It showed the evolution of farming technology. I still didn’t understand how all this equipment was used in farming, but it certainly was an impressive collection.

South Dakota Agricultural Heritage Museum

I got on 29N, once again in the midst of cornfields. I got behind a wide load and couldn’t pass. I arrived in Watertown, population 21,482, at 4:20. I checked in at the Quality Inn & Suites Watertown.

I ran out for an early dinner at Dempsey’s Brewery Pub & Restaurant. I had French onion soup that was too salty, a Blue Moon, and a side house salad. The food was mediocre.

Dempsey’s Brewery Pub & Restaurant

Here is my journal spread for this day.

journal spread for September 8, 2019

Information from the exhibits at the South Dakota Art Museum is from plaques and brochures created by the museum.

*Drove 246.3 miles; Steps: 8,791, or 3.73 miles*

*Sunday, September 8, 2019*

umbria: civita di bagnoregio & on to fiumicino

wanderessence1025 September 10, 2020

We left Orvieto late this morning, at 10:35, because we just couldn’t wake up! We felt discouraged because we knew rain was forecast for much of the day, and today was our last day in Italy. I think we were getting travel weary. I had been on the road since April 4, when I’d left for Morocco.

We ate breakfast in the Hotel Duomo: cappucino, blood orange juice, boiled egg, salami, and toast with blueberry jam.

Parts of our drive to Civita di Bagnoregio looked similar to the countryside west of where we live in Northern Virginia. We passed a beekeeping place with signs for Miele – Honey.

on the drive to Civita di Bagnoregio

At Civita di Bagnoregio, we encountered the worst possible thing you can encounter when traveling: fog. Fog has ruined many a vacation for me, and it seems this happens in some of the most scenic places. We stopped at a cozy cafe, hoping that the fog would clear. It never did.

a coffee break while hoping for the fog to clear

The 2,500-year-old village of Civita di Bagnoregio is a town about 120 kilometers (75 mi) north of Rome. Civita is one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, famously known as ‘the dying city.’ It perches on a pinnacle in a huge canyon. No traffic is allowed, and it is connected to the world via a long pedestrian bridge.

The town is noted for its striking position on top of a plateau of crumbling volcanic tuff, or volcanic ash, overlooking the Tiber river valley. It is in constant danger of destruction as the edges of the plateau collapse due to erosion, leaving the buildings to crumble as their underlying support falls away. As of 2004, there were plans to reinforce the plateau with steel rods to prevent further geological damage (Wikipedia).

Civita di Bagnoregio in the fog

Civita’s history goes back to the Etruscan and ancient Roman times. In the Middle Ages, Civita had a population of about 4,000. Following a 1695 earthquake, many of the residents left as they feared their houses would collapse into the valley below. Apparently the population today is only 11 hardy citizens. Civita’s architecture is still stuck in the Middle Ages.

the valley at Civita

We crossed the pedestrian bridge and entered the village through Porta Santa Maria, a 12th-century Romanesque arch. This was cut by the Etruscans 2,500 years ago, when the town was a stop on an ancient trading route.

pedestrian bridge to Civita di Bagnoregio

the walls of the town

the valley around Civita

Porta Santa Maria

The town church faces Civita’s main piazza. The church, with its campanile (bell tower), marks the spot where an Etruscan temple, and then a Roman temple, once stood. A cathedral until 1699, the church houses records of about 60 bishops dating back to the 17th century. Inside are Romanesque columns and arches in Baroque-era whitewash.

town church of Civita

inside the town church of Civita

Leaving the church, we walked to the edge of town, passing eateries, olive presses, gardens, a rustic town museum, and valley views. According to Rick Steves: Best of Italy, “the rock below Civita is honeycombed with ancient tunnels, caverns (housing olive presses), cellars (for keeping wine at a constant temperature all year), and cisterns (for collecting rainwater, since there was no well in town). Many date from Etruscan times.”

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

Civita

We left Civita close to 1:00 and drove the rest of the way to Rome. We checked in at the Fiumicino Airport B&B Delux in Fiumicino, close to the airport, and then walked around the town, which ran along a waterway. We stopped into a restaurant for dinner.

restaurant in Fiumicino

trout and potatoes

Back at our Airbnb, as we prepared for our early morning flight home, we got a text from our youngest son (26) who had been struggling mightily. (His struggles have been perpetual). He asked if he could come home to live with us. He said he wanted to go to Massage Therapy School and get his life on track. We debated as to whether we should allow this as we had given him limitless opportunities to get his life on track, and he had let us, and himself, down every time. He had perfected the art of quitting everything meaningful he’d ever undertaken except for things that harmed him.

After much debate, we said we would allow it, but only under certain conditions. We made a long list of our requirements for him to move back in, and we sent it to him, telling him he would have to agree to meet our conditions in order to move back home. He agreed to the conditions, but I seriously doubted he would meet any of them.

*Thursday, May 9, 2019*

sioux falls to mitchell corn palace to the ingalls home

wanderessence1025 September 8, 2020

During my breakfast in Sioux Falls of egg, sausages, mandarin orange and banana, the talking head on AG TV said, “Grassland is a natural resource: it’s good for carbon capture and erosion prevention.” I had wondered about all the grassland I’d been seeing, whether it would eventually be converted to crops, but apparently it has a value of its own.

At 8:07, as I got underway, it was 57°F. A sign for the World’s Only Corn Palace at Exit 332 told me I was on the right track. Soon there was nothing but rain in all directions. I took I-29N to I-90W, passing signs for 1880 Cowboy Town, Buffalo Ridge, Humboldt Bar and Sunshine Foods. A damp ozone smell hung in the air. I passed The Tumbleweed, Prairie Village, and the Vermillion River.

Along the road, I saw a rusty metal horse and a huge longhorn steer head. These were part of Porter Sculpture Park, a collection of over 50 welded metal sculptures, the vision of artist and farmer Wayne Porter. They are comprised of old scrap metal and disused agricultural and railroad equipment.

Then the signs began, especially the ones for Wall Drug, which lay further west along I-90W. I wouldn’t be heading there just yet. SOLD FOR SEX: IT HAPPENS HERE. WALL DRUG, AS TOLD BY GOOD MORNING AMERICA. FREE ICE WATER: WALL DRUG.

Wetlands abounded. The bones of an old teepee structure identified a rest area, where I stopped for a break.

STOCK UP ON CORNY SOUVENIRS. HOME OF LAURA INGALLS WILDER. DE SMET EXIT 350. WESTERN BRONZE DISPLAYS: WALL DRUG. LEATHER GOODS: WALL DRUG.

There were signs for The Tumbleweed. Emery. Farmer. Double T Leather. Cattleman’s Club. Fatima Family Shrine in Alexandria. Second Impression Palace: Antiques. RUN WILD: WALL DRUG. “Suddenly it’s like new” – Dick’s Body Shop.

Cattle grazed placidly along the highway. The Kongo Klub advertised itself as a Gentleman’s Club. I passed the Twin Dragon Chinese Restaurant and then crossed the James River, taking 37S to Mitchell, South Dakota.

******

I arrived at the World’s Only Corn Palace by 9:20. The 2018-2019 theme was “Salute to Military.” The World’s Only Corn Palace is decorated each year with thousands of bushels of corns, grains and native grasses.

The World’s Only Corn Palace 2018 Salute to Military 2019

The World’s Only Corn Palace

While much of the Midwest suffered from drought in 1887, Sioux City, Iowa looked like a green oasis in the middle of the desert. Abundant rainfall had produced excellent crops for over a decade. The city was the third largest meatpacking center in America with over 30,000 inhabitants. To celebrate their prosperity, citizens conceived the idea of a corn palace. In August 1887, the Sioux City Daily Journal noted, “St. Paul and Montreal have their ice palaces, which melt at the first approach of spring, but Sioux City is going to build a palace of the product of the soil that is making it the great pork-packing center of the northwest.”

From the 1880s to the 1930s, at least 34 “prairie palaces” sprang up in 24 towns across the Midwest. Entrepreneurs pummeled the newspapers with exaggerated claims of life on the prairie. Communities sprang up along railroad lines and experimented with the artistic nuances of grasses and grains while celebrating what was essential to their livelihoods. These palaces brought attention to the unique promise of each locale. However, only one prairie palace has endured – the “World’s Only Corn Palace” in Mitchell (from a plaque at the Corn Palace).

In 1892, Mitchell had less than 3,000 inhabitants. It had dirt roads, wooden sidewalks and gas lamps. The Corn Belt Real Estate Association, a multi-county organization, wanted to promote further settlement in the region and envisioned a harvest fall festinal. The demise of the Sioux City Corn Palaces in Iowa presented inspiration and opportunity.

On September 28, 1892, the first Corn Belt Exposition opened. Special trains brought potential land buyers at reduced fares. The Iowa State Boys Band provided music and the sixteen counties provided agricultural exhibits. The exposition attracted attention to Mitchell, the Corn Belt and the state. Remarkably the organizers profited despite the dismal economic climate.

The World’s Only Corn Palace was built in 1892 and was designed as a Moorish Revival Building: “supersized seed art meets the Taj Mahal of the Great Plains,” is how it is described in The Dakotas Off the Beaten Path: A Guide to Unique Places.

Its debut occurred with Mitchell’s first Corn Belt Exposition. At that time, Aberdeen had the Grain Palace and Rapid City had an Alfalfa Palace, and more than twenty other towns also had palaces, but only the Mitchell Corn Palace survived.

Inside was a showcase of Oscar Howe (1915-1983), one of South Dakota’s most revered artists. He was born on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in South Dakota and was a full-blooded member of the Yankonai Sioux of the Dakota Nation. Having developed a skin condition as a youngster, Oscar became a recluse to avoid those who would tease him, but he found enjoyment in drawing. He was a graduate of Dakota Wesleyan University. Oscar Howe drew many of the panels for the murals over the years, from the 1948 Indian Theme to the 1971 Mother Goose Rhymes.

Oscar Howe’s panel drawings

Inside the Corn Palace I found a decade-by-decade history of political and social events and themes of the Corn Palace. There were also photos of the Corn Palace throughout the years.

photos of the Corn Palace through the years

Farmers plant twelve different colors of corn for the murals. To decorate the palace requires 275,000 ears sliced in half and nailed to the Corn Palace Walls. The murals are “accented with other locally grown grains and grasses that include: bundles of ryegrass and sour dock, bromegrass and bluegrass, wild oats, rye, straw and wheat,” according to The Dakotas Off the Beaten Path.

Local pigeons and squirrels begin to devour the murals after Corn Palace Week in late August.

details of panels Mitchell Corn Palace

details of panels Mitchell Corn Palace

details of panels Mitchell Corn Palace

The Corn Palace also serves as a multi-use center for the community and the region with stage shows as well as sporting events. It is home to the Dakota Wesleyan University Tigers and the Mitchell High School Kernels basketball teams.

inside The World’s Only Corn Palace

tractor display at the The World’s Only Corn Palace

corncob columns inside The World’s Only Corn Palace

The World’s Only Corn Palace

Inside can be found corn ceramics, corn husk dolls, and other corn-related items.

corn ceramics

In the Gift Shop, I bought some Tree of Life earrings, a magnet, and postcards. Across the street from the Corn Palace was Valtiroty Shiloh’s Tabernacle, which was said to include a Bible Land walk-thru, a Hebrew Tabernacle model, a tableaux from the 12 tribes of Israel, and a jungle room for the kids. I didn’t go inside.

Valtiroty

I was on my way to visit Laura Ingalls Wilder.

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On 37N, I passed Lake Mitchell and finally the rain had let up, although the skies were still low, gray and woolly. I passed a lot of lakes, waterways, gently rolling terrain and cornfields. Greenfield was dotted with hay bales. Hank Snow sang “I’ve Been Everywhere.”

Soon the land had flattened out and I found corn, tumbledown barns, and more ponds, lakes and wetlands around the James River. I was welcomed to Artesian. I wondered how people have so many interesting ideas and organize and put them into action. I listened to Mama Mia! as I drove through more cornfields and muddy land. I passed Fedora and the Kieffer Oil Company. Now that I was heading east, the rain picked up. A dead skunk lay in the road and a stench effervesced around him like a halo.

Giant silos rose up out of the landscape ahead. I felt like I was approaching Oz in The Wizard of Oz. In Howard, I stopped for gas and some Cool Ranch Doritos. As I headed on 25N, sheep with black tails and black feet stared at me. At Lake Carthage, cows and corn dotted the land. A sign informed me that INTO THE WILD WAS FILMED IN THIS AREA. I found that hard to believe. The Mama Mia! characters were singing “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! a man after midnight,” someone to “chase the shadows away.” White cows lay resting in a field.

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I arrived in “De Smet: Little Town on the Prairie (pop. 1,082)” at 11:30. I visited the Ingalls Home & Museum, which bills itself as the real setting for Little House on the Prairie. As it was Sunday, the main house and museum were closed, but I walked around the grounds.

Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) moved here as a child in 1879 and this prairie town figured prominently in six of her pioneer adventure books.

The Surveyor’s House is the oldest building in De Smet, built a year before there was even a town. It was built around 1879 as a railroad company house. It originally stood on the north shore of Silver Lake until it was moved to town in 1884.

According to Pa’s journal, the Ingalls family moved in to this house on December 1, 1879. The family spent their first winter here, the house often serving as a hotel for the many homesteaders coming through the area. Laura wrote of the many experiences of that first winter in her book, By the Shores of Silver Lake.

Railroad Surveyor’s Shanty

The first school of De Smet was built in 1880 by the citizens. They not only furnished the materials but actually did the work. Laura Ingalls Wilder attended this school as a child.

Laura’s childhood schoolhouse

Laura taught her first term of school at a very young age (just under 16). The Brewster School was located twelve miles southwest of De Smet and proved to be a trying experience for Laura. She lived with the Brewster family and one night awoke to find Mrs. Brewster threatening her husband with a knife.

Some of her students were older and taller than she was, and she had to sleep away from home for the first time. Laura was miserable, but every Friday, no matter what the weather, Almanzo Wilder arrived to take Laura home to her family for the weekend. Laura was determined to finish the term of teaching as the money she earned would help send Mary to the college for the blind in Iowa.

On the grounds was a replica of Brewster School.

Brewster School

The final house Pa built for the family in 1887 after giving up the homestead now serves as the museum in the complex, but it was closed.

Ingalls home after 1897

This prairie schooner is a typical wagon that pioneers would have used in the late 1800s. Oxen were the most reliable draft animals to pull pioneer wagons. They could survive well on poor grass, were less expensive than horse and their strength was welcomed when it came time to pull the plow through the dense prairie sod on the newly acquired homestead. Once on the road, the wagon might travel 15-20 miles per day. A team of horses pulled the Ingalls family across the prairie.

This was a “barn find” in Iowa and was restored by the Hansen Wheel and Wagon Shop in Lechter, SD. Based on the wagon’s wear and tear, it was most likely used for only about 10 years, leaving it in good condition for its age.

The public bathrooms said MA and PA and, stupidly, I thought it was an abbreviation for Maryland and Pennsylvania until I saw that Wilder called her parents Ma and Pa. Sometimes I don’t have a lick of sense! 🙂 Obviously, I never read the Little House on the Prairie books! 🙂

*******

The Ingalls Homestead is the actual land the Ingalls homesteaded in 1880. I looked through the cute shop at the Little House on the Prairie books and thought I’d surely buy the set and read it to any granddaughter I ever have, but at this point I wonder if I’ll ever have any grandchildren.

bookstore at Ingalls Homestead

books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I enjoyed a bird’s eye view from the lookout tower.

birds eye view of Ingalls Homestead

I saw the hay roof barn and Ma’s little house – a reconstruction of the Ingalls’ claim shanty built by Charles Ingalls in the spring of 1880. He got the land under the Homestead Act.

According to Homestead National Monument of America, which I would visit later in my trip, The Homestead Act was signed into law in 1862 by Abraham Lincoln.

This Act turned over vast amounts of the public domain to private citizens. 270 millions acres, or 10% of the area of the United States was claimed and settled under this act.

A homesteader had only to be the head of a household or at least 21 years of age to claim a 160 acre parcel of land. Settlers from all walks of life including newly arrived immigrants, farmers without land of their own from the East, single women and formerly enslaved people worked to meet the challenge of “proving up” and keeping this “free land”. Each homesteader had to live on the land, build a home, make improvements and farm for 5 years before they were eligible to “prove up”. A total filing fee of $18 was the only money required, but sacrifice and hard work exacted a different price from the hopeful settlers.

Charles Ingalls built a 16’x24′ hayroof barn into the hillside west of the claim shanty. He specified the dimensions and the hayroof in his homestead proof papers. The Ingalls family often referred to it as a stable.

The hayroof barn sheltered the horses, Sam and David, the cow, Ellen, and the chickens Ma received from Mrs. Boast.

A manure spreader is a farm implement that distributes manure over a field as fertilizer. Manure spreaders like the one here are ground-driven, meaning that as the wheels turn they power the chain and beaters, which move the manure through the wagon.

hay roof barn

inside the hay roof barn

manure spreader

Ma’s Little House

the washroom

Ma’s Little House

Inside Ma’s Little House

inside Ma’s Little House

A wildflower display showed typical prairie flowers, such as Wild Bergamot, or beebalm, purple and white Prairieclover, Showy Partridgepea, Compass Plant, Pitcher Sage (Blue Sage), and Black-eyed Susan, New England Aster, Plains Coreopsis, Dwarf Red Coreopsis, Greyhead Coneflower, and Butterfly Milkweed.

The livestock barn sat on the grounds.

wildflower display and livestock barn

windmill

livestock barn

livestock

I walked around Flindt’s Garage, and through the cornfield and native grass prairie to the West Bethany Church, built in 1905. The church was originally located 10 miles from the Ingalls homestead. Pa Ingalls met all the requirements necessary to make a claim to the land: he had to build ta home, farm a certain number of acres, etc.

The Native Grass Prairie consisted of Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Western Wheat, Side Oats Grama, Blue Grama, and Green Needle Grasses.

The Ingalls farm is on the western edge of the tallgrass prairie region.

Flindt’s Garage

inside Flindt’s Garage

cornfield

grasslands

path to West Bethany Church

grassland

path to West Bethany Church

West Bethany Church

corn

corn and Flindt’s Garage

I walked back across the homestead and made my way past the native grass prairie, the ten acres of cropland (corn, oats and wheat), past the livestock barn and the wildflower display.

Ma’s Little House

wildflower display

Ma’s Little House

I stopped into Laura’s Travel Exhibit, which tells about the covered wagon travels of the Ingalls family across the Midwest.

Laura’s Travel Exhibit

carriage

Laura’s Travel Exhibit

The Ingalls Family

Prairie Heroes

Wagon

By this time, it had started raining more heavily, so I hopped in my car and was on my way to Brookings, South Dakota.

*Sunday, September 8, 2019*

orvieto in southern umbria

wanderessence1025 September 6, 2020

After leaving Spoleto, we drove south and west through mountain passes, arriving in Orvieto, in Southern Umbria, around 3:15. We checked into the annex at the Hotel Duomo, handing over our car to valet parking. It was cold and rainy upon our arrival.

Our hotel was right next to the Duomo di Orvieto, so that’s where we started our walk. The Gothic cathedral, dating to 1290, boasts a black-and-white banded exterior fronted by a breathtaking facade with an exquisite display of rainbow frescoes, jewel-like mosaics, bas-reliefs, and delicate braids of flowers and vines. The bas-relief panels between doorways tell the story of the Creation and the Last Judgment.

The building took 30 years to plan and three centuries to complete. It was started by Fra Bevignate and later additions were made by Sienese master Lorenzo Maitani (c. 1275-1330), Andrea Pisano (of Florence Cathedral fame) and his son Nino Pisano, Andrea Oreagna and Michele Sanmicheli (Lonely Planet Italy).

Duomo di Orvieto

Duomo di Orvieto

bas-reliefs at Duomo di Orvieto

more bas-reliefs

interior of Duomo di Orvieto

Duomo di Orvieto

shop in Orvieto

From the Piazza Duomo, we headed northwest along Via del Duomo to Corso Cavour and climbed up 250 steps in the 13th century Torre Del Morro, or Tower of the Moor, where we had sweeping views of the town.

At the end of the thirteenth century, the medieval Commune of Orvieto was at the height of its economic power and political stability. Public buildings became symbols of this authority: the original Town Hall was restored and the Palazzo del Popolo and the Cathedral were built. Extant buildings were restructured, forming a new urban layout with at its fulcrum the Palazzo dei Sette and the Tower known of as del Papa. From the top of the Tower, 47 meters high and almost perfectly oriented to the four cardinal points, the eye could sweep over the “contado” with its rural parishes, its hamlets, and its many castles and over the vast territory subject to the city of Orvieto. To the west, it stretched all the way to the sea.

In the 16th century, the name of the tower appeared as “del Moro,” probably after Raffaele di Sante known as il Moro. In 1865, the reservoir for distributing water from the new aqueduct was installed in the tower at a height of 18 meters. After restoration in 1866, the mechanical clock was set up and the two municipal bells were hoisted to the top.

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

views of Orvieto from Torre Del Morro

We strolled through the town, admiring the ancient buildings and trying our best to keep warm.

Orvieto

butcher market in Orvieto

Orvieto

We stopped to visit Pozzo della Cava, or Well of the Quarry, the short version of the “Città sotterranea,” or the Orvieto Underground, a labyrinth of caves and tunnels hidden in the dark cliff.

The Etruscans were the first to settle here, digging a honeycombed network of wells and storage caves out of the soft volcanic stone known as tufa. The Romans attacked and destroyed the city in 283 B.C.; since then it has transformed into a charming maze of alleys and squares, all built from the tufa that was removed and used as building blocks, or ground into pozzolana, which was made into mortar.

Over the past 3,000 years, those who lived on top of this high plateau dug a huge number of cavities into the soft volcanic rock on which Orvieto stood. The series of 440 caves, cisterns, secret passageways, storage areas, and cavities (out of 1200 in the system) that overlap and intersect beneath the streets and buildings of the modern town have been unearthed. This reservoir of historical and archaeological information found in these underground structures showed that locals used the the caves over millennia for various purposes, including WWII bomb shelters, refrigerators, wine storage, wells, and as dovecotes to trap pigeons for dinner. Some caves were used to ferment the Trebbiano grapes used in making the region’s popular white wine, Orvieto Classico.

At times the subterranean path runs parallel to the cliff wall, and panoramic openings let in the light, revealing an endless succession of tunnels, stairs, unexpected passageways, and superimposed rooms with innumerable small square niches.

Orvieto Underground

out back at the Orvieto Underground

We then walked ever upward to the highest point in the town for views off the cliff into the valley below.

Orvieto

view of Orvieto