Some More National Parks Cards

A few months ago I highlighted some trading cards I found at Ocmulgee National Monument in Georgia and while my parents were on vacation in New Mexico my Dad found another set of cards from the Fort Union National Monument. Fort Union dates back to 1851 and was located on the Santa Fe Trail near modern day Las Vegas.

The New Mexico Volunteers were based out of Fort Union and took part in a few Civil War battles against the Confederates.

 

Around the Fort you can still see many long portions of the Santa Fe Trail.  

 

This is Francisco Chaves who was a lieutenant colonel who  commanded the New Mexico Volunteers against the Confederates at the Battle of Valverde.

 A view of Fort Union from above and as you can see it's the only civilization for miles and miles.

This is Manuel Chavez  who led the Union to a victory over the Confederates at the Battle of Glorieta which stopped the South from creating a gateway to California through New Mexico.

If Those Are Just The Tires, Imagine What They Are Attached To

I've driven past giant windmill propellers in Iowa and I've seen a house or two make their way down the highway headed for a new foundation somewhere but I don't think I've ever seen tires requiring their own separate over-sized load semi. Which begs the question if these are just the tires, what are they going to be attached to?

Savannah And Forrest Gump

If there is one thing that Savannah is known for in contemporary pop culture it is that the city and its famous squares were featured in the park bench scenes in Forrest Gump.  As you can see from the opening scene clip it follows a feather as it floats along in the sky passing by a few of Savannah's buildings. Most notably it passes by the Independent Presbyterian Church and lands near a bench on Chippewa Square.

The famous bench that Tom Hanks sat on has since been moved to a Savannah visitor's center that you can tour. Today there's just an empty spot that people stop and take a photo of each day for no obvious reason.

Here's a photo of the filming of the first shot of the film. You can see the trees behind Hanks match up with the photograph above. 

Monterey Square In Savannah, GA

Savannah, GA was famously designed with many neighborhood squares by Georgia founder James Oglethorpe. Initially there were four squares which eventually expanded into 24 squares as the city continued to expand. One of the most famous squares today is Monterey Square and we made a point to take a closer look.

As I mentioned in my last post, Polish Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski died from the wounds he received during the Siege of Savannah and Monterey Square has a large pillar in his honor in the middle of the square.

In 2001 the pillar was restored after it started to show its deterioration in the 1990's. 

Monterey Square takes its name from the 1846 Battle of Monterrey during the Mexican-American War which was won by future President Zachary Taylor.

In 1929 Congress made October 11th each year is Casimir Pulaski Day.

"Casimir Pulaski Day" is also the name of a great song by Sufjan Stevens.


As if the Pulaski monument wasn't enough, Monterey Square is also the home of the famous Mercer House. Built by the Great-Grandfather of famous songwriter Johnny Mercer it was the setting of the famous murder that inspired the book Midnight in the Garden Of Good and Evil.

Famously, Savannah antiques dealer Jim Williams shot and killed Danny Hansford in his home under the chandelier that you can view from the sidewalk outside the house.

Williams was charged with murder and was tried four different times for the incident finally being found not guilty in 1989. The book follows the events of the trial and is famous for the descriptions of the odd Savannah citizens that live in the neighborhoods around the squares. 

Visiting Fort Pulaski

On the Atlantic coast just outside of Savannah you will find Fort Pulaski, once one of the strongest and most defensible military installations in the new United States.

When the Civil War began in 1860 there were only a few soldiers guarding the fort and it was easily seized by the State of Georgia. The Union took back the Fort in 1862 by using rifled cannons which allowed larger shells to be fired from a greater distance. The Union could plant their cannons on Tybee Island and fire on the fort without any danger of receiving fire back. The siege lasted 12 days and by the end it had made brick fortifications obsolete.

While we visited the fort the staff did a firing demonstrations of cannons that were rifled and not-rifled. You could tell by the sound just how much more powerful the rifled cannons were.

Here's the view of the Atlantic Ocean from the top of Fort Pulaski's ramparts. While we were there a huge tanker ship floated by from the Port of Savannah.

The fort of course is named after the Polish hero of the Revolutionary War, Casimir Pulaski, who was killed at the Battle of Savannah and I'll be sharing photos of the monument dedicated to him in Savannah in my next post.

The Pencil

My favorite building in downtown Atlanta is called the Pencil Building which is the nickname for the rather boringly named Bank of America Plaza.  It is the 10th tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in a state capital, and the tallest building that isn't standing in New York or Los Angeles. This is the view of The Pencil from the World of Coca-Cola museum.

Visiting The Coral Castle In Homestead, FL

When Laura and I were talking about what to visit when we were down in South Florida she suggested we stop in Homestead, FL and visit the Coral Castle. My initial reaction was "visit the what now?"

At the time I should have known but this castle made of coral had a Latvian connection. It turns out the Coral Castle was built by one man, Edward Leedskalnin, over the course of two decades.

He fell in love in Latvia but was left at the altar. Edward left Latvia for America and worked in the lumber industry before eventually buying land in Florida in 1919. Over the next several years he began carving huge sections of coral that would slowly turn into a castle constructed in the honor of his lost Latvian love. 

Admission to the castle was a dime initially and today it's $15. 

If you dig deep enough under the soil in South Florida and you will find coral.. We were told during our tour that the area around Homestead has never been able to be used for farming because of the coral base of the land.

Here is the view from one side of the castle to the other. The middle is filled with many monuments and even some tables and thrones carved out of coral.

There are many astrological symbols as well.

A fountain with the Latvian auseklis symbol in the middle. I know Laura, being fluent in Latvian, wanted to take control of the tour anytime our guide would say something about Latvian culture and sometimes incorrectly.

One of the more interesting pieces was a sun dial. 

And here's a view from outside the Castle at the back wall. You'll notice there is a door in the middle of the wall and that vertical piece was listed as weighing nine tons. You might wonder how a single man could maneuver such large pieces of coral into place and I can't finish a post on the Coral Castle without noting some of the mystery surrounding it. It's said that as Leedskalnin built it he would do so late at night and people rarely saw pieces moved into place. Remember this was in the 1920's and 30's and so large moving equipment simply didn't exist yet and whenever he would be asked to show his construction methods he would decline and say that he knew the secrets of construction that the people who built the Pyramids knew. That along with his thoughts on magnetism create a scenario in which The Coral Castle has become a destination for fans of the creepy and mystical.