Plant Hall at the University of Tampa

The domes and minarets of Plant Hall are the iconic architectural symbol of Tampa.  The building was completed in 1891 as The Tampa Bay Hotel.   I've only gotten glimpses of the place when driving by, and wanted to visit. 

The hotel was built by railroad tycoon Henry Plant when there wasn't much else in Tampa.  It was at the terminus of the western Florida railroad line.  There weren't many passable roads through the swamps of Florida in the 1880's.  The railroads would have been the first Dixie Highway in Florida.

The Victorian facade and portico are awe inspiring.  The Tampa Bay Hotel was open seasonally from December - April.  Famous people such as Sandra Berhardt, Clara Barton, Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders, and Babe Ruth visited the hotel.  It was the beginning of Florida's tourism industry.

The railroads created not only new winter retreats for the rich, but also created opportunities for the orange farmers to reach new markets.  The Port of Tampa grew from the connection of steamship to rail transport.  Local businesses flourished.

This fountain inscribed with the name Henry Bradley Plant is across the street from the main entrance facade.  You can see downtown Tampa in the background.

Henry Plant made his fortune in the North when as a railroad employee he saw an opportunity for express parcel service, which was nonexistent at the time.  He worked his way up to becoming a high profile executive.  After the Civil War he purchased bankrupt Southern railroads that were devastated by the war.  The restored railroad lines went to major cities of the South and connected them to the Northeast.  Florida was still a new frontier.

Fletcher Lounge is a large space used today by the University of Tampa as an auditorium.

Here's a detail of the dome inside Fletcher Lounge.

 

The large Victorian windows of Fletcher Lounge.

I climbed a narrow spiral staircase to explore the area above Fletcher Lounge and felt a little like Alice in Wonderland.   I wasn't sure what I might find around the corner.  This curved hallway on the second floor runs along a rooftop.  It connects the offices near Fletcher Lounge to the classrooms of the Science Department.

Grandiose staircases can be found throughout the building.

There's a lot to see here, including the Henry B. Plant Museum on the first floor, and a park along the Hillsborough River. Parking is a challenge, as it is on most college campuses.  If you visit give a little extra time to find parking.  It's a great place to photograph.

More photos of Plant Hall in Tampa

Bok Tower Gardens

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It was a beautiful sunny day in December when we visited Bok Tower Gardens. Christmas carols rang from the carillon in the Tower and the sweet fragrance of camelias drifted through the air.


At first I mistook the camelia blooms for roses, because their smell and appearance are similar.


The intricate details and colors of the Tower are amazing. The exterior is made of colored marble. Scenes of trees, flowers, and wildlife are depicted on colored ceramic tiles. Adam and Eve are in the tile scene at the balcony.


Marble eagles stand like sentinels around the crown of Bok Tower.


There are many places to sit and enjoy the setting.

The hill that Bok Tower stands on is at the highest point of elevation in Florida. You can see the ordered lines of orange groves for miles.

Bok Tower bears the name of Edward Bok. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, and editor of "Ladies Home Journal" magazine during the late 1800's. Nearby Pinewood Estates was the Bok family's winter residence.

Bok became enamored by the natural setting around the hilltop and wanted to preserve it. Bok Tower was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge after its completion in 1929. The estates were donated to the American people after Bok's death in 1930 as a sign of gratitute for the opportunities they had given him.


We had lunch at the cafe by the Visitors Center and then set out on a path towards the Pinewood Estates' manor house.


The mansion was decorated for Christmas.


A grand old oak tree shades the back of the house. I was impressed with how much of the architecture and decor was Spanish, considering Bok was from the Netherlands and owned a business headquarted in the Northeastern U.S. I asked one of the docents about the Spanish influence and she said that Bok traveled to South America often and admired Spanish styles.


A fountain on a patio near the entrance covered with painted tiles reminded me of the painted tiles at The Columbia restaurant in Ybor City.


I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland walking through a grove of tangerine trees cut into identical topiary shapes as we left Pinewood Estates. I thought about the words of Edward Bok over the entrance to the grounds as we departed, "Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it."

Location
Lake Wales, Florida is about an hour's drive east from Tampa on Route 60.

Admission Fees
Parking is free. Admission to the grounds is $10 per person. Admission to the Pinewood Estates manor house is $8 per person.

More photos of our visit to Bok Tower Gardens and Pinewood Estates.

The Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City

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We went to the original Columbia Restaurant for lunch. It was founded in 1905 in the historic district of Ybor City in Tampa, Florida. It is the oldest restaurant in Florida.

The menu features Spanish and Cuban cuisine. Their signature dish is paella. It was awesome!

There are several dining rooms with unique decor.

The exterior of the building is surrounded by an architectural arcade with twisted pillars.


The exterior walls are covered with painted tiles.

I highly recommend a visit if you are in Tampa.

See more of my photos taken in Ybor City.

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Tomato Festival in Ruskin, Florida

Here are some cool old tractors. These photos are from the heritage area at the Ruskin Tomato and Heritage Festival.

Water pumps.

Spinning, weaving, and knitting.

Blacksmith

Skins and tents.

Emerson Point Preserve on Snead Island

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This view is from the observation tower. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is in the background and a boardwalk through the marsh is in the foreground.


Boardwalk through mangrove marsh.


Blanket flower.

Wild pointsettia.


I was impressed with the variety of wildflowers.


View of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge near the head of the Beach Trail. There are a lot of small beaches in nooks and crannies among shade trees along the Beach Trail. It's a quiet, secluded setting. You feel like you're on your own private beach, even though there are other people along the trail.


Fishing off the Beach Trail.


A mangrove tree growing in salt water. The roots look like stilts. Mangroves are island builders. Sand and debris get caught up in the roots. Material accumulates to support other plant life, and voila! The island gets bigger.


Strangler fig. These trees seed as parasites on the bark of other trees, usually palm trees. The roots grow and touch soil. The strangler fig eventually covers the host tree with root shoots. Creepy, isn't it?

This was an interesting place to explore. There is no admission fee. I think it is one of the best kept secrets in Manatee County. It's not on any of my maps, and there's scarcely any information on the web about Emerson Point Preserve. I thought something interesting might be out here because there is an Indian mound noted on a map and it looked like there might be some cool sandbars or beaches at the point of Snead Island.

The Portavent Temple Mound is at the first parking lot near the entrance. Stop there to get map of the park and see the ancient Indian mounds. The Portavent Temple Mound is the largest Indian mound in the Tampa Bay area.

Directions to Emerson Point Preserve from Palmetto, Florida:
Go west on 10th Street West, cross the bridge to Snead Island, right on Tarpon Avenue, then left on 17th Street West which ends at the Preserve entrance.

South Florida Museum in Bradenton

The first thing we saw as we walked into the South Florida Museum was a huge mastadon skeleton that was found in Florida. Walking from the sunshine outside into the darkened gallery was a stark contrast. It was quiet, except for the songs of birds and other woodland sounds. You get the feeling that you've stepped into another world. On the other side of the gallery is a diorama of a paleo Indian hunting a bison. We continued walking through the exhibits of prehistoric human and animal artifacts. Another diorama shows a seaside community of Indians where you can hear people chatting, children playing, and ocean sounds.

Next we went to the Bishop Planetarium for a presentation on how to identify stars and constellations. Now I know why I'm having a hard time finding the Big Dipper. The lights around Tampa obscure a lot of stars. We used to live in the countryside in Michigan. The North Star is also harder to find, because it is closer to the horizon in Florida than it is in Michigan. Up north the North Star appears directly over head.

It was time to feed the manatees when we left the planetarium. We walked upstairs through a Florida marshland scene with a one room house. There was a Florida panther in the marsh and I was surprised at how small it was. I expected the panthers to be as big as tigers. We left the marsh to walk through a hallway with an under water scene. It included a cross section of the ocean floor showing creatures that lived in the sand. On the other side we found the Parker Manatee Aquarium.

Feeding time is presentation time. The resident manatee is Snooty, who was born and raised in captivity. His tank buddies are rescued manatees that will eventually be returned to the wild. Manatees are air breathing mammals that live in the water. They are often injured by boats.

Snooty is sticking his head out of the water to get the attention of the lady doing the talking and feeding. She is feeding the manatees heads of romaine lettuce and fielding questions from the audience. Occasionally Snooty playfully puts his fins up on the edge of the tank. Someone asked if the manatees had bad breath. She said it was not as bad as dog's breath, but that you don't want to be around when they have gas. They are vegetarians. Big ones. Lots of veggies can generate lots of gas. We didn't smell anything evil while we were there.

The manatees have huge bodies and small heads. We walked downstairs to get to the window to watch the manatees underwater. The expressions on their faces reminded me of dogs or teddy bears. There were all kinds of toys in the pool. At feeding time food becomes the toy of the moment.

We left the South Florida Museum late in the afternoon and went to Anna Maria Island to go for a walk on the beach.

The Gamble Plantation

We visited the The Gamble Plantation Historic State Park Ellenton. The Gamble mansion is the only surviving antebellum plantation house in South Florida. The house was the home of Major Robert Gamble. The grounds were an extensive sugar plantation. The house is one of the only surviving tabby block constructions. Tabby is made from crushed seashells and lime. It was built around 1840.


The heat and humidity in Florida takes a toll on buildings, furniture, and textiles. They eventually decompose. The house is being renovated to prevent further deterioration. The Florida Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy bought the mansion in 1925 to prevent it from being demolished. The Gamble Plantation's tie to Civil War history is that the former Secretary of State of the Confederacy, Judah P. Benjamin, sought refuge here after the war. He is an interesting character. Benjamin was born a British Citizen in the West Indies. He attended Yale, was a lawyer in Louisiana, and became the second Jewish U.S. Senator. After fleeing the U.S. he became a barrister in England and Queen's Counsel.


Some of the floors, like in this hallway, had floor coverings made of varnished sail cloth. The decorative patterns were painted using stencils. It was a precursor to linoleum type coverings.


The original contents of the house deteriorated long ago. Replacement furnishings styles are from between the years 1840-1857. This shelf reminds of one at Grandma Apple's house.


Portrait of George Washington and South Carolina Confederate Battle Flag on the wall of the office.


The office.


The workroom.


The Gamble Plantation was one of the first sugar plantations to use steam powered machines. There were 200 slaves working the plantation.

There was another house on the grounds from the late 1800's called The Patterson House, but we didn't get a chance to tour it. They also had a festival with craft booths and food. There was a lot to see, and we'll probably go back some time.