October 2012: Washington DC--Part II

Gazebo on the grounds of Montpelier

James Madison's home at Montpelier

The play, "First Freedom" is about religious freedom as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.  James Madison, one of the Founding Fathers and fourth president of the country, was militant about protecting religious freedom in the newly minted United States, and he introduced the first nine amendments to the Constitution.  The first being:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Since that was what the play, "First Freedom" was about, one of the more important parts of our research trip was to visit James Madison's home at Montpelier, Virginia.  The story goes that Madison had witnessed a group of Baptist preachers jailed for doing nothing more than publishing their beliefs.  This stayed with him always and he advocated for religious freedom for the rest of his life.  Separation of Church and State is a charged subject these days, but I tend to think of it in the traditional sense of making sure that there is no state sponsored religion, and that no religion will be able influence the making of laws in it's favor.  That doesn't mean, necessarily that religions cannot be politically active or have opinions, it means that the government won't make laws limiting religion and won't make laws favoring a particular religion.  These days, I think most people believe the first amendment is about freedom from religion, but that is a topic for a different blog.  This blog is about my travels.

Montpelier was built in 1764 by James Madison Sr.  It was made from bricks that were actually made and fired on the property.  James Madison Jr, who later became POTUS, remembered helping the family move the furniture into the home as a lad.  In 1797, James Madison Jr moved into Montpelier with his wife, Dolley.  He added the portico to the home as well as expanding it further.  In 1809, Madison added a drawing room and extensions at either end of the home.

After Madison died, the house was sold to other folks who remodeled and made additions to it.  The last people to own it before the current preservation efforts were the DuPont family.  In 1984 The National Trust for Historic Preservation took control of the property.  There have been ongoing efforts at restoring the home to the condition it was in when Madison owned the property.  One result of the restoration and archaeology on the grounds is the discovery of the foundations of the slave quarters.  It was estimated that there were 100 slaves in residence at Montpelier at one time.  The National Trust is making every effort to tell their story as well as the Madison's.

We sat through a presentation, then we took a tour through the home.  When we were there in 2012, we weren't allowed to take photos inside the mansion.  We were allowed to photograph the grounds, however.  Speaking of photographs, it's probably time to stop talking and start showing.

This was on the inside door of my hotel room in DC.  Pretty sure I didn't pay this much

Train depot in Montpelier

That shows a sinister

part of our history

The portico at Montpelier

The Palladian window and door

Bricks made on the property in a Flemish Bond pattern

Those wooden structures represent the slave quarters at Montpelier

I love the repeating corbels 

I believe this was the well house

This is a sculpture of James and Dolley in the backyard, as seen from the balcony in the house

Pretty dang cool shingles

One of the original chimneys

More brick

Hyrum Conrad and me posing with James and Dolley

Cellar entrance

Rear view

Entrance to the gardens

Detail of the gazebo

View from a different angle

Strange pinecone.  Tried to identify it, failed

Remnants of earlier construction

More remnants

Wooded path on the property

Idyllic 

Then there was this guy

More brick

Iron gate to the gardens

Brickwork around trees in the gardens

More brickwork

Then there was this scary, Gothic, tree branch hanging out over everything

Corner of the house

We spent the morning at Montpelier.  Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were best friends.  Their homes were about 30 miles apart, and when they would visit each other, it was an all day trip to get there.  They would stay at each others' homes when they would visit.  Today, it only takes an hour to get from Montpelier to Monticello.  When our visit with James Madison ended, we headed over to Monticello to visit Thomas Jefferson.  That visit will be shown in post #3.

2013 Idaho--Thomas E Ricks Gardens

The Hot Chick at the Thomas E. Ricks Horticulture Gardens

On the campus of Brigham Young University-Idaho, there is a wonderful horticultural display garden called the Thomas E. Ricks Horticulture Gardens.  In 1977 the college (then Ricks College, a junior college) set aside a ten acre tract at the south end of campus as an outdoor lab for the horticulture students.  In the thirty-five years since it has evolved into one of the finest show gardens in the western United States.

Each year the horticulture students design another portion of the permanent display and implement the design.  I like to call it "parkitecture".  There are formal areas, rustic areas, water features and even a vegetable garden within the ten acre tract.  Some of the features have a small sign that says "built by the class of ..." in an out of the way place.  There are large areas of tree lined greensward on the south end of the gardens which means there is a lot of room for more displays.  Each year the gardens get just a little better.

During the school year, when it's warm enough, students use the garden to study, to court, to get away from the concrete, brick and mortar for awhile.  The gardens are a very peaceful place surrounded by very large trees.  In the summertime the gardens are used for wedding receptions and other gatherings.  The College of Visual and Performing Arts that I teach in has an annual steak fry at the beginning of fall semester in the gardens every year.

I decided I wanted to take my bride to the gardens and walk around them with her for an hour or so.  We did that yesterday.  I had walked around the gardens a little but had never been all the way through them.  They are idyllic.  Here are the pics.

The Parkitecture

The main entrance

Flower beds

Arched pergola

The Hot Chick at one of many water features

Study or picnic area

Art

Flower beds

Gazebo

"Rubble chic" entrance

Another of the water features

Greensward flanked with tall trees

Peaceful garden path

Weeping willows are always cool

Flower beds

Italianate "ruins" 

Art

Art

The formal Italian garden

Pagan art

Cool ground treatment

Part of the Italian garden

Pergola

Reception pavilion

Lion fountain

In context

And yet another water feature

Gate

Vegetable garden

Porch at the vegetable garden

Colonnaded pergola on the east side 

My Favorite Shots

Painted daisy

Old fashioned rose

Pretty purple flowers

Fuchsia

Serendipitous shot

Coneflower

Another serendipitous shot

Lily pads

Say hello to my little friend

Purple coneflower and pollinator

Bent birch tree

Water lilies

Lily pads

Pink water lilies

Lily

Bunch of grapes at the vegetable garden

Looks like a zinnia to me

Coneflowers

Serenity

The gardens were very peaceful.  We shared them with dozens of other people yesterday, but we hardly saw any of them.  Each of the features were intimate and away from the next.  There were no straight paths through the gardens.  Around each turn was something else to look at.  There were many people in the gardens but I was careful not to photograph them.  In reality, like theatre, a garden is only art when there is someone to look at it and enjoy it.  I really enjoyed spending some time with my wife/girlfriend/best friend in the gardens yesterday.  I will go back with her and enjoy them again and again.