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| "A Sunday Afternoon on the Isle de Grande Jatte" Georges Seurat 1884-86 |
In our fair state capital of Columbus, Ohio, there are numerous gems that draw visitors from other locales, and keep them coming back. One of these gems is the Deaf School Topiary Park. The Deaf School and its park date back to the early 19th century when it was founded by James T. Mason. Mason and his wife Elaine had dreamed about a topiary garden for years, and this painting was their muse. It was begun in 1992 and is a tribute to their dedication to the students they served.
This visit was a surprise outing for Gaige, Nathan and Kaitlyn. We ate a picnic on the outer edges of the park before viewing the topiary scene. They had no idea what lay beyond the rise as we ate our lunch.
The grandkids had a wonderful time in the park and Gaige kept thanking me for showing them one of my favorite places in Columbus.
18 comments:
What a fascinating idea! I imagine great skill would be needed to keep it in recognizable shape.
you are always so know so much about everything.
I never knew there was a place like that in Columbus.
Thank you for sharing.
Love you Sis
That is gorgeous! I've always heard about Columbus and how pretty it is. I had an elementary school friend from there and she spoke of it endlessly. I've never visited. Perhaps one day you and I shall meet? :)
I just used a magazine article about the Deaf School Topiary Park, in some mailart I created for a friend in Australia. It was full of photos of both the painting and the topiaries. She loved it.
What a whimsical park! My grands would love it, too.
There seems to be no end to the creative ways people can express, and re-express, what inspires them. And no end to the things I can think of to do with my grandchild. :-)
Have fun tomorrow.
Sanna, I love this place! It had been a while since my last visit, and the topiaries have filled in nicely. They still aren't completely filled, but much more recognizable now.
Sister, there are probably lots of places in Columbus that you haven't learned about! I'm still learning myself. It really is a beautiful city.
Debbie, I would love to have you come for a visit! There's a lot to see here, and they just opened a beautiful new park next to the Statehouse that I'm dying to explore. Columbus is a beautiful city, and it is considered a Midwest mecca for exciting restaurants. Come on over!
Wanda, have you actually visited the park? It's really large and so peaceful, even though it's in the city and pretty heavily used.
Barb, they would have so much fun exploring the different shapes and trying to guess what they are. I wish I had had the foresight to print a copy of the painting before I took mine. Next time! There's a huge weeping cherry tree that they can play under, too, and a neat climbing tree. A great park for kids and adults alike.
Ruthie, your grandchild(ren) will be the most culturally enriched ones on the planet!
I just love finding little tucked-away places like these.
Is that last one a boat? Wicked cool. There is an animal topiary garden at one of the Newport Mansions in Rhode Island that I would like to visit some day - they have a children's festival there each year which seemed like a brilliant idea to me. Although a part of me will always be creeped out by topiary thanks to reading The Shining....
There is a well known topiary garden in Newport RI which this post reminds me that I haven't visited in a long long time...Thanks for taking me to one of your favorite places too:)
Believe me, Molly, I keep an eye on the folks in this topiary garden...I haven't caught them moving toward me...yet! LOL I was so freaked out by that scene in the book, but was disappointed when they got it all wrong in the original movie.
There are actually three boats in the pond, but I couldn't get a good angle to capture all of them in the same photo. One is a little sailboat, which is my favorite, but it has never really filled in like the other two.
To my knowledge, this is the only topiary depiction of a famous painting.
Oliag, Newport is one of those places I've always wanted to visit; in fact, our son and his family were just there on vacation a few weeks ago and loved it. The only other topiary installations as large as this one that I've seen are the ones at Disney World.
Huh. I've never been here! Must make a trip. It's nice seeing your Gaige :)
Stacy, you wouldn't believe the number of people who live here who haven't heard of the Topiary Garden! I guess I just love exploring my own locale. It's a beautiful park with lots of benches and paved paths. Lots of lunchtime walkers, and also a few homeless people about, but they don't bother anyone. I'm sure they've been warned.
My Gaige is growing like a weed...just like yours!
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