Today's blog is being dedicated to my good friend Jean. She has been a huge follower and full of encouragement of my blog. She has also recommended Bok Tower Gardens for over six months and we finally visited it. Thanks for your support Jean, this blog is in your honor. Bok Tower Gardens had a lot to see so I am going to cover it for two days basically due to the pictures.
Bok Tower Gardens is a botanical garden and bird sanctuary located north of Lake Wales, FL. It consists of a 250 acre garden, the 205 ft. tall "Singing Tower" with its carillon bells, Pine Ridge Trail, Pinewood Estate and a visitor center. The Tower was built on top of Iron Mountain which is the highest point of peninsular Florida and is estimated to be 295 ft above sea level. The tower is a National Historic Landmark. The gardens began in 1921 when Edward W Bok, editor of the popular women's magazine 'Ladies Home Journal' and his wife Mary Louise Curtis Bok, who founded the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, PA in 1924, were spending their winter beside Florida's Lake Wales Ridge and decided to create a bird sanctuary on its highest hill. Bok commissioned the landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr, to transform a sand hill into a spot of beauty. The Olmsted plan included planting 1000 large live oaks, 10,000 azaleas, 100 sabal palms, 300 magnolias, 500 gordonias and several hundred fruit shrubs including blueberry and holly. The construction took over five years and was dedicated on Feb 1, 1929 by President Calvin Coolidge. Edward Bok died in 1930 and was buried in the base of the tower.
The Singing Tower, designed by architect Milton B Medary, is a 360 degree singing bell tower. It was built at the highest elevation on the site south of the reflection pool that allows the water to reflect it full image. A 60 bell carillon is located in the 205 ft tall Gothic Revival and Art Deco tower. Construction of the tower began in 1927 and was completed in time for the dedication of the garden in 1929. The tower is 51 square feet at its base changing form at 150 ft high to an octagon with 37 ft sides that include sculptures designed by Lee Lawrie. It has a 15 ft moat that surrounds the tower. The tower is built of three different materials: Etowah marble, gray Creole marble and Florida native Coquina stone. The tower is not open to the public but it contains the Anton Brees Carillon Library, the 60 bell Bell chamber and inside the bell chamber is a playing room that houses a clavier (keyboard) that is used for playing the carillon bells. The bells range from 16 pounds to 12 tons. There have been three carillon musicians performing the daily concerts (1:00 pm and 3:00 pm daily) since the tower opened. While we were there the International Carillon Festival was going on so there was a guest carillon musician playing. The guest musician was Dennis Curry. There is a brass door that is the entrance into the Carillon tower and on the door the creation is carved.
The Pine Ridge Trail is a 3/4 nature trail. Pinewood Estate is located on 8 acres of the gardens. It is a 20 room Mediterranean revival mansion that was built between 1930-1932 by C. Austin Buck, VP of Bethlehem Steel Co. in Pennsylvania, as a winter residence.
We enjoyed our visit to Bok Tower Gardens. The weather was perfect for walking around the gardens. It was warm, sunny and just enough breeze to keep you comfortable. At the visitor center there is a small museum, gift shop and cafe. They even have picnic lunches you can purchase take and eat in the garden or by the tower. It is a great place to visit and relax enjoying the gardens and carillon bells. Tomorrow I will post more about the gardens. Check back the flowers were amazing!
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