Tampa on the west coast of Florida

21 August 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  14 minutes

Henry B. Plant Museum © James E. Scholz/cc-by-sa-4.0

Henry B. Plant Museum © James E. Scholz/cc-by-sa-4.0

Tampa is a major city in, and the county seat of, Hillsborough County. It is located on the west coast of Florida on Tampa Bay, near the Gulf of Mexico, and is the largest city in the Tampa Bay Area. The city has a population of 377,000. Today, Tampa is part of the metropolitan area most commonly referred to as the “Tampa Bay Area”. For U.S. Census purposes, Tampa is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The four-county area is composed of roughly 2.9 million residents, making it the second largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state, and the fourth largest in the Southeastern United States, behind Miami, Washington, D.C. and Atlanta. Tampa displays a wide variety of architectural designs and styles. Most of Tampa’s high rises demonstrate post-modern architecture. The design for the renovated Tampa Museum of Art displays post-modern architecture, while the city hall and the Tampa Theatre belong to Art Deco architecture. The Tampa mayor Pam Iorio made the redevelopment of Tampa’s downtown, especially residential development, a priority. Several residential and mixed-development high-rises have been constructed. Another of Mayor Iorio’s initiatives was the Tampa Riverwalk, a mixed-use path along the Hillsborough River in downtown. Channelside was recently approved to undergo major renovations by Tampa Bay Lightning owner Jeff Vinik along with other investors. Several museums are part of the plan, including new homes for the Tampa Bay History Center, the Glazer Children’s Museum, and the Tampa Museum of Art.   read more…

PortMiami in the Biscayne Bay

16 August 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Miami / South Florida Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Marc Averette/cc-by-sa-1.0

© Marc Averette/cc-by-sa-1.0

PortMiami, formally the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, is a major seaport located in Biscayne Bay between Miami and Miami Beach in Florida. It is the largest passenger port in the world, and one of the largest cargo ports in the United States. It is connected to Downtown Miami by Port Boulevard—a causeway over the Intracoastal Waterway—and to the neighboring Watson Island via the Port of Miami Tunnel. The port is located on Dodge Island, which is the combination of three historic islands (Dodge, Lummus and Sam’s Islands) that have since been combined into one. It is named in honor of 19 term Florida Congressman Dante Fascell.   read more…

Lunenburg in Nova Scotia

14 August 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  10 minutes

© Jvienneau/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Jvienneau/cc-by-sa-3.0

Lunenburg is a port town in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Situated on the province’s South Shore, Lunenburg is located on the Fairhaven Peninsula at the western side of Mahone Bay. The town is approximately 90 kilometres southwest of the county boundary with the Halifax Regional Municipality. The town was established by the three founding fathers, Patrick Sutherland, Dettlieb Christopher Jessen and John Creighton during Father Le Loutre’s War, four years after Halifax. The town was one of the first British attempts to settle Protestants in Nova Scotia intended to displace Mi’kmaq and Acadian Catholics. British settlement posed a lasting, grave and certain threat to Mi’kmaw hegenomy over their traditional territory. Considering that British conditions for peace required surrender of Mi’kmaw sovereignty to the Crown, the Wabanaki Confederacy raided Lunenburg nine times in the early years of the settlement in an attempt to reclaim their loss.   read more…

Fort Myers on the Gulf of Mexico

28 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Fort Myers Beach sign © Sanibel sun

Fort Myers Beach sign © Sanibel sun

Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County in Florida, with a population of 74,000. Fort Myers is a gateway to the Southwest Florida region and a major tourist destination within Florida. The city is located 125 miles (200 km) southwest of Tampa and 137 miles (220 km) northwest of Miami. The winter homes of Thomas Edison (“Seminole Lodge”) and Henry Ford (“The Mangoes”) are a primary tourist attraction in the region. The city is named after Colonel Abraham Myers. The geographic statistical area is serviced by Southwest Florida International Airport (RSW), located southeast of the city. Fort Myers was one of the first forts built along the Caloosahatchee River as a base of operations against the Seminole Indians during the American Indian Wars. During the Seminole Wars, Fort Myers was a strategic location for its visibility and access to Atlantic waterways. During the American Civil War, Confederate blockade runners and cattle ranchers called Fort Myers home. These settlers prospered through trading with Seminole Indians and Union Soldiers.   read more…

St. Augustine in Florida

24 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

City Hall and Lichtner Museum © JanGoldsmith/cc-by-sa-3.0

City Hall and Lichtner Museum © JanGoldsmith/cc-by-sa-3.0

St. Augustine (Spanish: San Agustín) is a city in the Southeastern United States, on the Atlantic coast in northeastern Florida. It is the oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement within the borders of the continental United States. As the county seat of St. Johns County, it is part of Florida’s First Coast region and the Jacksonville metropolitan area, with a population of 15,000. Saint Augustine was founded on September 8, 1565, by Spanish admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, Florida’s first governor. He named the settlement “San Agustín“, as his ships bearing settlers, troops, and supplies from Spain had first sighted land in Florida eleven days earlier on August 28, the feast day of St. Augustine.   read more…

Tallahassee, the capital of Florida

17 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  11 minutes

Unlike most of Florida, Tallaahassee experiences all four seasons © Urbantallahassee/cc-by-sa-3.0

Unlike most of Florida, Tallaahassee experiences all four seasons © Urbantallahassee/cc-by-sa-3.0

Tallahassee is the capital of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. The population is at 190,000, making the city the 126th-largest city in the United States. Tallahassee is the largest city in the Northwest Florida region as well as the main center for trade and agriculture in the Florida Big Bend and Southwest Georgia regions. Tallahassee is home to the Florida State Capitol, Supreme Court of Florida, Florida Governor’s Mansion, and nearly 30 state agency headquarters. The city is also known for its large number of law firms, lobbying organizations, trade associations and professional associations, including the Florida Bar and the Florida Chamber of Commerce. It is also a recognized regional center for scientific research, and home to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory. In 2015, Tallahassee was awarded the All-American City Award by the National Civic League for the second time. Tallahassee is currently ranked as the 18th best college town in the nation by Best College Reviews. Tallahassee’s terrain is hilly by Florida standards, being located at the southern end of the Red Hills Region, just above the Cody Scarp. The elevation varies from near sea level to just over 200 feet (61 m), with the state capitol on one of the highest hills in the city. The city includes two large lake basins, Lake Jackson and Lake Lafayette, and borders the northern end of the Apalachicola National Forest. Unlike most of Florida, Tallahassee experiences all four seasons.   read more…

Midtown Manhattan

3 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  8 minutes

Times Square © Matt H. Wade/cc-by-sa-3.0

Times Square © Matt H. Wade/cc-by-sa-3.0

Midtown Manhattan, or Midtown, represents the central lengthwise portion of the borough and island of Manhattan in New York City. Midtown is home to some of the city’s most iconic buildings, including the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the headquarters of the United Nations, and it contains world-renowned commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square. Along Manhattan’s north-south long axis, Midtown Manhattan separates Lower Manhattan from Upper Manhattan. Geographically, the northern border of Midtown Manhattan is commonly defined to be 59th Street on Manhattan Island, and although its southern border is less clear, it is variously taken to be 34th Street, 23rd Street, or even 14th Street. Midtown spans the entire island of Manhattan along an east-west axis, being bounded by the East River on its east and the Hudson River to its west. Midtown is the original district in the United States to bear the name and included historical but now defunct neighborhoods such as the Ladies’ Mile, along Fifth Avenue from 14th to 23rd Street; and the Tenderloin, from 23rd to 42nd Street and from Fifth Avenue to Seventh Avenue.   read more…

The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis

1 July 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month, Museums, Exhibitions Reading Time:  7 minutes

Lorraine Motel © DavGreg/cc-by-sa-3.0

Lorraine Motel © DavGreg/cc-by-sa-3.0

The National Civil Rights Museum is a complex of museums and historic buildings in Memphis in Tennessee; its exhibits trace the history of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 17th century to the present. The museum is built around the former Lorraine Motel, where Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968. Two other buildings and their adjacent property, also connected with the King assassination, have been acquired as part of the museum complex. On October 21, 2016, the museum was honored by becoming a Smithsonian Affiliate museum.   read more…

The Cloisters in Upper Manhattan

30 June 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Architecture, Museums, Exhibitions, New York City Reading Time:  11 minutes

The Cloisters © flickr.com - Brian Clift/cc-by-2.0

The Cloisters © flickr.com – Brian Clift/cc-by-2.0

The Cloisters is a museum in Upper Manhattan, New York City specializing in European medieval architecture, sculpture and decorative arts. Its early collection was built by the American sculptor, art dealer and collector George Grey Barnard, and acquired by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in 1925. Rockefeller extended the collection and in 1931 purchased land at Washington Heights and contracted the design for a new building that was to become the Cloisters. The museum is today part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has been described as the “crowning achievement of American museology.” Its architectural and artistic works are largely from the Romanesque and Gothic stylistic periods. Its four cloisters; the Cuxa, Bonnefont, Trie and Saint-Guilhem cloisters, were sourced from French monasteries and abbeys. Between 1934 and 1939 they were excavated and reconstructed in Washington Heights, in a large project overseen by the architect Charles Collens. They are surrounded by a series of indoor chapels and rooms grouped by period which include the Romanesque, Fuentidueña, Unicorn, Spanish and Gothic rooms. The design, layout and ambiance of the building is intended to evoke in visitors a sense of the Medieval European monastic life through its distinctive architecture. The area around the buildings contains a number of reconstructed early medieval gardens.   read more…

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