Just a few last shots of Tallahasee before we move on. Here is the capitol at sunset.
Another view
By the way, did I mention my hotel was cheap, nice, had free wireless, AND a nice view of the capitol? Oh yeah...
Now a few on my way out of town...
Here is Florida State University (FSU), home of the Seminoles. Oh, and this looks like a nice, fancy admin building right?
Think again! It's the stadium!
Ok, so after leaving the Calhoun house we were driving down the street when the wife yelled "train!" So we parked the car and discovered the Clemson Botanical Gardens.
The said train that the wife saw, placed in the garden by the class of '39.
Ok, so after our first night of camping, we set off on our adventures and our first stop was the John C. Calhoun house at Clemson University. Calhoun was educated at Yale and a Connecticut law school during the time period when the northern states were contemplating leaving the Union. This led to his strong belief in State's Rights, Nullification, and the legallity of secession. His political career was one of the most colorful including Congress 1811-1817, Secretary of War 1817-1825, Vice President 1825-1832, Senator 1832-1843 and 1845-1850, and Secretary of State 1844-1845. In 1832 he and other Southern politicians protested the national tariff as only protecting the interests of Northern manufacturers. He threatened that South Carolina would secede over the issue, and only President Andrew Jackson's threat of invasion prevented it from occuring. This did not, however, quiet Calhoun who then turned the question to slavery, demanding that the Northern states never interfere with the institution. While he died in 1850, well before the Civil War began, he is often credited with being one of the South's greatest heros, and one of the founders of what would become the Confederacy. Although he is buried in Charleston, this home, known at the time as Fort Hill Plantation was where he lived from 1825-1850. *CHB*
Clemson University, home of the Tigers (very original). In the distance is part of the stadium known as Death Valley. Supposedly this name came from Presbyterian coach, Lonnie McMillan whose team continued to get beaten in the stadium, leading him to say "it was like Death Valley."
US, South Carolina, and Clemson flags
*CHB*
Portrait of John C. Calhoun. Take note, a house museum that lets you take pictures inside!!!!! Many bonus points!!!! *CHB*
An artists depiction of the Fort Hill plantation. The house itself was originally built in 1803 for Dr James McElhenny who named it Clergy Hall. Calhoun and his wife Floride bought it in 1825, enlarged it, and renamed it Fort Hill for Fort Rutledge, a nearby fort built in 1776.
A portrait of the US Senate. Calhoun is directly under the second column from the right.
When Calhoun died in 1850, the house went through a series of legal procedings before falling under the ownership of his daughter Anna Marie, wife of Thomas Green Clemson. Clemson was a scientist, mining engineer, diplomat to Belgium, and founder of Clemson University. In his will, he specified that the house be opened to the public as a museum. All of the furniture and objects in the house belonged to, were made by, or were given to either the Calhoun or Clemson families, and most of the portraits are of family members. The tour guide when we went knew the stories behind many of the pieces, and I will try to relate as many as I can remember. Seen above is the main bedroom, with the nursery through the far doorway.
If you look closely, you can se one of the house's eccentricities. Note how the top of the doorway slants to the left, and the far doorway slants to the right. This is seen throughout the house, and the guide said that it is not due to the houses age, but she wasn't sure why it was this way.
The dining area, with Floride's bridal portrait over the fire place. *CHB*
This piece was given to the Calhouns by a foreign ruler. I don't remember which one, but probably King Leopold. *CHB*
the living room. The couch belonged to George Washington and is one of very few surviving pieces like it.
The faces on this chair are carved after King Leopold *CHB*
The upstairs bedrooms
An old trunk and washbasin in a side storage room
Awards given to the Calhouns by King Leopold
personal artifacts of the Calhouns and Clemsons
The interior of the separate kitchen building *CHB*
Ok, so this is Flagler College, formerlly the Ponce DeLeon Hotel, built in 1888 by Henry Flagler as a resort hotel. It was designed by the firm Carrere and Hastings, and was the first large scale building in the US to be built of poured concrete. The hotel saw visits from many celebrities and Presidents, and in WW2 was used as a Coast Guard training center. The hotel was sold to Flagler College in 1967.
This is the interior of the main entrance hall, featuring intricate murals painted by Tojetti and George Maynard. The hotel also had Tiffany stained glass windows throughout.
The elaborate main dining hall, still used as such, for the college now. Below, an example of one of the few original chairs remaining, and a reproduction. The chair with the wheels is the original, because of the Gilded Age practice of men moving the women's chairs for them. Very few originals survive, and the dining room is full of accurate reproductions.
This room remains much the same as it did it the hotel days, and is only used for special occasions. Note the chandelliers and intricate plaster work on the ceiling.
Ok, so last post we talked about the story of Henry Plant and the Plant Hotel. Now, it's time to look around the outside. Above is the exstensive ornate back porch of the main Hotel building, which now serves as the main entrance to the administrative hall of the University of Tampa, as well as the Plant museum. Below is a view of the former Hotel from the "back".
These bronze hunting dogs above were an invitation for guests to use the Hotel's dogs for local hunting. Originally, they faced the other way, looking at a bronze squirrel in a tree. The squirrel dissapeared, and the dogs were turned around. Below is a marker for the hotel.
This walk of Cabbage palms used to be much longer, and led from the Hotel to the Hydriotic Esplanade, docks, and boat slips. The Canon below are from Fort Brooke, built during the Seminole Wars, that became the first settlements of Tampa. The Hotel's casino, power plant, and conservatory all used to be behind these canon, but several of the original buildings are now gone.
Two more views of the main building.
This schoolhouse actually predates the Hotel, as it was built in 1855 by General Jesse Carter. Plant bought the property and used as the Hotel Apothecary Shop.
Inside and outside of the schoolhouse
Above, a marker for Babe Ruth's longest homer, occuring on the Plant Field. Below, the entrance to the main Hotel building that faced the railroad cars, and was thus considered the front entrance.
This gun was originally posted at Fort Dade (on Egmont Key, see post for Fort DeSoto) but was moved here as a monument to defenders of Tampa in the Spanish American War. Below is the original gatehouse for the Hotel.
Above, another view of the main building, below a marker saying this is where Spanish explorer DeSoto Parleyed with the Indians (see post labeled DeSoto NHS)
Markers for Roosevelt's Rough Riders (above) and the University of Tampa (below)
