8/19: Columbus' Topiary Park, Statehouse & More!

On that August day, Steven and I had just come from visiting the stellar Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens for several hours in Ohio's capital city of Columbus. Just a mile away was the Old Governor's Mansion, now home to the Columbus Foundation. We wondered if its location on a very public street had forced the relocation of the mansion to a more private area because of security concerns.

We then drove to the Deaf School Park Topiary Garden, a landscape interpretation of Georges Seurat's most famous painting, A Sunday Afternoon on the Ile de la Grande Jatte created from 1884-1866. His pointillism painting was seen as a founding work of the neo-Impressionist movement. Since the painting can be viewed at the Art Institute of Chicago, I hope that Steven and I can view Seurat's large canvas on one of our upcoming trips to the city to see our daughter, her husband, and our now seven-month-old granddaughter, Clara. This photo is from Wikipedia. 

These landscaped figures were so charming and spread over a large area of the park. Please don't ask me which was my favorite as I found them all to be so entrancing.

Next to the park was the Cristo Rey Columbus High School which had been built in 1899 for the Ohio School for the Deaf and then renovated in 2014 before becoming the high school. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The original purpose of our coming to Columbus was to visit the state capitol building as we were, and still are, on a trek or bucket list to see as many as we can. The Conservatory and Topiary Garden had been absolute bonuses as they hadn't been on our radar beforehand. BTW: Steven and I have just finalized our itinerary for this summer's road trip and we've managed to add eight more state capitals on a rather convoluted route! 

This striking building was the former US Courthouse and Post Office and was completed in 1887 and was also included on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Capitol Square and the Greek Revival Doric Ohio Capitol were some of the most significant architectural accomplishments of the early republic. The cornerstone of the statehouse was laid in 1839 and was completed in 1861. 

The sundial, named Lest We Forget, was dedicated in honor of the Grand Army of the Republic by the National Organization Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War 1861-1865. It was erected in 1941.

Once we walked inside, a sign welcomed us to the 'People's House, the Heart of Ohio's Democracy,' As the home for the Ohio government since 1857, it was one of the oldest working statehouses in the country. The floor map depicted the state's 88 counties, using six different types of marble from around the world.

No way could I resist finding, and then taking a photo, of Ottawa County as my hometown is Ottawa, Canada!

The bronze relief sculpture called Modern Classroom portrayed a contemporary class of students working on a history lesson with a teacher signing the words 'To Learn' in the background. If you look closely, you will see that the classroom was filled with symbols of Ohio history that changed the world, like the Wright Brothers' plane and two astronauts. 

A replica of the Liberty Bell just as we'd seen in other statehouses. Normally, however, they were placed in a greater place of honor rather than in the basement!

By last August, Steven and I had been in a lot of our nation's statehouses but none had been quite as disheartening as our initial views of Ohio's. The unprepossessing entrance looked like the basement of a castle at best! 

I also found it discouraging that the Chair of Honor signifying the 82,600 military personnel who had answered the call to arms since WW I but had never returned was also relegated to the basement. The POWs and MIAs and their families deserved far more in my opinion.

Because signage was so poor, we had difficulty finding the Rotunda on the second floor. It had been the site of many gubernatorial inaugurations and where the body of President Abraham Lincoln lay in state on the trip from Washington to Springfield, Illinois. 

I had known that circles have long been a symbol of eternity but didn't realize the use of circles in the rotunda, itself a circular room, represented the expectation that both the building and the democratic philosophy it represented would last. 

The skylight in the Rotunda's dome featured the 1847 version of Ohio's seal.

In the spring of 1865, the Ohio Monumental Association met in Columbus to determine how to honor Lincoln's memory and the state's Civil War soldiers. The result was this Lincoln and Soldiers' Memorial in the Capitol Rotunda, representing the surrender of Vicksburg surrounded by Lincoln's bust. I read that, as a result, the bust was often mistakenly referred to as the Vicksburg Monument.

The 36-Star Flag, made of wool bunting with pieced stripes and appliqued stars, was presented during the Civil War to David Murray in recognition of his having converted his Portsmouth, Ohio iron foundry to the production of cannonballs. The flag was first officially flown over Capitol Square during the repose of President Lincoln on April 29, 1865. It was then used in Memorial Day parades, the inauguration of governors at the statehouse, and as a memorial for President Roosevelt.  

When the Grand Stair Hall and the rest of the capitol were finished in 1861, it was the largest statehouse in the nation. The elegance of the Hall was intended to proclaim the nation's wealth and power and Ohio's influential standing at the end of the century. 

The 17 arrows on the ceiling reflected that Ohio was the 17th state to be admitted to the nation. If you look very closely at the ceiling's murals, you'd notice they depict the Greek goddess Athena's four faces and important Ohio themes. 

The light fixtures along the stairway reflected the technological changes of the period. Just in case electricity was only a passing fad, the lights were plumbed for gas and wired for electricity! The gas lines were never used, though.  

The Senate Chamber:

The gray pedestal on the wall behind the marble dais was an example of trompe l'oeil painting which meant 'fool the eye' in French. It was only a two-dimensional painting although it appeared three-dimensional! 

In the rear of the chamber were white Pennsylvania marble columns with Corinthian capitals, i.e. the fancy bits at the top. 

On the other side of the second floor was the House Chamber but this was as close as we got to it - can't remember why! 

When the original building became too small, it was joined to a newer one called the Atrium. For me, there was no architectural continuity between the two except for the columns and I found the atrium's starkness displeasing. 

We then walked around the perimeter to look at the many monuments, etc. This was one of four one-thousand pound Civil War cannons that had been manufactured in Cincinnati. They were reminders of the 35,000 men who gave their lives in the war.

I could hardly imagine a more battered bench let alone at the 'People's House.' Sadly, all the benches surrounding the capitol were in the same condition. 

One of the most unusually named monuments was These Are My Jewels which also happened to be the oldest one on the statehouse grounds. Designed for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, it portrayed two presidents and cabinet secretaries and was topped by the female figure of Cornelia. 

A nice image of the front with its Doric columns that were intended to symbolize the democratic form of government and the ancient Greek democracy.

The Ohio WW I Memorial honored America's infantrymen who were known as Doughboys because their large brass buttons looked like flour dumplings cooked in soup!

By High Street was the huge McKinley Monument that honored the former governor and US president. I thought that it was sweet that when McKinley was the governor, he used to stand on the same spot each day and wave to his wife who lived in the house across the street. 

I thought it was a great idea that there was a phone number visitors could call beside each of the many monuments if more information was desired.

Obviously, the statehouse in the city of Columbus couldn't not have had a monument honoring Christopher Columbus, the capital city's namesake, and the 400th anniversary of his voyage to the New World! 

As you may have gathered by now, I hadn't been terribly inspired by what we'd see at the Ohio state capitol. For me, it had all been rather ho-hum. However, that changed altogether when we came to the Ohio Holocaust and Liberators Memorial. On our travels through what had been Eastern Europe and also Israel, Steven and I have seen many, many Holocaust memorials. 

This one struck me in a way few others had because it related the story of one man's survival at the hands of the Nazis at Auschwitz. Neither Steven nor I could take our eyes off reading Michael Schwartz's gripping tale of survival against all odds, and how, in the spur of a moment and at great personal risk, he was able to save his cousin's life after Josef Mengele himself had selected him to be sent to the gas chambers. Schwartz's story will stick with me for a long time.

The memorial was inspired by the Ohio soldiers who were part of the liberation of the death camps and the survivors who made Ohio their home. 

Never had we seen such a massive gavel as we spotted in front of the Supreme Court of Ohio! Without a doubt, it was one of the oddest things Steven found for us to see in Columbus. 

There was a wonderful path along the Scioto River that ran right through the center of the city. Steven and I remarked on the complete absence of any graffiti along the Scioto Mile which was quite remarkable given the unrest you may recall last summer in so many urban centers across the country.

I can't begin to tell you the scores and scores of abandoned rental scooters we'd seen, first in Des Moines, then Indianapolis, and again here in Columbus. How are they ever recovered and placed in a spot where people can rent them again?!

If you've read a lot of my blog posts, you'll know I'm a fan of bridges. These are my favorite Columbus bridge shots!

We walked back to our car via the attractive Columbus Commons and noted that, according to my phone's pedometer, we'd already walked 7.33 miles that day, not that I was counting!

After driving through an interesting neighborhood called German Village with street names like Frankfurt, Kossuth, Stimmel, etc, we reached Schiller Park, a beautiful urban oasis.

Personalized pavers that had been donated by members of the German community were like stepping stones through the park. The sayings included 'A Nobel Heart Does Not Tolerate Injustice' and 'Decency Can Be Found in All.'

Flower lovers will get a smile out of the sign that said 'Thank a Deadheader!'

The ever-so-miniature garden at the base of the tree trunk had signs that were linked to the area's German businesses.

The Umbrella Girl Fountain had been donated by the German Village Society. Dogs were admonished not to go into the pond so the fountain could last for generations to come. Accordingly, the sign said, 'Attention Dogs: Grr. Bark, Woof. Good dog.' I thought that was pretty creative!

Our last hurrah in Columbus was ogling (from the car!) the amusing murals in the city's delightful Short North Arts District since we'd had a very full day already. 

If we were ever to return to Columbus someday, I hope we'll leave ourselves time to wander through the district's boutiques and eclectic art galleries behind restored 1930s facades. 

Even though Steven and I had come to Columbus expressly for its state capitol, luckily we found so much more in the city that utterly charmed us.

Next post: A wander through the southeast Ohio town of Lancaster.

Posted on February 15th, 2021, from our home in Denver. Thank goodness, the temperature rose today from below zero to an almost balmy and very sunny 32 degrees! I hope you and your loved ones will stay warm and safe.