Thursday, June 08, 2006

Cooperstown In Bloom!

Not long ago I made a trip to Cooperstown because I had a scheduled mammogram (what fun!) at the local hospital.
It’s always a treat to visit this lovely village, which is steeped in history, especially in the springtime when there are flowers everywhere. An organization called The Clark Foundation provides and plants a wonderful collection of flowers for several buildings around the village, including all the churches, county buildings, the Farmer’s Museum and Fenimore House, and The Baseball Hall of Fame. The latter famous attraction brings thousands of baseball fans to town every summer. The village even played host to the senior George Bush 2 years ago at the induction ceremonies.
I’m not sure whether the foundation provides the wonderful flowers around the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital as well, but I think they do.

James Fenimore Cooper, whose father founded Cooperstown was a very famous local author. The most famous of his historical novels is “The Last of the Mohicans”, which was made into a movie.
The Clarks, a very wealthy family of lawyers, were co-owners of the patent for Singer Sewing Machines. The foundation provides a large number of wonderful services for our area. One of the most generous of its outreaches is awarding college scholarships to students in the surrounding areas.


Of course, I had my camera with me, and I took some photos so my blog friends could enjoy the show as well.


We've had 4 inches of rain in the last week and a half. Everything is so soggy outside. We can wring the water out of the soil in the vegetable garden. I don't know when it will ever be dry enough to plant. If anyone is doing a rain dance out there (like maybe in Australia where they NEED rain....) I'm asking you to please stop it!!


These wonderful containers were decorating the main entrance to the hospital. They've recently changed the display. I like combination of the orange/yellow tulips with the Johnny Jump Ups (yes Val, also known as heartsease). They are violas.



See how they've wrapped a wire around the tulips to keep them upright?



Oh so pretty against the old bricks and ivy.



Zoey, I'll bet you love the color of these tulips! Aren't they gorgeous?
My husband tells me they've taken all the containers away now but haven't yet replaced them.



And Sigrun, look at this container! I love it planted with the Johnny Jump Ups.
'


This is Bassett Hall, a very beautiful old building. The decorations on the main entrance door at Christmastime are a masterpiece.



These gorgeous containers were decorating the side entrance of the Baseball Hall of Fame.



I'm a very big fan of pink!



This is diascia (dee-as-ee-a). It's so beautiful combined with the pink tulips.


A statue of the famous author, James Fenimore Cooper outside the Hall of Fame.



This is just one of several local churches, all decorated beautifully with different colored tulips. They probably have something else planted there by now. Red geraniums seem to be a favorite. We'll see what they choose this summer.



These pink tulips made a lovely show.



Isn't this a wonderful shade of pink? Posted by Picasa

And, Alice, there will be trees in the next post - just for you! I'll have to get more building shots next time I'm over there.

19 comments:

Alice said...[Reply]

It was well worth the effort of wandering around Cooperstown to take such lovely photos. The town councillors obviously have a lot of pride in their town. The trees and lawns look so stately and inviting (are you allowed to walk on the grass?). It will be interesting to see what is planted in place of those beautiful tulips. I'd love to see more of the buildings, too, Kerri.

Val said...[Reply]

Lovely photos of lovely subjects. I am very impressed! We Brits can often be dismissive of American history as "too recent!" but such a heritage - wonderful. And so beautifully maintained.

Carole Burant said...[Reply]

What beautiful pictures and the colours of all the flowers is awesome!! I love walking through historical towns and learning all about it...thank you so much for sharing this with us!

Alice said...[Reply]

Thank you, ma'am.

TJ said...[Reply]

Beautiful as always!!
:-D

Anonymous said...[Reply]

WOW!!! so beautiful. I love green. We don't get a lot of green in new mexico. We just don't get a lot of rain. I miss all the colors of spring time. These pictures are really lovely

Sigruns German Garden said...[Reply]

Kerri, beautiful! In this way I learn a lot from you about your homeland.

Sigrun

Susie said...[Reply]

I loved the little "walking tour" of Cooperstown, Kerri. Had to bring Bill in for a peek too! He loves all historic things. I know he would love coming East someday. We just have to make up our minds and do it!!
{{{hugs}}}
Susie
PS Once again, I know just where your sun is! Isn't funny how many times this year that has happened???

Philosophical Karen said...[Reply]

I remember reading an article on Cooperstown in a "fashionable" magazine about how no one is allowed to have tacky Christmas decorations (no Santas or snowmen or Rudolphs with glowing noses). To me, it made it seem like the foundation was a double-edged sword, contributing money to make sure all the decor met their standards (it might just have been the way the article was written). Being from the area, do you get a sense of that at all?

Regardless, the spring gardens all look gorgeous. I'm sure everyone is of the same mind and no one would want to take away from such a beautiful display.

Val said...[Reply]

I too love the color of those salmon(?)tulips. Very unusual.

I used to enjoy visiting historical sites in New York when I was living there as a child. There was such a charm about it.

sonia a. mascaro said...[Reply]

What a beautiful place, Kerri. I love so much this "walking tour" of Cooperstown! It's a great pleasure to know beautiful place like this. You are very lucky for living near such a gorgeous neighborhood.

Naturegirl said...[Reply]

I am so please that you had your camera with you to show us these delightful photos! My fav. was the conatiners at the Baseball Hall of fame!

Merle said...[Reply]

Hi Kerri ~~ A beautiful post full of
lovely flowers and buildings. Thank you
for sharing them with us.
Thanks for stopping by my place and for your comments. Take care, Merle.

Diana LaMarre said...[Reply]

What a beautiful tour you gave us, Kerri.
Very clever with the wire around the tulips. I had to enlarge to even notice it.
Now I am wondering what they planted for their summer containers.

clairesgarden said...[Reply]

beautiful colours, what a nice place to visit,
I was just laughing at your dandelion comment, mine always come out the day after I have mowed,
sorry about the rain dancing, its pouring here now so I'll stop( sure the neighbors find it so amusing!!)

Marlene Depler said...[Reply]

What delightful and gorgeous photographs! I can visit all sorts of places through the lens of the cameras of others.

Has it stopped raining? Send some of the rain to Colorado. It has been very dry here.

I am catching up on my blog reading this afternoon.

roybe said...[Reply]

Looks like a beautiful place to visit kerri, such a lovely avenue of pink tulips leading to the church.
Four inches of rain over our catchment would go along way to solving our water problens, we are restricted to buckets and watering cans only from today June 13th.

WendyAs said...[Reply]

Very pretty place. The stone building reminds me of here. The garden sure is tidy. I love the pink too and loath mamograms.

OldRoses said...[Reply]

I LOVE Johnny Jump Ups. I would never have thought of pairing them with orange tulips.