View allAll Photos Tagged eligibility
The Baptist Female College / Adams House, built by William Wharton in 1859, is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under criteria A, B, and C. The house has two distinct periods of significance. It is eligible under criterion A for its use as a dormitory at the Baptist Female College, later known as Woodbury College, from 1859 to 1917. It is also eligible under criterion B because of its association with Dr. Jesse F. Adams from 1924 to 1934. Adams, a local physician who was a social and humanitarian leader in Cannon County, used the building as his private dwelling. Finally, it is eligible under criterion C for its significance to Woodbury and Cannon County in architecture. The building exhibits the craftsmanship of William Wharton, an important local builder, and is a significant example of the transitional Greek Revival / Italinate style typical of the period in Middle Tennessee. Due to these historical ties, this structure was added to the NRHP on June 25, 1987.
Information above was taken from the original documents submitted to the NRHP for listing consideration and can be viewed here:
npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/b42a9eb8-8907-4c6a-bad8-63c371...
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the link below:
Just an example eligible photo for my Nov contest. It's Autumn, and I'm wearing a Piper Moda 'Trixie' blue skirt, so it's all good.
Karen wears...
Truth 'Destiny' hair
Similar 'Medusa' shoes
Ricielli 'Kirsten' jacket/top
Zuri spider earrings, free at Swank
AlaskaMetro makeup
ShinyStuffs Holo nail varnish
Cae bracelet
Piper Moda 'Trixie' skirt
Volograd pose
The Cumberland Mountain School, located in Crossville, Tennessee was nominated and deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under criterion A for its significance to the Cumberland Mountain region in education. The remaining 25.23 acres of the school represent an important philosophy about education for isolated mountain youth and grew out of an effort began by Robert Hershey Hall, who was assigned by the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South to serve the Crossville Circuit in 1916. Hall envisioned a boarding school that would supply agriculture, mechanical arts, and domestic science along with a high school curriculum. Cumberland Mountain School opened in 1921 with one building, Dorton Hall. In 1924-25 Susie Gray Hall (seen in the photograph above), a dormitory for female students, was completed. This dormitory building is now the focal point of the historic school grounds. From 48 students and two teachers in the inaugural year of 1921 to its peak of 120 students in 1925-26, the school continued to grow and expand. Unfortunately, in 1936 a major fire destroyed Dorton Hall. Up to this time, enrollment had been steady at around 105 per year. However, in the 1937-38 school year, enrollment dropped to 63 boarding students and 13 day students due to the loss of Dorton Hall and the affects of the depression. On December 24, 1938, Cumberland Mountain School closed for good. Cumberland Mountain School graduated 260 students during its 17 years of operation and is responsible for the education of an additional 400+ students. In 1952, the grounds were converted into a Methodist church camp. The camp later closed in 1987 as the result of a road project that relocated Highway 127 and hindered camp operations. Also in 1987, a decision was made to sell off the excess land and to give the original twenty-five acres containing the historic buildings to the First United Methodist Church of Crossville. The buildings were once used for conferences and meetings after being gifted to the local church but the exact use today is unknown.
The school was added to the NRHP on August 5, 1993. All the information above and many more details about the school can be viewed on the original documents submitted for listing consideration and can be found here:
npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=fa037682-7bf4-...
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D5200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the link below:
This item above is a 1991 (1990 photo) TV Sports Mailbag Joe Morgan Hall of Fame Induction Day photocard, which has been personally autographed. This specific card is postmarked with a "Induction Day" Cooperstown, New York cancel on a 1989 Lou Gehrig stamp, dated August 5, 1990, the day of his induction ceremony.
1989 TV Sports Mailbags - This 140-card set features glossy 8" by 10" color player photos and was distributed in packs with four pictures to a pack at the suggested retail price of $4.95. The backs carry the player's name, playing position, and team name.
1990 TV Sports Mailbag sets - There is a numbered set and a small lettered set. Beckett lists the 1989 and 1992 sets but nothing about 1990 and 1991. From what I can tell TV Sports Mailbag put out jumbo sets in 4 years:
Collectible Details - Player: Joe Leonard Morgan, a Hall of Fame second baseman.
Manufacturer: 1990 TV Sports Mailbag Inc., Yorktown Heights, N.Y.
Edition: Limited Edition, card (#34).
Features: The card measures 8x10 inches and features an image of Morgan in his Cincinnati Reds uniform with his career statistics and induction details printed on the right side.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Leonard Morgan (September 19, 1943 – October 11, 2020) was an American professional baseball second baseman who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Colt .45s / Astros, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies, and Oakland Athletics from 1963 to 1984. He won two World Series championships with the Reds in 1975 and 1976 and was also named the National League Most Valuable Player in each of those years. Considered one of the greatest second basemen of all time, Morgan was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1990 in his first year of eligibility. After retiring as an active player, Morgan became a baseball broadcaster for the Reds, Giants, ABC, and ESPN, as well as a stint in the mid-to-late 1990s on NBC's postseason telecasts, teamed with Bob Costas and Bob Uecker. He hosted a weekly nationally syndicated radio show on Sports USA, while serving as a special advisor to the Reds.
LINK to video - Joe Morgan 1990 Hall of Fame Induction Speech - www.youtube.com/watch?v=D04Q4PwsKsM
LINK to video - Joe Morgan Career Highlights - www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ba9o1-hUO8
In NYC, collectors get the 5-cent deposit back for each eligible bottle/can, plus a 3.5-cent handling fee from distributors, totaling 8.5 cents per item if sorted well (like at Sure We Can), but they get the base 5 cents when redeeming at stores. While the 5¢ deposit is unchanged, collectors advocate for a 10¢ fee, as it's tough to make a living on just the nickel, with some earning around $400-$700/week.
St. Marks Place
ManHatTan
Photography’s new conscience
Super Bowl LIV, the 54th Super Bowl and the 50th modern-era National Football League (NFL) championship game, will decide the champion for the NFL's 2019 and 100th season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers will play against the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs.
The game is scheduled to be played on February 2, 2020, at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. This will be the 11th Super Bowl hosted by the South Florida region and the sixth Super Bowl hosted in Miami Gardens, which hosted Super Bowl XLIV ten years earlier.
The game will be broadcast in the United States by Fox, and the halftime show will be co-headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira.
On May 19, 2015, the league announced the four finalists that would compete to host either Super Bowl LIII in 2019 or Super Bowl LIV. NFL owners voted on these cities in May 2016, with the first round of voting determining who would host Super Bowl LIII, and the second round deciding the site for Super Bowl LIV. The league had also originally announced in 2015 that Los Angeles would be eligible as a potential Super Bowl LIV site if there is a stadium in place, and a team moved there by the start of the 2018 season.
The league opened the relocation window in January 2016, selecting the former St. Louis Rams to return to Los Angeles; their new stadium in Inglewood, California was, at the time of the vote, not scheduled to open until August 2019 (it began construction in November 2016, giving nearly three years to construct the stadium). This meant the new stadium was scheduled to be open in time for the game (and the league selected the relocating team just in time to be considered for Super Bowl LIV), but, under the current construction timetable, would require a waiver of league policy to host Super Bowl LIV, as the league does not allow stadiums in their first year of existence to host the Super Bowl to ensure stadium construction delays and unforeseen problems do not jeopardize the game. In May 2016, the league granted this waiver and confirmed that Los Angeles was still in consideration for Super Bowl LIV.
On May 24, 2016, Atlanta was chosen to host Super Bowl LIII, thereby making it ineligible to host Super Bowl LIV. Meanwhile, Los Angeles removed itself from consideration for Super Bowl LIV.
The two remaining finalists for Super Bowl LIV were as follows:
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida: South Florida has previously hosted ten Super Bowls, the last being Super Bowl XLIV in 2010.
Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida: Tampa has hosted four Super Bowls, the last being Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.
Miami was selected as the host site at the NFL owners meeting on May 24, 2016.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_LIV
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
"Good to Go"! This theme has been adopted to tempt eligible tourists and locals back for Queensland holidays following the reopening of our borders to most of the rest of Australia. While saying that, I hope our visitors and residents follow COVID-19 restrictions and rules to the letter. The pandemic rages and waits cunningly for one person to let it get away, that's all it needs. A person who is infected and does the wrong thing, a non-infected person who does the wrong thing! Queensland's fortune is a tenuous thing and can be ripped away by selfishness and irresponsibility in almost no time.
This is a fish-eye shot, SOOC (straight out of the camera) with the exception of a small crop. It is taken from Wilson's Outlook in the inner suburb of New Farm over looking the Brisbane River and the Story Bridge in centre with the eastern (or Fortitude Valley) end on the right hand side and the Central Business District behind the bridge. The bridge by the way, which just celebrated its 80th. birthday is lit at night with varying colours of particular meaning and hosts bridge climbs to the top of the two main piers, for those who like heights.
While the fish-eye wraps itself round the shot, the river actually describes (that's highly technical jargon for "makes") two large loops in this area, the main one creating a peninsula of land called Kangaroo Point on the western or left hand side of the bridge. While this is now an area of urban high rise, up until the late 1970's, it was the site of the Evans Deakin shipyard, replete with many fascinating large cranes and dry docks along the bank of the river on the left of the bridge. In the 1974 flood, a large bulk ship being built managed to break its moorings and threatened to float down river and cause chaos. It wasn't the last time something nasty would happen during a catastrophic flood.
The Citycat ferry is making its way upstream stream under the bridge to the right.
After flowing along the city proper on the right bank and after passing the City Botanic Gardens the river does a 90 degree turn to the right, more or less isolating the full city area on another wider peninsula. The left bank, when heading upstream from the bridge passes the imposing Kangaroo Point cliffs, sight of much cliff climbing before passing, on the southside of the river, the South Brisbane dry dock (site of the Queensland Maritime Museum) and Southbank Parklands, site of Expo '88.
Directly below is the recently redeveloped Howard Smith Wharves area, with numerous bars, restaurants and cafes and an interesting cliff side lift (elevator) to get down to that level. Leading down stream out of shot to the left, the river is bordered on its left bank by the long Brisbane Riverwalk "jetty" (it's built over the river) which joins land again nearer New Farm Park. For many years it was a floating walk which snaked up and down in the wash created by passing boats (a fun experience) until it broke up in the 2011 floods. It washed downstream and had to be stopped by some intrepid mariners in a tug boat before it hit the piers of the Gateway Bridge....an outstanding act of heroism in the flooded river already filled with logs, dead cows, smashed boats and other miscellaneous debris.
It was a beautiful, mild, fine and bright winter's Sunday morning.
in a line-up for an hour & a half for testing for the Covid-19 virus, only to be handed a form listing the eligibility criteria.
For workers, taxi drivers, parents with full masks, couples with a "onesy" over their head, passing motorists, it may have been a waste of time..
It would have been nice to have the form to read and check the criteria before we queued!
Now in explore ranked #350 on 21-07-21
ongoing study or Coronavirus Pandemic..
www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/id...
Now complete this comprehensive survey of life during the Covid-19 experience..
redcap.urmc.rochester.edu/redcap/surveys/?s=FD4XRXNTT7&am...
see www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_governme...
see the latest COVID-19 stats for Australia..
www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2020/04/c...
see the research being done by the Garvan Institute..
www.garvan.org.au/research/diseases/covid-19/research
The COVID-19 pandemic has initiated an unprecedented global research effort on a single virus. At Garvan, our researchers responded immediately to the pandemic. We are driving or collaborating on projects locally and globally to develop new ways to treat and prevent infection with coronavirus, and learn more about the virus to inform better global treatment strategies.
As there are no guarantees on which treatment or vaccine will be effective, researchers must take as many different approaches as possible.
Garvan’s excellence in antibody research, immunology, cellular genomics and whole genome sequencing is well positioned to contribute valuably to the global research effort to fight COVID-19. We are using cutting-edge technology to drive innovative research projects, with our focus firmly on improving outcomes for patients.
Donate here.. www.garvan.org.au/research/diseases/covid-19/donate
The Green McAdoo School, located in Clinton, Tennessee and Anderson County, was deemed eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) under criterion A for its association with themes of African American heritage, education, and social history. Constructed by the New Deal Federal Emergency Relief Administration, a precursor to the Works Progress Administration, in 1935, the Green McAdoo School also possesses significance as a local example of how New Deal programs sought to enhance African American education. As the city's only public African American elementary school, Green McAdoo Elementary School became an education and community center. Initially known as the Clinton Colored School, it was later named for the late Green L. McAdoo in 1947, a Buffalo Soldier who served in the 24th Infantry. The school educated the African American children of Clinton during segregation. The period of significance of the school also extends to 1956, when it served as a strategy center and staging area during the movement to desegregate the public high school in Clinton. Once desegregation was underway in the fall of 1956, local African American students would gather at the school to form a group before proceeding on their walk to the white school. The school also hosted various public meetings in 1955-1956 where the desegregation process was explained and discussed within the African American community.
Architect Frank Barber designed the Clinton Colored School, following a plan for a two-teacher school, with a raised stage placed in one schoolroom so that the building could also serve as a community auditorium. Barber was a partner of the prominent Knoxville firm of Barber and McMurry. The firm was well-known for its school and church designs. The firm designed, among others, Sequoyah Elementary School (1929) and the Maryville High School before the commission for the Green McAdoo School.
Located in the heart of the African American community, Green McAdoo exemplifies the 1930's concept of a neighborhood school. The Green McAdoo community, including the teachers and parents provided a good educational experience for students despite equipment, salaries, and opportunities that were grossly inadequate in comparison with white public elementary schools. Despite unequal treatment from the outside world, Green McAdoo's faculty created a family atmosphere that is celebrated by alumni even today at a school, which touched the outskirts of Clinton, but that was never really part of the town, due to the spatial and cultural impact of Jim Crow segregation. As a result, the school was added to the NRHP on November 8, 2005. All the information above was discovered in the original documents submitted for listing consideration and can be viewed here:
npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/5e5cd0c7-cfa3-4580-b47...
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/
Fort Anderson on Militia Hill was deemed eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 2011 under Criterion A in the areas of industry, military, and social history for its association with the Coal Creek War during 1891-1892, a rebellion fomented by the corruption of the convict labor leasing system and the subsequent miner uprising. The site is the best local representation of the constant struggles faced by miners to retain their rightful employment in the mines, despite the presence of the unskilled convict miners. It also is the best local representation of the Tennessee Militia's involvement with the labor tensions between the convict miners and the free miners. Overall, the nominated property retains its integrity, as no modifications have been made to negatively impact the site. The fortification, consisting of a series of trenches & earthworks that date to 1892, is located off Vowell Mountain Road, at a hillside location known historically as Militia Hill, in Lake City (known today as Rocky Top, TN), in north central Anderson County. Lake City originally formed in the mid-1800s as a mining community, known then as the town of Coal Creek. Since 2000, the Coal Creek Watershed Foundation and its volunteers have worked to give the site a stronger presence in the community by deterring trash piles from accumulating & acts of vandalism. In November 2010, the Foundation erected historical markers at the top of Militia Hill, near the fortification. These markers provide brief explanations of Militia Hill, the convict leasing systems, reasons why the miners fought, and the outbreak of the Coal Creek War.
All the information above was found in the original documents submitted to the NRHP for listing consideration. Much more detail is included and can be found in the documents here:
npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail/9040da81-2a88-4117-a36...
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the link below: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Today however we are at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie. Lettice is visiting her family home after receiving a strongly worded instruction from her father by letter to visit without delay or procrastination. Over luncheon, Lettice was berated by her parents for her recent decision to decorate the home of the upcoming film actress, Wanetta Ward. Lettice has a strained relationship with her mother at the best of times as the two have differing views about the world and the role that women have to play in it, and whilst receiving complaints about her choice of clients, Lettice was also scolded by mother for making herself unsuitable for any young man who might present as an eligible prospect. Although Lettice is undeniably her father’s favourite child, even he has been less than receptive to her recent choices of clients, which has put her a little out of favour with him. After Lady Sadie stormed out of the dining room over one of Lettice’s remarks, Viscount Wrexham implored his headstrong youngest daughter to try and make an effort with her mother, which is something she has been mulling over during her overnight stay.
Now Lettice stands in the grand Robert Adam decorated marble and plaster entrance hall of her family home as she prepares to take her leave. Outside on the gravel driveway, Harris the chauffer has the Chetwynd’s 1912 Daimler ready to drive her to the Glynes village railway station for the one fifteen to London. She has bid farewell to her brother Leslie and her father. Now there is just one final member of the family whom she needs to say goodbye to.
“Thank you Marsden.” Lettice remarks to the liveried first footman as he carries the last of Lettice’s luggage out to the Daimler.
“I hope you have a safe journey back to London, My Lady.” Bramley, the Chetwynd’s butler remarks as he walks into the entrance hall to see Lettice off.
“Thank you, Bramley,” Lettice replies. “Oh, I’m glad you are here. Do you know where my Mother might be?”
Considering her question, the old butler looks to the upper levels and ceiling of the hall before replying knowingly. “Well, it is still mid-morning according to Her Ladyship, so I would imagine that she will be in the morning room. Shall I go and see, My Lady?”
“No thank you Bramley. You have more than enough to do I’m sure, managing this old pile of bricks, without doing that for me. I’m perfectly capable of seeking her out for myself.”
Turning on her heel, Lettice walks away from the butler, her louis heels echoing off the marble tiles around the entrance hall in her wake.
“Mamma?” Lettice trills with false cheer as she knocks with dread on the walnut door to the morning room.
When there is no reply to her call, she considers two possibilities: either her mother is still in a funk with her and not speaking to her after the scene in the dining room yesterday, or she isn’t in the morning room at all. Both are as likely as each other. Taking a deep breath, she turns the handle and opens the door, calling her mother again as she does so.
The Glynes morning room is very much Lady Sadie’s preserve, and the original classical Eighteenth Century design has been overlayed with the comfortable Edwardian clutter of continual and conspicuous acquisition that is the hallmark of a lady of her age and social standing. China cabinets of beautiful porcelain line the walls. Clusters of mismatched chairs unholstered in cream fabric, tables and a floral chaise lounge, all from different eras, fill the room: set up to allow for the convivial conversation of the great and good of the county after church on a Sunday. The hand painted Georgian wallpaper can barely be seen for paintings and photographs in ornate gilded frames. The marble mantelpiece is covered by Royal Doulton figurines and more photos in silver frames. Several vases of flowers stand on occasional tables, but even their fragrance cannot smother her mother’s Yardley Lily of the Valley scent. Lady Sadie is nowhere to be seen but cannot have been gone long judging by her floral wake.
Walking over to the Eighteenth Century bonheur de jour* that stands cosily in a corner of the room, Lettice snorts quietly with derision as she looks at the baby photograph of Leslie, her eldest brother, which stands in pride of place in a big silver frame on the desk’s serpentine top, along with a significantly smaller double frame featuring late Nineteenth Century younger incarnations of her parents. Lettice, her sister Lally and brother Lionel have been relegated to a lesser hanging space on the wall, as befits the children seen as less important by their mother. Everything has always been about Leslie as far as their mother is concerned, and always has been for as long as Lettice can remember.
Lettice runs her fingers idly over several books sitting open on the desk’s writing space. There is a costume catalogue from London and a book on Eighteenth Century hairstyles. “Making plans for the Hunt Ball.” Lettice muses with a smile. It is then that she notices a much thicker book below the costume catalogue which has a familiar looking worn brown leather cover with a gilt tooled inlay. Moving the catalogue Lettice finds a copy of Debrett’s**
“Oh Mamma!” she exhales with disappointment as she shakes her head.
As she picks it up, she dislodges a partially written letter in her mother’s elegant copperplate hand from beneath it. Lettice knows she shouldn’t read it but can’t help herself as she scans the thick white paper embossed with the Wrexham coat of arms. Its contents make her face go from its usual creamy pallor to red with frustration.
“Ahh! Lettice!” Lady Sadie’s crisp intonation slices the silence as she walks into the morning room and discovers her daughter standing over her desk. “Heading back to London, are we?” she continues cheerily as she observes her daughter dressed in her powder blue travelling coat, matching hat and arctic fox fur stole. She smiles as she indicates to the desk’s surface. “I’m making plans for my outfit for the Hunt Ball. I thought I might come as Britannia this year.”
Lettice doesn’t answer her mother immediately as she continues to stare down at the letter next to her mother’s silver pen and bottle of ink. Remembering her father’s request, she draws upon her inner strength to try and remain civil as she finally acknowledges, “How appropriate that you should come as the all-conquering female warrior.”
“Lettice?” Lady Sadie remarks quizzically.
“Perhaps you might like to reconsider your choice of costume and come as my faerie godmother, since I’m coming as Cinderella.”
“Oh, now that’s a splendid idea! Although I don’t…”
“Or better yet, come as cupid instead!” Lettice interrupts her mother hotly, anger seething through her clipped tones as she tries to keep her temper.
“Now you’re just being foolish, Lettice,” Lady Sadie replies as she walks towards her daughter, the cheerful look on her face fading quickly as she notices the uncovered copy of Debrett’s on her desk’s surface.
“Not at all, Mamma! I think it’s most apt considering what you are trying to do.”
“Trying to do? What on earth are you talking about Lettice?” the older woman chuckles awkwardly, her face reddening a little as she reaches her bejewelled right hand up to the elegant strand of collar length pearls at her throat.
Lettice picks up the letter, dangling it like an unspoken accusation between herself and her mother before looking down at it and reading aloud, “My dear Lillie, we haven’t seen you at Glynes for so long. Won’t you, Marmaduke and Jonty consider coming to the Hunt Ball this year? Do you remember how much Jonty and my youngest, Lettice, used to enjoy playing together here as children? I’m sure that now that they are both grown, they should be reacquainted with one another.” She lowers her hand and drops the letter on top of the edition of Debrett’s like a piece of rubbish before looking up at her mother, giving her a cool stare.
“It isn’t ladylike to read other people’s correspondence, Lettice!” Lady Sadie quips as she marches up to her desk and snatches the letter away from Lettice’s reach, lest her daughter should cast it into the fire cracking peaceably in the grate.
“Is it ladylike to arrange the lives of two strangers without discussing it?”
“It has long been the prerogative of mothers to arrange their children’s marriages.” The older woman defends herself. “And you and Jonty Hastings aren’t strangers, Lettice. You and he…”
“Haven’t seen each other since we were about six years old, when we played in the hedgerows together and had tea in the nursery with Nanny Webb after she had washed the mud off us!”
“Well, all the better for the two of you to become reacquainted then, as I’m suggesting to his mother.” She runs her fingers along the edges of the letter in her hands defiantly. “And I am going to send this letter, Lettice,” Her voice gathers a steely tone of determination. “Whether you like it, or lump it.”
“Yes, Pappa told me after you,” she pauses for a moment to consider her words carefully. “Left, us at luncheon yesterday, that you had been making some discreet enquiries about inviting some eligible young bachelors for me to the ball this year.”
“And so I have, Lettice.” Lady Sadie sniffs. “Since you seem incapable of finding yourself a suitable match even after your successful debut London Season, I have taken it upon myself to do some…”
“Matchmaking, Mamma?”
“Arranging, Lettice. Tarquin Howard, Sir John Nettleford-Hughes…”
“Sir John is as old as the hills!” Lettice splutters in disbelief. “You surely can’t imagine I’d consider him a likely prospect!”
“Sir John is an excellent match, Lettice. You can hardly fail to see how advantageous it would be to marry him.”
“Once I look past the twenty five, no more, years age difference. No, better he be chased by some social climbing American woman looking for an entrée into the society pages. Perhaps I should ask Miss Ward to the ball. I’m sure she would love to meet Sir John.”
Lady Sadie’s already pale face drains of any last colour at the thought of an American moving picture star walking into her well planned ball. “Well, if you won’t countenance Sir John, I’ve also invited Edward Lambley and Selwyn Spencely.”
“Selwyn Spencely?” Lettice laughs. “The guest list just gets more and more implausable.”
“What’s so implausible about Selwyn Spencely, Lettice? The Spencelys are a very good family. Selwyn has a generous income which will only increase when he eventually takes his father’s place as the next Viscount Markham. He inherited a house in Belgravia from his grandfather when he came of age, so you two can continue to live in London until you become chatelaine of Markham Park.”
“Can you hear yourself, Mamma?” Lettice cries as she raises her arms in exasperation, any good will she tried to muster for her Mother quickly dissipating. “Do you want to pick what wedding gown I am to wear too?” Lettice laughs again. “Selwyn and I haven’t laid eyes on each other for almost as long as Jonty and I.”
“Well, he’s grown into a very handsome young man, Lettice. I’ve seen his photograph in The Lady.” Her mother bustles across the end of the floral chaise where a pile of well fingered magazines sit. “Look, I can show you.”
“Oh, please don’t Mamma!” Lettice throws her hands up in protest. “Please don’t add insult to injury.”
Lady Sadie turns around, a hurt look on her face. “How can you say that to me, Lettice? I’m only trying to do right by you, by securing a suitable and advantageous marriage for you.”
“But what about love, Mamma?” Lettice sighs. “What if I don’t wish to marry at all? What if I am happy just running my interior design business.”
“Oh what nonsense, Lettice! The younger generation are so tiresome. All this talk of love! I blame those moving pictures your Ward woman stars in that you and your friends all flock to slavishly! Your Father and I had our marriage arranged. We weren’t in love.” She emphasises the last two words with a withering tone. “We’d only even met a handful of times before we were married. Love came naturally in time, and look how happy we are.” She smiles smugly with self satisfaction. “And as for your business, you aren’t Syrie Maugham***, Lettice. You’ve always been told, from an early age, that your duty as a daughter of a member of this great and noble family, even as the youngest daughter, is to marry and marry well.” She sinks onto the chaise. “This foolishness about interior design,” She flaps her glittering fingers distractedly at Lettice. “Will have to end when you get married. Whether it be Jonty, Nicolas or Selwyn, you’ll have to give it up. No respectable man of position and good breeding will have his wife working as a decorator! He’d be ashamed!”
At her mother’s harsh words, Lettice abandons any attempt to try and make an effort with her. She looks up to the ornate white painted plaster ceiling and crystal chandelier hanging in the middle of the room as she clenches her hands into fists. “Well,” she looks angrily at her mother. “We wouldn’t want my future husband to be ashamed of my success, now would we?”
“What success, Lettice?” her mother scoffs. “You were only able to decorate Gwendolyn’s small drawing room because I asked her to allow you to do it.”
“I’ve plenty of clients now, no thanks to you, Mamma!”
“Dickie and Margot don’t count, dear,” Lady Sadie replies dismissively as she fingers the edges of a copy of the Tattler distractedly. “They are your friends. Of course they were going to ask you to decorate their house.”
Lettice gasps as though her mother just punched all the air out of her chest. She stands, silent for a moment, her face flushing with embarrassment and anger. “You’ve always been so cruel to me Mamma, ever since I was little.”
“And you’ve always been so stubborn and obstinate, ever since you were a child! Goodness knows what I did to deserve a wilful daughter. Lally was so lovely and pliable, and certainly no trouble to marry off.” She folds her hands neatly in her lap over her immaculately pressed tweed skirt and looks up at her daughter. “I don’t mean to be harsh, Lettice, but someone has to make you see sense. Goodness knows your Father can’t, what with him wound around your little finger! You will have to marry eventually, Lettice, and preferably soon. It’s a foregone conclusion. It’s what is expected of you, and as I said yesterday, you aren’t getting any younger, and you certainly don’t want to be left stuck on the shelf. Just think of the shame it would bring you.”
“More think of the shame it would bring you, Mamma.” Lettice spits bitterly. “To have a daughter who is a spinster, an old maid, and in trade to boot!”
“Now there is no need to be overtly nasty, Lettice.” Lady Sadie mutters brittlely. “It’s unbecoming.”
A little gilt clock on an occasional table chimes one o’clock prettily.
“Mamma, however much I would love to sit here and share bitter quips and barbs with you all day over a pot of tea, I really do have to leave!” Lettice says with finality. “I have a train to catch. Gerald and I have a reservation at the Café Royal**** tonight.” She walks over to her mother, bends down and goes to kiss her cheek, but the older woman stiffens as she averts her daughter’s touch. Lettice sighs as she raises herself up again. “I’ll see you in a week for Dickie and Margot’s wedding and then after that for Bonfire Night*****.”
“Hopefully you’ll have come to your senses about marriage and this ridiculous designing business by then.”
Lettice raises her head proudly and takes a deep breath before turning away from her mother and walks with a purposeful stride across the room. “No I won’t, Mamma.” she says defiantly. As she opens the door to leave the morning room, she turns back to the figure of her mother sitting facing away from her towards the fire. “Pappa asked me to make an effort at the Hunt Ball, and I will. I will dance and flirt with whomever you throw in my general direction, be they old, blind or bandy-legged.” She sees her mother’s shoulders stiffen, indicating silently that she is listening, even if she doesn’t want to acknowledge that she is. “However, be under no pretence Mamma. I am doing it for him, and not you.”
“Lettice…” Lady Sadie’s voice cracks.
“And,” Lettice cuts her off sharply. “No matter who I dance with, or charm, I will not marry any of them. Goodbye Mamma.”
Lettice closes the door quietly behind her and walks back down the hallway to the entrance hall. She walks through the front doors with her head aloof, and steps into the back of the waiting Daimler. Marsden closes its door and Harris starts the engine. The chauffer can sense the tension seething through his passenger as she huffs and puffs in the spacious rear cabin, dabbing her nose daintily with a lace edged handkerchief, so he remains quiet as he steers the car down the sweeping driveway. As the car pulls away from Glynes basking in the early afternoon autumnal sun, Lettice can almost feel two sets of eyes on her back: one pair from her father looking sadly out from the library and the other her mother’s peering critically from behind the morning room curtains.
*A bonheur de jour is a type of lady's writing desk. It was introduced in Paris by one of the interior decorators and purveyors of fashionable novelties called marchands-merciers around 1760, and speedily became intensely fashionable. Decorated on all sides, it was designed to sit in the middle of a room so that it could be admired from any angle.
**The first edition of Debrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland, containing an Account of all the Peers, 2 vols., was published in May 1802, with plates of arms, a second edition appeared in September 1802, a third in June 1803, a fourth in 1805, a fifth in 1806, a sixth in 1808, a seventh in 1809, an eighth in 1812, a ninth in 1814, a tenth in 1816, an eleventh in 1817, a twelfth in 1819, a thirteenth in 1820, a fourteenth in 1822, a fifteenth in 1823, which was the last edition edited by Debrett, and not published until after his death. The next edition came out in 1825. The first edition of The Baronetage of England, containing their Descent and Present State, by John Debrett, 2 vols., appeared in 1808. Today, Debrett's is a British professional coaching company, publisher and authority on etiquette and behaviour. It was founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of The New Peerage. The company takes its name from its founder, John Debrett.
***Syrie Maugham was a leading British interior decorator of the 1920s and 1930s and best known for popularizing rooms decorated entirely in shades of white. She was the wife of English playwright and novelist William Somerset Maugham.
****The Café Royal in Regent Street, Piccadilly was originally conceived and set up in 1865 by Daniel Nicholas Thévenon, who was a French wine merchant. He had to flee France due to bankruptcy, arriving in Britain in 1863 with his wife, Célestine, and just five pounds in cash. He changed his name to Daniel Nicols and under his management - and later that of his wife - the Café Royal flourished and was considered at one point to have the greatest wine cellar in the world. By the 1890s the Café Royal had become the place to see and be seen at. It remained as such into the Twenty-First Century when it finally closed its doors in 2008. Renovated over the subsequent four years, the Café Royal reopened as a luxury five star hotel.
****Guy Fawkes Day, also called Bonfire Night, British observance, celebrated on November the fifth, commemorating the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Guy Fawkes and his group members acted in protest to the continued persecution of the English Catholics. Today Guy Fawkes Day is celebrated in the United Kingdom, and in a number of countries that were formerly part of the British Empire, with parades, fireworks, bonfires, and food. Straw effigies of Fawkes are tossed on the bonfire, as are—in more recent years in some places—those of contemporary political figures. Traditionally, children carried these effigies, called “Guys,” through the streets in the days leading up to Guy Fawkes Day and asked passersby for “a penny for the guy,” often reciting rhymes associated with the occasion, the best known of which dates from the Eighteenth Century.
Cluttered with paintings, photographs and furnishings, Lady Sadie’s morning room with its Georgian furnishings is different from what you might think, for it is made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures from my collection.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The books on Lady Sadie’s desks are 1:12 size miniatures made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Most of the books I own that he has made may be opened to reveal authentic printed interiors. In some cases, you can even read the words, depending upon the size of the print! I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection, but so little of his real artistry is seen because the books that he specialised in making are usually closed, sitting on shelves or closed on desks and table surfaces. Therefore, it is a pleasure to give you a glimpse inside two of the books he has made. One of the books is a French catalogue of fancy dress costumes from the late Nineteenth Century, and the other is a book of Georgian hairstyes. To give you an idea of the work that has gone into these volumes, each book contains twelve double sided pages of illustrations and they measure thirty-three millimetres in height and width and are only three millimetres thick. What might amaze you even more is that all Ken Blythe’s opening books are authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make this a miniature artisan piece. The 1908 Debrett’s Peerage book is also made by Ken Blythe, but does not open. He also made the envelopes sitting in the rack to the left of the desk and the stamps you can see next to the ink bottle. The stamps are 2 millimetres by two millimetres each! Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago, as well as through his estate via his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter. I hope that you enjoy this peek at just two of hundreds of his books that I own, and that it makes you smile with its sheer whimsy!
On the desk is a 1:12 artisan miniature ink bottle and a silver pen, both made by the Little Green Workshop in England who specialise in high end, high quality miniatures. The ink bottles is made from a tiny faceted crystal bead and has a sterling silver bottom and lid.
The Chetwynd’s family photos seen on the desk and hanging on the walls are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames are almost all from Melody Jane’s Dollhouse Suppliers in the United Kingdom and are made of metal with glass in each. The largest frame on the right-hand side of the desk is actually a sterling silver miniature frame. It was made in Birmingham in 1908 and is hallmarked on the back of the frame. It has a red leather backing.
The vase of primroses in the middle of the desk is a delicate 1:12 artisan porcelain miniature made and painted by hand by Ann Dalton.
The desk and its matching chair is a Salon Reine design, hand painted and copied from an Eighteenth Century design, made by Bespaq. All the drawers open and it has a lidded rack at either end. Bespaq is a high-end miniature furniture maker with high attention to detail and quality.
The wallpaper is a copy of an Eighteenth Century blossom pattern.
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
This morning however we are at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie. Lettice is visiting her family home as her parents hosted their first Hunt Ball since 1914 last night. Lady Sadie was determined that not only would it be the event of the 1922 county season, but also that it would be a successful entrée for her youngest daughter, still single at twenty-one years of age, to meet a number of eligible and marriageable men. Whilst Lettice enjoys dancing, parties and balls, she was less enthusiastic about the idea of the ball being used as a marriage market than her parents were. Yet Lady Sadie seems to have gotten her wish as Lettice and latecomer Selwyn Spencely seemed to hit it off last night, and spent much of the latter part of the evening together.
Whilst the fancy dress Hunt Ball is now over, there are still traces of its presence and as Lettice walks down the stairs of the lofty Adam style entrance hall. She can hear the sweep of brooms and the click of glassware coming through the open door of the ballroom as several servants laugh and chatter as they restore the grand room back to its pristine condition and shroud its gilded furnishings, crystal chandeliers and paintings in dust sheets again before closing its doors. As she reaches the base of the stairs, the faint waft of a mixture of perfumes greets her, rather like ghost of the party goers, long since gone and many like her mother, probably still abed as they recover from the excesses of the occasion, making their presence known. As she walks into the Glynes dining room with its Georgian wallpapers and furnishings, all signs that it had been used for a very lavish buffet the previous evening are gone, except one again for the faint whiff of a foreign perfume or the hit of roast beef in the air.
“Good morning Pappa,” Lettice says politely, walking over to her father who sits in his usual place at the head of the table reading the newspapers sent down from London on the milk train* and expertly ironed** by Bramley, the Chetwynd’s butler.
“Err… ahem… morning.” he mutters distractedly in reply, shaking the Daily Mirror with a crisp crack as Lettice plants a kiss on the top of his head.
“Good morning Leslie,” she says to her brother, who sits in his mother’s seat at the dining table to the left of their father with his back to the warmth of the fireplace. “How are you this morning?”
“I dare say the same as you, Tice.” he replies tiredly, taking a sip of orange juice. “Thank god for aspirin is all I’ll say.”
Lettice smiles indulgently across at her brother as she sits opposite him at the table. “Was that Arabella Tyrwhitt I saw you dancing with repeatedly last night?”
“It was,” he replies, hitting the top of his boiled egg sharply three times and cracking the shell. “You’re observant.”
“I didn’t know that you and Arabella had reached an understanding.” She pours some tea into her dainty rose patterned teacup from the silver teapot on the tabletop before her.
“Well, you’re so busy with your new interior designer life up in London now, you wouldn’t know what happens down here in dull old Wiltshire, would you?” He carefully peels the shell off the top of his egg.
“Are you goading me, Leslie?”
“Me? Goad you? How could you even think such a thing?” An overly expressive amateur dramatic wrist placed to his forehead tells Lettice that Leslie is far from being serious. “Not at all, Tice.” He smiles as the white of his egg is revealed, untainted by eggshell pieces. “Arabella and I reached an understanding last year.”
“Not a bad sort, the elder Tyrwhitt girl,” comes the Viscount’s voice from behind the screen of the newspaper, indicating that even though he is unsociably reading and hiding behind the Daily Mirror, he is still aware of the conversation between his eldest and youngest children washing around him. “She has her head screwed on properly: knows her way around horses, has a head for farming and can judge a cattle show. She’ll make a fine chatelaine of Glynes one day.” With a crack of paper, he lowers the London tabloid and eyeballs his daughter. “Don’t tell your mother I said that, or I shall never hear the end of it.”
“No Pappa,” Lettice replies, a giggle escaping her lips as the paper rises again and she catches the cheeky look on her brother’s face. “What’s new in the world today then, Pappa.”
“Haugdahl broke the land speed record in Florida***, apparently,” the Viscount replies. “One hundred and eighty miles per hour they say.”
“Goodness!” Leslie exclaims. “Imagine travelling at that speed! It must be exhilarating.”
“Thinking of converting the Saunderson**** are you, Leslie?” Lettice teases her brother. “You’ll have England’s, no the world’s fastest tractor!” She giggles at the thought, for which she is rewarded with a withering look from him.
“Oh, “ her father continues, a serious lilt in his voice. “And His Royal Highness was seen at that club,” He almost spits the word out. “Of yours.”
“The Embassy Club is hardly mine, Pappa.” Lettice defends.
“Well, it’s bad enough you go there in the first place.” he mutters admonishingly. “Women going to nightclubs.”
“I go there too, Pappa,” Leslie comes to his sister’s defence chivalrously. He then rather spoils the attempt by adding rather weakly, “Sometimes.”
“Yes, well,” his father huffs. “You don’t live in London to have all the temptations of the city flaunted before you.”
“You make London sounds like Sodom and Gomorrah, Pappa!” Lettice scoffs.
“Well it isn’t exactly…” he hesitates as he hears the handle of the dining room door turn.
The door opens and Moira, the maid who has taken to assisting wait table at breakfast and luncheon on informal occasions since the war, walks through the door with a silver salver on which she carries a boiled egg in a silver egg cup and some toast slices housed in a silver rack. “Your egg and toast, Miss.” she says politely as she lowers the tray and allows Lettice to pick up her egg and the toast rack. Turning to the Viscount she asks with deference, “Can I get you anything else, Sir?”
The Viscount slams down his paper with a thwack on the table, disturbing the neatly placed cutlery on his plate with an unnerving rattle. “Get away with your wittering, girl!” he blusters angrily. “When I want something, I’ll ask Bramley for it!”
Lettice catches the maid’s startled eye with her gaze, and narrowing her own eyes slightly, she gives an almost imperceptible shake of her head at her.
“No… no Sir,” Moira stammers. “Err… I mean yes, Sir.” She quickly bobs and curtsey and scurries back out the door she came through.
“Oh you shouldn’t terrorise the poor girl, Father,” Leslie says, giving his father an imploring look. “You know how hard it is to keep servants these days. She’s so devoted. We’re lucky to have her.”
“I agree Leslie,” Lettice adds. “Edith wouldn’t put up with that from me. She knows her rights.”
“Servants rights,” the Viscount sneers. “What utter rubbish. She gets food, board, uniform and wages. What more does she need?”
“A less disagreeable master,” Leslie replies.
“Damnable girl!” the Viscount blasts in reply. “She aught not to be waiting table at all! Where’s Bramley? Nothing has been the same since the bloody war!”
“You know why she’s waiting table, Pappa,” Lettice soothes. Reaching across she picks up the silver coffee pot and fills her father’s cup. “Things aren’t like they were before the war. We don’t have all the male servants we used to.”
“Well Bramley should be here to serve me! Why do I pay handsomely for a butler if he isn’t here to wait table at breakfast?”
“He’s busy keeping this old pile of bricks and plaster functioning. We can’t always have Bramley or Marsden waiting table, Father,” Leslie adds hopefully. “Especially not on informal occasions.”
“Oh I wish I could be like Mamma, and have breakfast in bed,” Lettice sighs, picking up the butter knife and smearing a small amount of creamy pale yellow butter from the home farm onto a triangle of toast before adding a dollop of homemade raspberry jam from the preserve pot.
“As soon as you become Mrs. Selwyn Spencely, you can.*****” Leslie replies from across the table.
“Oh, don’t you start!” Lettice groans. “I haven’t even started my breakfast yet.”
“Now, now, my darling girl,” Viscount Wrexham says, folding his paper in two and placing it flat on the table. “Don’t be coy.” He adds a dash of milk from the dainty floral breakfast set milk jug to his coffee and stirs it. “Spit it out! It seems last night was more of a success than you would care to admit to. How are things between you and young Spencely, eh?” He winks conspiratorially at his daughter, all thoughts of Moira’s irritating presence vanished from his mind.
“Oh Pappa! You’re as bad as Mamma!” She rolls her eyes and looks down, focusing upon spreading the rich red jam full of seeds across her toast with her knife. “Why do I feel like I’m about to be interrogated. There really is nothing to report.”
“Not according to what I saw, Tice.” Leslie remarks. “You two seemed to hit it off very nicely.”
“I thought you were too busy with Arabella to notice anyone else, Leslie.”
“We weren’t that unobservant.” Leslie sists back in his Chippendale dining chair and folds his arms comfortably across his stomach, a satisfied look upon his face. “Arabella and I could hardly fail to notice when our Cinderella of the ball fell for the most handsome and eligible prince in the room.”
“Oh, you do talk such rubbish, Leslie!” Lettice flaps her linen napkin at him.
“Well, it seems everyone in the ballroom last night was aware of the movements of you two. You and Selwyn will be the chief source of gossip at every breakfast table in Wiltshire and all the neighbouring counties this morning.”
“You do over exaggerate things Leslie.” Lettice replies dismissively.
“Well, I thought you and young Spencely seemed quite cosy, my dear,” her father adds, taking a sip of his coffee. “And I don’t usually notice such things. Don’t tell me your mother and I were wrong.”
“We just talked Pappa,” Lettice cries exasperatedly, dropping her knife onto her plate with a clatter. “As Leslie pointed out, we were hardly afforded any privacy to do anything more than that, with everyone evidently watching us.”
“Not that you noticed that yourself, of course,” Leslie proffers with a cheeky glint in his eye. “Making cow eyes****** like a teenage girl with a crush.”
“Oh do shut up, Leslie!” Lettice answers back grumpily, placing her arms akimbo as she feels her face heat as it colours with an embarrassed blush.
“So, it did go well with you and young Spencely, then?” the Viscount asks hopefully, excitement giving his eyes an extra sparkle of life.
“We just talked, Pappa.” Lettice reiterates. “About what we remembered of playing together as children, about how grumpy his mother was the last time we saw each other.”
“Oooh!” hoots the Viscount. “Lady Zinnia was fit to be tied every time her precious Spencely went home looking like he had been dragged backwards through a hedgerow.”
“That’s probably because he had been, if I remember anything about Tice at that age.” Leslie chortles.
“I call that frightfully unfair, Leslie! Lionel used to play with us too.”
“And what else did you talk about?” the Viscount asks, determined not to let the conversation stray away from his focus. He sits further forward in his chair and stares at his daughter with an expectant look.
“Oh I don’t know, Pappa. We talked about what we’ve done over the ensuing years since we last saw each other. That’s all.”
“He’s an architect, isn’t he, Tice?” Leslie asks.
“He is.”
“Well that sounds like a match made in heaven then,” Leslie claps his hands delightedly. “He can design the houses and you can decorate them. Perfect!”
“Until he becomes Duke, and Lettice the Duchess,” Viscount Wrexham adds with unbridled pleasure.
“Have you chosen my wedding dress yet, Pappa?” Lettice spits hotly.
“What?” He looks at her oddly. “Oh, no. I’ll leave that sort of women’s work to your mother, dear girl.” He waves his hand dismissively.
“I don’t think Tice was being literal, Father,” Leslie elucidates hopefully. “She was making a point.”
“What? What point?”
“I know you and Mamma want me to be married, Pappa,” Lettice begins.
“The sooner the better as far as I’m concerned if we’re talking about young Spencely.” agrees the Viscount. “He’s a splendid catch for you.”
Ignoring his remark, Lettice carries on, “But I will manage this in my own way, mind you. I don’t want you and especially not Mamma interfering.”
“Interfering?” the Viscount splutters.
“Interfering!” Lettice affirms strongly.
“So,” the older man replies, smiling with satisfaction. “Things did go well then.”
“We’ve agreed that we might, just might Pappa, catch up when he’s next in London and free to do so. Perhaps we will have dinner together or see a show.”
“I say!” the Viscount chortles, rubbing his hands together with glee. “Today will be a good day. Your mother will be over the moon with delight!”
“Unless Gerald Bruton’s rancourous remarks last night really have upset her.” Pipes up Leslie.
“Gerald?” gasps Lettice.
“What’s young Bruton said now?” the Viscount asks his son, his happy expression clouding over with concern.
“I don’t quite know,” Leslie admits with a slight shrug of his shoulders. “She refused to say. Whatever it was, it made her positively furious.”
The Viscount looks defeatedly at Lettice, “Well, then I hope for all our sakes that Spencely sees how perfect you are, Lettice, and that romance does blossom. It will be better for all of us if your mother is placated, and I couldn’t think of a better way to do it than your potential marriage.”
*A milk train was a very early morning, often pre-dawn, train that traditionally transported milk, stopping at many stops and private halts to pick up milk in churns from farming districts. The milk train also carried other good including newspapers from London and even the occasional passenger anxious to get somewhere extremely early.
**It was a common occurrence in large and medium-sized houses that employed staff for the butler or chief parlour maid to iron the newspapers. The task of butlers ironing newspapers is not as silly as it sounds. Butlers were not ironing out creases, but were using the hot iron to dry the ink so that the paper could be easily read without the reader's ending up with smudged fingers and black hands, a common problem with newspapers in the Victorian and Edwardian ages.
***Sprint car driver Sig Haugdahl and officials of the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) reported that he had broken the record for fastest speed on land and had reached 180 miles per hour on the 7th of April 1922 whilst driving a 250 horse power car at the Daytona Beach Road Course in Florida. The claim of a new record had not been timed by the American Automobile Association and was not accepted because it was unverifiable. Remarkably, Haugdahl's claimed speed of 180 miles per hour was forty five percent faster than the official record of 124.09 miles per hour set by Lydston Hornsted on June the 24th, 1914, in a 200 horse power car.
****Saunderson, based near Bedford was Britain’s only large-scale tractor maker at the time of the Great War.
*****Before the Second World War, if you were a married Lady, it was customary for you to have your breakfast in bed, because you supposedly don't have to socialise to find a husband. Unmarried women were expected to dine with the men at the breakfast table, especially on the occasion where an unmarried lady was a guest at a house party, as it gave her exposure to the unmarried men in a more relaxed atmosphere and without the need for a chaperone.
******Making cow eyes is an expression for looking coy or docile yet clearly intending that the person looked at will find the looker attractive.
Contrary to what your eyes might tell you, this upper-class country house domestic scene is actually made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures, some of which come from my own childhood.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The Chippendale dining room table and matching chairs are very special pieces. They came from the Petite Elite Miniature Museum, later rededicated as the Carol and Barry Kaye Museum of Miniatures, which ran between 1992 and 2012 on Los Angeles’ bustling Wiltshire Boulevard. One of the chairs still has a sticker under its cushion identifying which room of which dollhouse it came. The Petite Elite Miniature Museum specialised in exquisite and high end 1:12 miniatures. The furnishings are taken from a real Chippendale design.
The table is littered with breakfast items. The Glynes pretty floral breakfast crockery is made by M.W. Reutter Porzellanfabrik in Germany, who specialise in making high quality porcelain miniatures. The toast rack, egg cups, cruet set tea and coffee pots were made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. The eggs and the toast slices come from miniature dollhouse specialists on E-Bay. The butter in the glass butter dish has been made in England by hand from clay by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. The glassware on the table, the jug of orange juice on the small demi-lune table in the background and the cranberry glass vase on the dining table are all from Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering in the United Kingdom. Each piece is hand blown using real glass. The cutlery set is made of polished metal. Made of polymer clay they are moulded on wires to allow them to be shaped at will and put into individually formed floral arrangements, the very realistic looking purple and pink tulips are made by a 1:12 miniature specialist in Germany.
The 1:12 miniature copy of ‘The Mirror’, is made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire.
The Georgian style fireplace I have had since I was a teenager and is made from moulded plaster. On its mantlepiece stand two 1950s Limoges vases. Both are stamped with a small green Limoges mark to the bottom. These treasures I found in an overcrowded cabinet at the Mill Markets in Geelong. Also standing on the mantlepiece are two miniature diecast lead Meissen figurines: the Lady with the Canary and the Gentleman with the Butterfly, hand painted and gilded by me. There is also a dome anniversary clock in the middle of the mantlepiece which I bought the same day that I bought the fireplace. The vases contain hand made roses made by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering.
To the left of the photo stands an artisan bonheur de jour (French lady's writing desk). A gift from my Mother when I was in my twenties, she had obtained this beautiful piece from an antique auction. Made in the 1950s of brass it is very heavy. It is set with hand-painted enamel panels featuring Rococo images. Originally part of a larger set featuring a table and chairs, or maybe a settee as well, individual pieces from these hand-painted sets are highly collectable and much sought after. I never knew this until the advent of E-Bay!
The Hepplewhite chair with the lemon satin upholstery in the background was made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq.
All the paintings around the Glynes dining room in their gilded frames are 1:12 artisan pieces made by Amber’s Miniatures in the United States and the wallpaper is an authentic copy of hand-painted Georgian wallpaper from the 1770s.
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Tonight however we are at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie. Lettice is visiting her family home as her parents host their first Hunt Ball since 1914. Lady Sadie has been completely consumed over the last month by the planning and preparation of the occasion, determined that not only will it be the event of the 1922 county season, but also that it will be a successful entrée for her youngest daughter, still single at twenty-one years of age, to meet a number of eligible and marriageable men. Letters and invitations have flown from Lady Sadie’s bonheur de jour* to the families of eligible bachelors, some perhaps a little too old to be considered before the war, achieving more than modest success. Whilst Lettice enjoys dancing, parties and balls, she is less enthusiastic about the idea of the ball being used as a marriage market than her parents are.
We find ourselves in the lofty Adam design hall of Glynes with its parquetry floors and ornate plasterwork, outside the entrance to the ballroom antechamber, through which guests must pass to enter the grand ballroom where tonight’s Hunt Ball is being held. From the ballroom, the sound of the band hired for the evening to play can be heard above the hubbub of happy voices as like an exclusive club, aristocracy and local county guests intermingle. At the entrance to the ballroom antechamber stand the Viscount and Countess Wrexham, Leslie and Lettice, all forming a reception line where they have been standing for the last half hour, since the clocks around them struck eight and the first guests began to arrive. Now a steady stream of partygoers appear across the threshold of the house, through the door held open by Mardsen, the Chetwynd’s tall first footman. He acknowledges each person with a bow from the neck which is seldom acknowledged in return as ladies and gentlemen in thick fur coats and travel capes, fur tippets and top hats alight from the motorcars and in a few cases, horse drawn carriages that pull up to the front door. Bustling with idle chatter they each sweep through the door with a comfortable sense of privilege and self assurance, gasping with pleasure as they feel the heat of the blazing fire in the hearth of the foyer: a delightful change to the chill of the evening air their journeys were taken in. Bramley, the Chetwtynd’s butler takes the gentleman’s topcoats, capes, hats, gloves and canes, whilst Mrs. Renfrew, the Chetwynd’s housekeeper, helps the ladies divest themselves of their capes, furs and muffs, the pair revealing spectacular fancy dress costumes of oriental brocade, pale silks and satins, colourfully striped cottons and hand printed muslins.
Standing next to her mother who is dressed as Britannia, Lettice, costumed as Cinderella in an Eighteenth century style wig and gown, smiles politely, yet vacantly, as she greets guest after guest, watching the passing parade of Pierrots, and Columbines, Sinbads and faeries, princesses and Maharajas, pirates and mandarins.
“Oh good evening Miss Evans, and Miss Evans,” Lady Sadie exclaims, placing her glove clad fingers onto the forearms of the two spinster sisters who live in Holland House, a Seventeenth Century manor house in the village. “How delightful to see you both. Do come in out of the cold and make yourselves comfortable. It was good of you to come up from the village for tonight’s festivities when I know you were both poorly before Christmas.” She smiles benignly as they twitter answers back at her in crackling voices that sound like crisp autumn leaves underfoot. “You remember my youngest daughter, Lettice don’t you ladies?”
“How do you do, Miss Evans, Miss Evans,” Lettice replies with a nod, accepting the two ladies from her mother like a parcel on a conveyor belt, smiling the same polite painted smile she, her parents and brother have been wearing since the first guest arrived. She glances at the two old women, who must be in their seventies at least, one dressed as Little Bo-Peep complete with shepherdess’ crook and the other as Miss Muffet with a hand crocheted spider dangling from her wrist, both looking more like tragic pantomime dames than anything else. Both women have worn the same costumes to every Hunt Ball Lettice can remember, and she is surer now that they are at close quarters, that the costumes are made from genuine Eighteenth Century relics from their ancestors. “What delightful costumes. Miss Bo-Peep I believe?”
“Indeed, Miss Chetwynd!” Giggles the elder of the Miss Evanses. “My how you’ve grown into a smart young woman since the last Hunt Ball your parents threw before the war.”
“We read about you often in the London illustrated papers, don’t we Geraldine?” pipes up her sister.
“Oh quite! Quite Henrietta! What a marvellous time you must have up there in London. It’s good of you to come and join us for these little parochial occasions, which must be so dull after all the cosmopolitan pleasures you enjoy.”
“Not at all, Miss Evans. Now, please do go in. You must be freezing after your drive up from the village. There’s a good fire going in the antechamber. Please go and warm yourselves.”
“You are too kind, Miss Chetwynd! Too kind!” acknowledges Henrietta.
The two rather macabre nursery rhyme characters giggle and twitter and walk into the ballroom antechamber.
“Ahh, Lady Sadie,” a well intonated, yet oily voice annunciates, causing Lettice to shudder. “What a pleasure it is to be asked to the event of the country season.”
Lettice turns to see Sir John Nettleford-Hughes, tall and elegant, yet at the same time repugnant to her, dressed in full eveningwear, yet also wearing a very ornamental turban in deference to the Hunt ball’s fancy dress theme. Lettice shudders again as Sir John takes up her mother’s right hand in his and draws it to his lips and kisses it.
“Oh, Sir John!” Lady Sadie giggles in a girlish way Lettice seldom hears from her dour and matronly Edwardian mother.
“Well, I must kiss the hand of the brave and bold defender of the Empire.” He smiles up at her with wily eyes glittering with mischief. “You are Britannia, are you not?”
“Indeed I am, Sir John.” Lady Sadie chortles proudly. “Well done. Now, you remember my youngest daughter, Lettice, don’t you?” She turns Sir John’s and her own attention to her daughter beside her.
“Good heavens!” Sir John exclaims, his piercing blue eyes catching Lettice’s gaze and holding it tightly as he eyes her up and down. “Could this elegant Marie Antoinette be the lanky teenager I remember from 1914?”
Lettice feels very exposed by the intensity of his stare, and she feels as he looks her over, that in his mind he is removing her gown and wig to see what lies beneath them. She feels the flush of a blush work its way up her neck, the heat of it at odds with the coolness of the Glynes necklace of diamonds and rubies, lent to her for the evening by her mother, at her throat.
“I’m actually Cind…” Lettice begins, before stopping short and gasping as she feels the sharp toe of her mother’s dance pump kick firmly into her ankle beneath her skirts. “So pleased to see you again, Sir John.” she concludes rather awkwardly.
“Do you know, Sir John,” Lady Sadie gushes. “I do believe we have a painting of Marie Antoinette in our very own Glynes gallery.”
“Is that so, Lady Sadie?” he replies, without disengaging his eyes from Lettice.
“Yes, one of Cosmo’s ancestors brought it back from France after the Revolution, when all those lovely things from the French aristocracy were being sold for a song.”
“Then I should very much like to see it, Lady Sadie, and make my own comparison between the woman that was,” He takes up Lettice’s right hand and plants a kiss on it just as he had done to her mother. “And the lady who is.”
Lettice quickly withdraws her hand from Sir John’s touch, feeling more repugnance for him by the moment.
“I’m sure that could be arranged, Sir John,” Lady Sadie says with a beaming smile. “Lettice, perhaps you might show Sir John the painting of Marie Antoinette in the East Wing Long Gallery after the buffet supper tonight?”
“I shall look forward to that, my lady,” Sir John says without waiting for Lettice’s agreement, his gaze still piercing her, until suddenly he glances away and strides confidently in the wake of the two Miss Evanses.
Lettice greets the next few guests politely, yet vacantly constantly gazing at the top of her glove clad hand where she felt Sir John’s pressing lips. She is still distracted by it when a cheerful voice interrupts her uneasy thoughts.
“I say, Lettice my dear, are you quite well?”
Brought back from her unsettled imaginings, Lettice finds herself staring onto the most friendly looking pirate she has ever seen.
“Lord Thorley!” she says with a genuine smile forming across her lips. “How do you do.”
“You are looking a bit peaky, my dear.” he replies, lifting up his black felt eye patch so that he might see her with both eyes. Looking concerned, Lord Thorley Ayres continues, “Are you quite well?”
“Oh, quite, Lord Thorley. It’s just a little… a little warm in here, what with the fire and my costume.” She starts fanning herself with her hand.
“Oh, I thought you looked a bit pale, rather than flushed, my dear.”
“Don’t nanny poor Lettice so, Thorley,” mutters his wife, dressed as a Spanish Infanta of the Seventeenth Century in a magnificent panniered gown and fitted bodice that pushes her already evident breasts further into view. “The poor thing probably feels quite overwhelmed by the ball. It’s been a few years since there was a ball here last. Now move along and let me see the woman who was once the girl I knew.” She shoos her husband along with a wave of her hand.
“Lady Ayres,” Lettice says with a pleasurable smile. “How very good to see you. It’s been far too long since we had a ball here.”
“Quite right. But all that sadness and austerity of the war is behind us now, thank goodness!” She rolls her eyes implying the tediousness of the Great War just passed. “Now we can enjoy our fun and frivolities again, just as we used to. Now, of course you remember our son, Nicholas.” Lady Rosamund grasps the slender shoulders of a young man in a Pierrot costume and forcefully moves him forward to meet Lettice.
“Of course I do.” Lettice remarks kindly, smiling at the young man around her age, who is obviously reluctant to be there. She remembers the stories friends from the Embassy Club have told her about Nicholas Ayers, the reluctant heir to a vast estate, Crofton Court, in Cumbria. They giggled and blushed as they told Lettice in less than hushed whispers that his visits to a well known Molly-house** near Covent Garden and his debauched ‘at homes’ on Fridays were amongst the worst kept secrets in London. She gazes at his pale face, which was evidently white enough before being given a liberal dusting of white powder. How ironic, she thinks to herself, that his face is painted up so sadly with Pierrot’s iconic dark teardrop running from his left eye, when he is so evidently unhappy to be on parade as a reluctant suitor under the hawk eyes of both his parents. What sort of life will he live, she wonders, never mind the poor unfortunate society debutante who does eventually marry him, oblivious to his inclinations towards men rather than women? She knows her father knows about Nicholas’ inclinations, but is equally aware that her mother is innocent of such knowledge. She glances quickly at her mother and when she sees that she is talking animatedly to the next guest, she leans forward and whispers in Nicholas’ ear, “It’s alright, you only have to dance with me the once, and then you’ve done your duty.” Nicholas looks at her in genuine fear. “It’s alright. Your secrets are safe with me Nicholas. I won’t tell. I don’t want to be on parade any more than you do, so let’s just do our duty, and then you can go back to your life and I’ll go back to mine.”
“Can’t you two wait until you are on the dancefloor to whisper sweet nothings in one another’s ears?” chortles Thorley good naturedly, a cheeky smile painting his lips.
“Don’t embarrass them, Thorley!” Rosamund slaps her husband’s hand playfully with her ivory and lace fan, the pearl drop earrings at her lobes shaking about wildly. She reaches out to Nicholas and grabs him by the shoulders again, steering him away. “Come along Nicholas. You’ll have plenty of time to dance with Lettice later.”
Lettice glances at her mother, who has now turned all her attention to her daughter. She smiles proudly and nods her approval at a potential interest between Lettice and Nicholas Ayres and his tens of thousands of pounds a year. Lettice glances away quickly, allowing her eyes to follow the backs of Nicholas and Lord and Lady Ayres as they wend their way into the throng gathering in the antechamber adjoining the ballroom, and sighs quietly. A lecherous old man who would enjoy nothing more than a moment alone with her, and an invert*** who would probably rather face a pit of snakes than dance with her: how will she survive this ordeal of her mother’s making? Why can’t her mother just accept the fact that she is happier being unmarried and running a successful business.
Sighing, Lettice quickly reforms her painted smile and greets the next Hunt Ball guest.
*A bonheur de jour is a type of lady's writing desk. It was introduced in Paris by one of the interior decorators and purveyors of fashionable novelties called marchands-merciers around 1760, and speedily became intensely fashionable. Decorated on all sides, it was designed to sit in the middle of a room so that it could be admired from any angle.
**A Molly-house was a term used in 18th- and 19th-century Britain for a meeting place for homosexual men. The meeting places were generally taverns, public houses, coffeehouses or even private rooms where men could either socialise or meet possible sexual partners.
*** Sexual inversion is a theory of homosexuality popular primarily in the late 19th and early 20th century. Sexual inversion was believed to be an inborn reversal of gender traits: male inverts were, to a greater or lesser degree, inclined to traditionally female pursuits and dress and vice versa.
This grand Georgian interior may appear like something out of a historical stately country house, but it is in fact part of my 1:12 miniatures collection and includes items from my childhood, as well as those I have collected as an adult.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The Georgian style fireplace I have had since I was a teenager and is made from moulded plaster. On its mantlepiece stand two gilt blue and white vases which are from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House in the United Kingdom. They are filled with a mixture of roses made by hand by Beautifully Handmade Miniatures in Kettering. The marble and ormolu clock on the mantle between them is of a classical French style of the Georgian or Regency periods and comes from Smallskale Miniatures in the United Kingdom. The fire dogs and guard are made of brass and also come from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House, as to the candelabra hanging on the wall either side of the central portrait.
The gilt Louis Quatorze chairs either side of the fireplace and the gilt swan pedestals are made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq. The candelabras on the two pedestals I have had since I was a teenager.
The pair of Palladian console tables in the foreground, with their golden caryatids and marble were commissioned by me from American miniature artisan Peter Cluff. Peter specialises in making authentic and very realistic high quality 1:12 miniatures that reflect his interest in Georgian interior design. His work is highly sought after by miniature collectors worldwide. This pair of tables are one-of-a-kind and very special to me.
The floral arrangements in urns on top of the tables consist of pink roses, white asters and white Queen Anne’s Lace. Both are unmarked, but were made by an American miniature artisan and their pieces have incredible attention to detail. The Seventeenth Century musical statues to the side of the flower arrangements were made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. They were hand painted by me.
All the paintings around the Glynes ballroom antechamber in their gilded frames are 1:12 artisan pieces made by Amber’s Miniatures in the United States and the wallpaper of the ballroom antechamber is an authentic copy of hand-painted Georgian wallpaper from the 1770s.
The marquetry floor of the room is in fact a wooden chessboard. The chessboard was made by my Grandfather, a skillful and creative man in 1952. Two chess sets, a draughts set and three chess boards made by my Grandfather were bequeathed to me as part of his estate when he died a few years ago.
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Tonight however we are at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie. Lettice is visiting her family home as her parents host their first Hunt Ball since 1914. Lady Sadie has been completely consumed over the last month by the planning and preparation of the occasion, determined that not only will it be the event of the 1922 county season, but also that it will be a successful entrée for her youngest daughter, still single at twenty-one years of age, to meet a number of eligible and marriageable men. Letters and invitations have flown from Lady Sadie’s bonheur de jour* to the families of eligible bachelors, some perhaps a little too old to be considered before the war, achieving more than modest success. Whilst Lettice enjoys dancing, parties and balls, she is less enthusiastic about the idea of the ball being used as a marriage market than her parents are.
We find ourselves in Lettice’s boudoir at Glynes, a room which she considers somewhat of a time capsule now with its old fashioned furnishings and mementoes of those halcyon pre-war summers. She hardly even considers it her room any more, so far removed is she from that giddy teenager who had crushes on her elder brothers’ friends and loved chintz covered furniture, floral wallpaper and sweet violet perfume. Lettice is sitting at her dressing table, a serpentine Edwardian piece of dark mahogany still adorned with the Art Nouveau silver dressing table set and perfume bottles she left behind along with her pre-war self when she moved to Mayfair in 1920. She sighs as she glances at her reflection in the mirror. Looking back is a beautiful, but rather pensive Cinderella in a pomaded wig bedecked in feathers, ropes of faux pearls and pale yellow roses that match the colour of the Eighteenth Century Georgian style ball gown of figured satin she wears. The Glynes Hunt Ball has always been a fancy dress, and whilst her father and Leslie usually eschew fancy dress in preference for their hunting pinks**, the Chetwynd women have always loved the occasion to get dressed up, and this year it is the world’s most famous and beloved faerie tale heroine whom Lettice is going as, an irony that makes her chuckle sadly to herself, when she considers that the ball is being held this year with the express purpose of her finding her prince charming.
“Not that there will be one there,” she says to herself, a snort of derision escaping her as she picks up one of the three faceted crystal bottles she has brought from her Cavendish Mews boudoir and places a few glistening drops of Shalimar*** on either side of her neck.
She looks across at the drawers of her travel de nécessaire**** and pulls one open and stares down at the glittering array of rings glinting in the lamplight, like fabulous chocolates made of gold and precious stones, nestled comfortably into their red velvet home. She looks down at the white kid elbow length gloves, an essential item for dancing so that no flesh actually comes into contact between a jeune fille à marier***** and an eligible bachelor lest the latter spoil the prospects of the former, and ponders which pieces she should wear. Her garnet and pearl Art Deco cluster cocktail ring perhaps? The baguette cut Emerald surrounded by brilliant cut diamonds? No, the daisy ring of brilliant cut diamonds that she was given as a birthday gift by her father on her twenty-first: that will go nicely against the white kid of her gloves.
“Oh!”
A gasp from the door to her bedroom breaks Lettices contemplation of her jewellery. Looking up she sees her mother reflected in the mirror’s glass. Turning around in her seat she lets her hand drape languidly over the back of her ornately carved dressing table chair with its pink satin seat.
“Mamma,” Lettice remarks. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
Dressed as the national personification of Britain, Lady Sadie is every inch the helmeted female warrior Britannia, only her battle lies in manoeuvring her reluctant and recalcitrant daughter about the Glynes ballroom rather than defending the realm. Standing in a white Roman style shift with gold embroidery of a key pattern along the hem, sleeves and neck, she has a brass helmet decorated with thick red plumes atop her proudly held head. There is a steely determination in both the line of her clenched jaw and her glittering eyes, yet there is also a hint of approval as she takes in her daughter’s very feminine appearance.
“I just wanted to see you before the ball commences, Lettice.” Lady Sadie says brittlely as she glides elegantly across the floor, her gown like a muslin cloud billowing about her serene figure. She sighs as she gazes around the bedroom. “I do wish you’d return home Lettice, rather than living in that dreadful place, London. It isn’t right you know, for a young unmarried girl to be living on her own in London. You’d be much better to stay here and learn how to run a real home to ready yourself for when you are chatelaine…”
“You said you wanted to see me, Mamma?” Lettice cuts her mother off sharply, not even countenancing moving back to live beneath her mother’s disapproving gaze. “About the ball, was it?”
Lady Sadie’s serenity is shattered by her daughter’s curt interruption and her face resumes its usual scowl when addressing her daughter. “Yes. Yes it was, Lettice.”
“Well, best you tell me then,” the younger woman replies, half turning back to her dressing table, and glancing over her right shoulder to the pretty porcelain clock decorated with entwined roses on the mantlepiece. “The first guests will be arriving shortly.”
“Very well Lettice, if you wish to play it this way,” Sadie’s frown becomes more pronounced as she sighs. She looks at the impatient form of her youngest daughter, whom she considers to be her most problematic child by far. “I want no difficulties from you this evening.”
“Difficulties!” Lettice releases a burst of laughter. “Me?”
“Don’t be coy!” Lady Sadie snaps. “It’s most unbecoming.”
“You always said that coyness was an alluring charm.” Lettice remarks sweetly in return, knowing that this will goad her mother, but unable to resist the temptation to do so.
“It is, except when you are in a conversation with your mother.” Lady Sadie barks back, her response rewarded by a cheeky half smile from her daughter who doesn’t even attempt to hide her amusement. “Now, I don’t have time for your silly games, my girl. I expect you to stand next to me to greet our guests when they start to arrive. You will be polite and acknowledge each one, even if you don’t particularly care for their company.”
“Of course Mamma,” Lettice replies demurely.
“And I don’t want any sly remarks from you.” The older woman wags her heavily bejewelled fingers warningly. “You are on show this evening, and I expect nothing less than ladylike decorum in all manner of action and speech.”
“Yes Mamma,” Lettice sighs.
“Gerald Bruton and his acerbic tongue have been a bad influence on you since you both moved to London and started spending more time together.” Lady Sadie quips. “Oh, and whilst we are on the subject of Gerald, I don’t want you spending all evening with him, ensconced in a corner, gossiping, and deriding our guests. Do you understand?”
“Well, I can hardly ignore him, Mamma, if he engages me in conversation. You said yourself just now that I am to be ladylike in all manner of action and speech.”
“You know what I mean, Lettice! Are you being obtuse on purpose, just to annoy me?”
“No, Mamma!” Lettice raises her hands in defence of her words. “Mind you, Gerald is an eligible young bachelor too.”
“And you know he is totally unsuitable.” retorts Lady Sadie. “He’s the second son for a start, and the Brutons are in rather straitened circumstances, in case you don’t know. Lord Bruton is selling off another few parcels of land along his western boundary to help pay for the upkeep required on Bruton Hall.”
“I didn’t know that!” Lettice remarks, genuinely surprised as her hand goes to her throat.
“Yes, your father told me he heard as much from Lord Bruton on New Year’s Eve. He is selling parcels of land there because he hopes for a better price from a developer, being the closest point to Glynes village and the main road.” Lady Sadie admits. Scrutinising her daughter through sharp and slightly squinting eyes she adds, “I can trust your discretion, can’t I Lettice?”
“Of course, Mamma!” she replies genuinely. “Does Aunt Gwen know?”
“I haven’t asked her, and I’m not going to cause either of them embarrassment by raising it, but I’ll assume yes. She must have some idea. I’m just grateful that tonight is a fancy dress. It will save poor Gwyneth from having to wear that same tired, old fashioned frock she wore here on New Year’s Eve tonight.”
“Yes, I noticed that too.”
“Anyway, hopefully you’ll be too busy dancing on the arm of an eligible bachelor to spend any time with Gerald. Besides, he should be focusing on finding himself a suitable heiress, although coming from such an unremarkable family with limited means, he’s not exactly the most exciting prospect, in spite of his handsome looks.”
Lettice doesn’t reply, remembering her father’s words in the Glynes library late the previous year when he mentioned that Lady Sadie was quite unaware of Gerald’s inclinations. To avoid embarrassment on either of their parts, and to keep Gerald in at least the lower echelons of her mother’s good graces, she decides that discretion is the better part of valour and keeps quiet, which luckily Lady Sadie takes as docility from her daughter.
“Now, do you remember whom you are to dance with this evening, Lettice?”
“Yes Mamma,” Lettice sighs, unable to stop herself from rolling her eyes as she begins to recite. “Jonty Hastings, Selwyn Spencely, Edward Lambley, Septimius Faversham, Bryce MacTavish, Oliver Edgars, Piers Hackford-Jones, Tarquin Howard.” She cringes inwardly. “and Nicholas Ayers.”
“Don’t forget Sir John Nettleford-Hughes!” Lady Sadie reminds her daughter.
“Ugh!” Lettice’s nose screws up in disgust. “I’m not dancing with Sir John! He’s… he’s so old and lecherous!”
“Nonsense Lettice! Sir John may be a little bit older than the other gentlemen on offer, but he is no less eligible. You could do worse than present yourself, as I hope you will, as a jeune fille à marier to him. He has a beautiful estate in Buckinghamshire and houses in Bedfordshire, London and not to mention Fontengil Park just a stone’s throw south of here in our very own Wiltshire.”
“Mamma, he likes young chorus girls!”
Lady Sadie stiffens at the mention of such women in her presence. “Oh, that’s just idle drawing room gossip, Lettice!”
“It’s not! It’s true.” She folds her arms akimbo and pouts. “He’s a lecherous old man who likes young girls who don’t wear knickers!”
“Lettice!” Lady Sadie grasps at her throat in horror. “Don’t say such scandalous things! Every unmarred man who went through the war had an infatuation with a Gaiety Girl at some stage.”
“It’s more than an infatuation or phase with him, Mamma! I’ll not dance with such an old man! I won’t!”
“You will my girl, because it is your duty.”
Lettice sighs and goes to say something as a retort, but her mother’s bejewelled fingers rise again, the diamonds winking from their gold and platinum settings.
“I told you. I want no trouble from you tonight. This ball is for you. It may be the Hunt Ball, but we all know it’s for you to meet a potential husband. It’s your duty to dance at least once with every eligible man I have invited here this evening for you to pick from. So, dance with him you will. And let that be an end to your obstinance, Lettice.”
Realising suddenly that if she wants this evening to be as painless as possible, she really must do as her father suggests and make an effort to try and please her mother, even if the idea of a husband finding ball appals her, Lettice sighs and acquiesces with a nod. “Very well Mamma.”
“That’s a good girl.” Lady Sadie replies with a pleased purr in her voice.
The older woman turns to walk away and then gasps, spinning back to her daughter.
“I almost forgot why I came here to see you, Lettice.”
“I thought it was to talk about who I was to dance with, Mamma.”
“Well, there was that too, but no. I wanted to give you this to wear for the evening.” The older woman fishes into the capacious flowing sleeve of her white muslin shift and withdraws a sparkling necklace of brilliant cut diamonds and rubies set in platinum, which she passes to her daughter.
Lettice gasps. “The Glynes necklace!” She takes the fabulous jewellery confection in her warm hands, feeling the coolness of the stones and metal against her palms and fingers as she admires the sixteen enormous diamonds and four equally large rubies in their settings. “But this is…”
Once again, Lady Sadie’s hands rise, indicating for Lettice to desist from speaking.
“I know that you and I seldom see eye-to-eye on anything, Lettice, and I doubt we ever will,” the older woman says crisply. “And that includes the ball tonight. Yet you have shown the good grace to make an effort to come and have chosen a beautiful costume. I hope that good grace will extend to your behaviour this evening. I know you don’t agree with you father’s or my idea that you could meet your potential future husband here tonight, but there we agree to disagree. If you would just allow yourself to enjoy the spectacle of the evening and join in the spirit that this is for you, you might find a man to whom you can entrust your heart. I know that this necklace is the property of the chatelaine of Glynes, and therefore usually worn by her, however I thought because of your good grace, and your concerted efforts,” Her eyebrows arch slightly as she sizes up her daughter again, looking for any hidden pockets of rebellion beneath the elegantly costumed girl. “Having the opportunity to wear this necklace this evening would help you enjoy the occasion.”
Lettice stares down at the winking jewels in her hands. “I don’t know what to say, Mamma.”
“A thank you would be customary, and quite acceptable, Lettice.”
“Thank you Mamma.”
*A bonheur de jour is a type of lady's writing desk. It was introduced in Paris by one of the interior decorators and purveyors of fashionable novelties called marchands-merciers around 1760, and speedily became intensely fashionable. Decorated on all sides, it was designed to sit in the middle of a room so that it could be admired from any angle.
**Hunting pinks is the name given to the traditional scarlet jacket and related attire worn by fox-hunters.
***Shalimar perfume was created when Jacques Guerlain poured a bottle of ethylvanillin into a bottle of Jicky, a fragrance created by Guerlain in 1889. Raymond Guerlain designed the bottle for Shalimar, which was modelled after the basins of eastern gardens and Mongolian stupa art.
****A travel de nécessaire is a travelling case used in the Edwardian era for country weekend house parties and holidays away from home. They would usually contain items like combs, brushes and perfume bottles needed for maintaining one’s appearance, but could be much grander and contain many other implements including pens and ink bottles, manicure sets and more. There were also some specifically designed for the use of jewellery, with velvet lined compartments for rings, neckaces, brooches and earrings.
*****A jeune fille à marier was a marriageable young woman, the French term used in fashionable circles and the upper-classes of Edwardian society before the Second World War.
This pretty corner of an Edwardian boudoir may appear like something out of a historical house display, but it is in fact part of my 1:12 miniatures collection and includes items from my childhood, as well as those I have collected as an adult.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The silver dressing table set on the dressing table, consisting of mirror, brushes and a comb, as well as the tray on which the perfume bottle stand has been made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces.
On the silver tray there is a selection of sparkling perfume bottles, which are handmade by an English artisan for the Little Green Workshop. Made of cut coloured crystals set in a gilt metal frames or using vintage cut glass beads they look so elegant and terribly luxurious. The faceted pink glass perfume bottle, made from an Art Deco bead came with the dressing table, which I acquired from Kathleen Knight’s Doll House Shop.
Also on the tray is a container of Val-U-Time talcum powder: an essential item for any Edwardian lady, and a metal container of Madame Pivette’s Complexion Beautifier, which was introduced in 1905 by Doctor J.B. Lynas and Son and produced in Logansport, Indiana. Doctor Lynas started his own profession in 1866, which was the making of "family remedies", which quickly gained popularity. It became so popular, that he sold extensively throughout the United States. His products carried names such as the Catarrh Remedy, Hoosier Cough Syrup, Ready Relief, Rheumatic Liniment, White Mountain Salve, Egyptian Salve and Liver Pills. Within a few years the "doctor's" medicine sales amounted to around ten thousand US dollars per year. By the turn of the Twentieth Century he had expanded his product line to include flavorings such as vanilla, cherry, lemon; and also, soaps, lotions and perfumes for ladies. These items were made by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire.
The travel de necessaire, complete with miniature jewellery, I acquired from Melody Jane’s Doll House Suppliers in the United Kingdom.
The dressing table chair did not come with the dressing table, although it does match nicely. Upholstered in a very fine pink satin, it was made by the high-end dolls’ house miniature furniture manufacturer, Bespaq.
The elbow length white evening gloves on the seat of the chair are artisan pieces made of kid leather. I acquired these from a high street dolls house specialist when I was a teenager. Amazingly, they have never been lost in any of the moves that they have made over the years are still pristinely clean.
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Tonight however we are at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie. Lettice is visiting her family home as her parents host their first Hunt Ball since 1914. Lady Sadie has been completely consumed over the last month by the planning and preparation of the occasion, determined that not only will it be the event of the 1922 county season, but also that it will be a successful entrée for her youngest daughter, still single at twenty-one years of age, to meet a number of eligible and marriageable men. Letters and invitations have flown from Lady Sadie’s bonheur de jour* to the families of eligible bachelors, some perhaps a little too old to be considered before the war, achieving more than modest success. Whilst Lettice enjoys dancing, parties and balls, she is less enthusiastic about the idea of the ball being used as a marriage market than her parents are.
The fancy dress Hunt Ball is now in full swing. The band hired by the Viscount plays waltzes, foxtrots, and polkas, as well as a smattering of novelty dances like the Grizzly Bear and the Bunny Hug to amuse the younger set of party-goers. Their sound carries over the general hubbub of voices chattering punctuated by laughter and the clinking of glasses. The Georgian style ballroom of Glynes with its golden yellow wallpaper and gilt Louis Quatorze furnishings is alive with colour and movement as pirates dance with nursery rhyme dames, maharajas foxtrot with princesses and clowns waltz with ladies in Georgian dress. Around the perimeter of the ballroom’s parquet dance floor, guest mill about, sharing county and London gossip, or admire and remark on the fancy dress attired couples taking to the floor. In their midst, Lettice, dressed as Cinderella in an Eighteenth Century gown and pomaded wig, dances, or rather tries to dance, a foxtrot with eligible bachelor and heir to several large estates, Jonty Hastings.
“Oh, do push off Howley, there’s a good chap!” Gerald says rudely as he tries to cut in and sweep Lettice away from Jonty’s rather stiff and awkward arms. “I don’t think Lettice’s feet can survive any more of your hopeless, uncoordinated trotting.”
“Don’t call me that, Gerald,” Jonty replies rather wetly, his face taking on the appearance of a petulant child as it reddens in embarrassment. “I’ve not been called that for years, thankfully, after you christened me with that awful nickname. You always were the mean one.” He glances at Lettice who is holding Gerald’s gaze imploringly. “Except to your favourites, of course.”
“I’m sorry Howley,” Gerald continues, deliberately ignoring Jonty’s request not to use the nickname given him. “But you can’t seriously expect me to stand back and watch you try unsuccessfully to sweep the most eligible and beautiful girl in the place into your arms. It’s simply too preposterous for words. Try one of the Miss Evanses instead.” Gerald nods in the direction of the two elderly spinster sisters who live in Holland House, a Seventeenth Century manor house in Glynes village. “They seem to be more to your standards, and they aren’t as picky as Lettice is.”
As Jonty pauses to look in the direction of the two elderly women, one dressed as Little Bo-Peep and the other as Miss Muffett, both looking like macabre versions of their nursery rhyme characters, Gerald seizes his chance and cuts firmly in, casting Jonty aside with an adept movement and sweeping Lettice quickly away.
“Oh you really are awful, Gerald!” Lettice says with a serious look, gazing at her friend dressed in a Tudor courtier’s outfit made from the brocades and laces left over from his clients’ commissioned frocks.
“Well, I’m the second son of an insignificant and impoverished family, so it’s my prerogative to despise someone like Howley Howling Hastings with all his wealth and good connections.”
“I don’t think it suits you to be so cruel, Gerald. You may not have Jonty’s family bank vault, but you have grace, charm and handsomeness that he doesn’t possess, and I think that makes you about even. Poor Jonty.”
“What?” Gerald replies. “Would you rather I left you with him, Lettice?”
“Well, no.“ Lettice admits with a downwards glance as her cheeks fill with an embarrassed flush.
“Exactly! We can’t have our Cinderella of the ball being monopolised by such a wet blanket as Howley! You’ll never marry him anyway.”
“I think Mater would like it if I did.” Lettice admits. “By your own admission, he’s very wealthy, and very eligible.”
“So is Nicholas Ayers,” Gerald counters. “In fact, he’s richer, but you aren’t going to marry him. I think if he has his way, he won’t marry anyone, and I stand a far better chance with him than you do. Doesn’t your mother know he is a lost cause?”
“No, she doesn’t,” she cautions Gerald. “And you mustn’t tell her, Gerald. She’d be horrified, parading him before me if she knew. Thinking of my mother, where is she?” Lettice asks, glancing around at the sweeping couples that glide about them.
Gerald cranes his neck to try and see over the top of the sea of bobbing wigs, turbans, pirate hats and clown cones. “She’s over there,” He glances with concern at Lettice.
“What is it Gerald?”
“She’s talking with Sir John Nettleford-Hughes, no doubt about you. Lucky I’ve saved you, my dear! Now, just follow my lead.”
And with that, Gerald begins to move Lettice around the floor, away from the watchful eyes of her mother and other party guests to the door leading out into the antechamber adjoining the ballroom. As they reach the edge of the floor, Gerald sweeps Lettice out, bows and offers her his arm as he escorts her off the floor and through the doors of the antechamber.
“Come. I think you’re in need of refreshments, Cinderella,” Gerald says with a smile. “After all your exertions on the dancefloor.”
Gerald escorts Lettice through the guests milling about in the antechamber, the pair smiling and imparting passing greetings with nods to friends and acquaintances they meet along the way.
“Where are you taking me?” Lettice asks.
Gerald doesn’t answer her, until finally they walk out into the great Adam style hall of Glynes. The sound of chatter from the room behind them takes on a ghostly air, as do the refrains of the band as they strike up a waltz.
“Oh dear. I should be dancing this with Nicholas Ayres.” Lettice remarks.
“Oh pooh, Nicholas!” Gerald scoffs. “He’ll be as grateful to be off the hook as you are, darling. Here!” He stops before one of the gilt Palladian console tables that flank the entrance to the ballroom antechamber and indicates to its surface next to an ostentatious floral arrangement of soft pink hot house roses, white asters and frothy Queen Anne’s lace. “I managed to steal a few petit-fours from the buffet being set up in the dining room, and get u a fresh glass of champagne each.” He picks up a glass of bubbling golden liquid and passes it to Lettice. “Cin cin, darling!”
“Oh Gerald!” Lettice gasps, happily accepting the glass which she clinks with his. “How did you manage to do it?”
“Well, as you said so yourself just moments ago, I have grace, charm and handsomeness: traits that come in useful from time to time.”
“How?”
“There was a rather gullible girl I remember from the village who is helping the caterers set up the dining room table. She was happy to fetch a couple of little deadlies for the young man from the Big House, especially when I begged and cast her a mock look of sadness and misty eyes.”
“Oh, you are wicked, Gerald. You do know how to make an evening more pleasurable.”
Gerald smiles proudly, his eyes glinting with mischief.
“I do hope you’re happy with the selection. I managed to get a caviar, a lettuce and egg and a tuna and cucumber.” He glances down at the gilt edged white plate on the console table’s surface standing next to a porcelain figurine of a girl playing a lute.
“Rather!” Lettice concurs, removing her right glove and taking up the caviar petit-four. She sighs as she takes a small bite from it. “Oh! I was so busy dancing with eligible bachelor after eligible bachelor that I hadn’t noticed how hungry I was.” She smiles and takes another bite and then a third, consuming the whole thing.
“Pleased to be of service, my lady!” Gerald makes a sweeping bow before her.
“You know I could get into terrible trouble being out here with you, you know.” Lettice giggles, taking another sip of cool champagne.
“How so?” Gerald asks. “You know you are perfectly safe with me.”
“Oh it’s not that. Mamma gave me a stern talking to before the commencement of this evening’s ceremonies. She warned me that your acerbic tongue is a bad influence on me.”
“Acerbic tongue?” Gerald cries, looking aghast, albeit not seriously, at Lettice. “Moi? Acerbic! The nerve of her saying that!”
“And she told me that it would be a waste of my time an energy spending time with you, when you are so frightfully unsuitable, being the spare, rather than the heir.”
“Not to mention my family’s somewhat questionable finances.”
“Well, “ Lettice blushes, casting her eyes down to the face of the statue of the lute player. “She did mention that too.”
“Did she also mention I’d rather take off with Leslie than you?” Gerald asks her in a whisper. When Lettice shakes her head, he sighs and then continues in a slightly higher volume, yet still not much more than a whisper. “Well at least some things about my life still remain private. I suppose our money troubles were bound to reach Lady Sadie’s ears at some stage. I just hope she doesn’t mention it to Mamma.”
“Surely if your father is in financial difficulties, your mother would know about it, Gerald.”
“I don’t think so. He has always done his best to protect Mamma from having to worry about such things. When she mentions going up to London for the Season, or buying a new hat, he always manages to placate her with some story or other. So, as far as I’m aware, she has no idea and lives in blissful ignorance.”
Suddenly, the door leading from the driveway clatters open and a gentleman in a long cloak and top hat appears in silhouette against the lights overhead. With all the guests having arrived some time before, the front door is no longer manned by the Chetwynd’s first footman, Marsden, who is now occupied with serving champagne in the ballroom, so the gentleman opens the glass vestibule door himself and walks in unannounced into the hall, which is empty except for a few couples trying to find a moment of privacy in the shadow of a pillar and Lettice and Gerald enjoying a few minutes of elicit peace.
“I say, can I help you?” Lettice asks, placing her glass on the marble tabletop and walking across the hall.
“Oh I say,” the gentleman remarks in a clipped, well-bred voice as he removes his cloak and shakes it out noisily. “I am sorry. I’m awfully late. Can you point me in the direction of one of…” He stops abruptly as he gazes down at Lettice’s face looking up at him.
“One of?” Lettice asks, looking up expectantly into a pair of rather striking deep brown eyes.
“Goodness! Can it?” the stranger stammers. “No! No, it… no it can’t be! Can it?”
Lettice continues to look up in bewilderment at the man as he now removes his hat, revealing a head of neatly coiffed brown hair that frames his handsome face. “I’m afraid you’ll have to finish your sentence if you wish me to help you, sir.” she remarks prettily.
“I’m so sorry,” the stranger apologises again. “But are you the Honourable Miss Lettice Chetwynd by any chance?”
Lettice shakes her head slightly in disbelief, her eyes squinting. “Yes, yes I am. Have we met, sir?”
“Oh not for many years. The last time I saw you was at Queen Charlotte’s Ball** in 1919, but I haven’t actually spoken to you since we were about six, yet I’d know your face anywhere.”
“Not since we were six?” Lettice giggles, her laugh echoing about the mostly deserted entrance hall. “You have a good memory for faces if you remember mine so well. Who are you?”
“I wouldn’t expect you to recognise me, dear Lettice, but I’m Selwyn: Selwyn Spencely.”
Lettice’s eyes widen in disbelief. “Good heavens! Selwyn!” Lettice laughs loudly. “I say, how do you do!”
“I’m sorry I’m so unconscionably late!” Selwyn apologises again. “My mother has been unwell with a rather nasty cold. I was reading to her, and I tarried later with her than I perhaps should have. I just wanted to be sure she had dozed off before I left.”
“That’s quite alright, Selwyn.” Lettice continues to look up in surprise to Selwyn’s patrician face. “The last time I can remember seeing you was when we were around six and you were covered in hedgerow mud, being pulled away by your mother into a waiting carriage.”
“Yes,” chuckled Selwyn. “I remember that occasion well. She was furious!”
“I remember thinking it was at odds to her name, being a beautiful flower. Violet isn’t it?”
“Zinnia, actually.”
“Oh yes! Lady Zinnia!” Lettice giggles self-consciously. Then, looking down she notices her newest guest’s hands are full. “Oh here, let me take your cape and hat, Selwyn.” She reaches out and takes them from him. “I’ll find Bromley or another servant to take them away.”
A gentle, yet deliberate clearing of his throat alerts both Selwyn and Lettice, who had forgotten all about him momentarily, to Gerald’s presence behind them, lolling against the console table. “Hullo Selwyn.” he greets the newcomer crisply.
“Gerald! How do you do, old chap!” Selwyn smiles over at Gerald.
“I didn’t know you two knew each other.” Lettice remarks.
“Oh yes,” Selwyn replies jovially. “Gerald and I are members of the same club. Aren’t we Gerald? I haven’t seen much of you lately.”
“Well, I’ve been too busy to spend much time at the club lately.” Gerald excuses himself offhandedly.
“Ahh.” Selwyn acknowledges non-committally, yet with an air of knowing something unspoken as he cocks an eyebrow. “Frocks, isn’t it?”
“Oh yes!” Lettice enthuses. “He’s made my wardrobe for more stylish and modish, haven’t you Gerald?”
Gerald blushes at the compliment, but says nothing.
“Well, come along Selwyn,” Lettice says with delight as she hooks her arm into his. “Let’s go find Mamma and Pappa. They’ll be pleased to see you here, even if your mother couldn’t be here.”
“Shall I take those?” Gerald asks helpfully, reaching out for Selwyn’s cape, hat and gloves. “You can’t very well go back into the ballroom holding them.”
“Oh would you, Gerald?” Lettice exclaims. “Oh that would be a wonderful help.”
“I’m practically a member of the family, so I’ll have no difficulty finding Bramley.” He takes the items in his hands. “Now, you two run along.” He flaps his hands at them. “Shoo.”
The pair give Gerald appreciative smiles, and then walk off slowly, arm in arm, back into the ballroom antechamber, Lettice’s giggling and their quite chatting quickly enveloped into the general burble of voices.
Gerald looks back at the two unfinished glasses of champagne and the canapes and sighs, suddenly acutely aware of how empty the cavernous hallway is without his beloved friend.
*A bonheur de jour is a type of lady's writing desk. It was introduced in Paris by one of the interior decorators and purveyors of fashionable novelties called marchands-merciers around 1760, and speedily became intensely fashionable. Decorated on all sides, it was designed to sit in the middle of a room so that it could be admired from any angle.
**The Queen Charlotte's Ball is an annual British debutante ball. The ball was founded in 1780 by George III as a birthday celebration in honour of his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, for whom the ball is named. The Queen Charlotte's Ball originally served as a fundraiser for the Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital. The annual ball continued after Queen Charlotte's death in 1818, but was criticised by the British Royal Family in the 1950s and 1960s and folded in 1976. It was revived in the Twenty First Century by Jenny Hallam-Peel, a former debutante, who shifted its focus from entering high society to teaching business skills, networking, and etiquette, and fundraising for charities. Debutantes being presented curtsey to a large birthday cake in honour of Queen Charlotte.
This grand Georgian interior may appear like something out of a historical stately country house, but it is in fact part of my 1:12 miniatures collection and includes items from my childhood, as well as those I have collected as an adult.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The floral arrangement in urn on top of the console table consists of pink roses, white asters and white Queen Anne’s Lace. Although unmarked, it was made by an American miniature artisan with incredible attention to detail. The Seventeenth Century musical statue of the lady playing a lute to the right of the flower arrangement was made by Warwick Miniatures in Ireland, who are well known for the quality and detail applied to their pieces. It was hand painted by me. The floral arrangement and the statue are both one of a pair.
The savoury petite fours on the gilt white porcelain plate have been made in England by hand from clay by former chef turned miniature artisan, Frances Knight. Her work is incredibly detailed and realistic, and she says that she draws her inspiration from her years as a chef and her imagination. Each petit four is only five millimetres in diameter and between five and eight millimetres in height! The selection includes egg and lettuce, Beluga caviar and salmon and cucumber. The two glasses of sparkling champagne are made of real glass and were made by Karen Ladybug Miniatures in the United Kingdom.
The Palladian console table on which the items stand is one of a pair. With their golden caryatids and marble tops, they were commissioned by me from American miniature artisan Peter Cluff. Peter specialises in making authentic and very realistic high quality 1:12 miniatures that reflect his interest in Georgian interior design. His work is highly sought after by miniature collectors worldwide. This pair of tables are one-of-a-kind and very special to me.
The gilt Louis Quatorze chairs and the gilt swan pedestals in the background are made by the high-end miniature furniture maker, Bespaq.
All the paintings around the Glynes ballroom antechamber in their gilded frames are 1:12 artisan pieces made by Amber’s Miniatures in the United States and the wallpaper of the ballroom antechamber is an authentic copy of hand-painted Georgian wallpaper from the 1770s.
The marquetry floor of the room is in fact a wooden chessboard. The chessboard was made by my Grandfather, a skilful and creative man in 1952. Two chess sets, a draughts set and three chess boards made by my Grandfather were bequeathed to me as part of his estate when he died a few years ago.
The British and Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for any of the Home Nations – the national sides of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The Lions are a Test side, and generally select international players, but they can pick uncapped players available to any one of the four unions. The side tours every four years, with these rotating among Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The 2009 Test series was lost 2–1 to South Africa, while the 2013 Test series was won 2–1 over Australia.
The 2017 tour to New Zealand commences this weekend 3 June 2017.. The New Zealand national side, known as the All Blacks is currently recognised as the best in the world. However, Home Union rugby has never been stronger. I look forward to a thrilling Test series.
Apologies to my American friends who may mistake this for Greek mythology.
This image was captured in the Grumeti River area, Serengeti, Tanzania while on photo safari with CNP Safaris. www.cnpsafaris.com
©2016 Duncan Blackburn
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
This is Cat Grant reporting, as ever and always, for The Daily Planet, here at the estate of notable billionaire, activist, inventor, philanthropist and previously, eligible bachelor: Thayer Jost! Now, I’ve got good news and bad news out there for all you ladies, the good news is that Mister Jost, despite my use of the term “previously eligible”, has still yet to take on a new heiress to his vast fortune. The bad, and more pressing news, is that Mister Jost won’t be taking anyone on for some time.
Indeed, tragedy struck these beautiful halls tonight when Mister Thayer Jost, beloved by many, was struck a violent blow by a terrorist operative. One of a small team sent to infiltrate this stunning gala for an otherwise unknown, but assumedly sinister purpose. Whether Jost himself was the intended target of this attack is still unclear.
Luckily, on the premises tonight was notable monster-fighters, government do-gooders, and general heartthrobs, TASK FORCE X. Making their social debut, the good Task Force also, as one would hope, rose to the occasion when trouble reared its ugly head. Going toe-to-toe with Jost’s attackers, the Task Force X crew managed to drive them off, and even captured his direct assailant, and here they come now! Colonel Flag, any word on your capture tonight?
“Step aside, government work. Get those cameras out of here”
Ms. Grace!
“Doctor, and sorry, Rick’s not one for television!”
“C’mon, eh! Interview me y’bloody *BLEEP*ing gallahs! I’m the one who blo-“
“Shut up, you.”
Well, there go Colonel Flag and miss, er, Doctor Karin Grace, I’m sure taking their foul-mouthed prisoner to somewhere dark and barred, hopefully to get to the bottom of where the horrible and uncalled-for attack came fr- Oh! Doctors Bright and Evans! Could you please tell us abou-
“Sorry, not our place to say. Hello and goodbye!”
“Simply magnificent party, my colleagues and I had a splendid time.”
“C’mon, Hugh!”
Well, there you have it, folks, America’s own Task Force X, stopping evil everywhere they go. Despite his injuries, Thayer Jost is said to be in stable condition thanks to on-site doctors, and is expected to pull through.
--Excerpt from a pre-recorded news report conducted by Cat Grant, October 2018.
Completed in 1908 in Henderson, Tennessee, the National Teacher's Normal & Business College Administration Building (aka Old Main) was nominated and deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A at the local level for education and religion. The National Teacher’s Normal & Business College is recognized as the first college in West Tennessee to introduce co-education among sexes during the early-20th century. While not owned by a religious organization, the university is affiliated with the Churches of Christ through ties of religious fellowship and the building hosted the Henderson Church of Christ from 1933 until 1949. At which time, the brick baptistery was constructed south of the building. Since 1937, Old Main has also hosted the Annual Bible Lectureship. Its classrooms have been used to train several generations of preachers. Devotional services are held every weekend for students of Freed-Hardeman University. As such, Old Main has contributed significantly to the local community’s educational development and history of the local Churches of Christ. Old Main was also deemed eligible for the National Register under Criterion C for architecture. Designed by a prominent architect of Jackson, Tennessee, Hubert Thomas McGee, Old Main is a representative example of early 20th century Italian Renaissance Revival architecture. Old Main also serves as the preeminent edifice of Freed-Hardeman University and the historic center of college education in West Tennessee. The period of significance begins in 1908 with the construction of Old Main and ends in 1962 at the 50-year marker. Significant dates during this period include 1933 to 1949 when Old Main hosted the Henderson Church of Christ; and 1953 with the addition of the Annex along the east elevation.
Old Main was added to the NRHP on March 12, 2012 and all the information above along with much, much more can be viewed on the original documents submitted for listing consideration found here: catalog.archives.gov/id/135817841
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the link below: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
A prompt made for my boy...
Nov 21, 2021 - "BLACK and GOLD"
Feeling formal, it seems.
100x in 2021 - #93
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
Gunman in Pittsburgh synagogue shooting found guilty in 2018 massacre
Robert G. Bowers faces potential death penalty in the killing 11 people in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
A Pennsylvania man was found guilty Friday on federal charges of fatally shooting 11 people and wounding seven others at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018, a verdict that makes him eligible for the death penalty for what authorities say was the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.
A 12-member jury in federal court in Pittsburgh convicted Robert G. Bowers, 50, of Baldwin, Pa., on multiple counts after two weeks of searing testimony from dozens of prosecution witnesses, according to the Associated Press. Among those who testified were survivors, including police officers, who had been shot during the attack.
Prosecutors also played haunting 911 emergency calls, during which victims could be heard screaming and struggling to breathe before dying amid rapid gunfire from Bowers, who used an AR-15 assault rifle and three handguns.
Five police officers were wounded as they attempted to apprehend Bowers during the attack on Oct. 27, 2018, in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, a longtime Jewish enclave. Bowers fatally shot six victims in the head and fired about 100 rounds of ammunition in all, prosecutors said.
“The defendant turned this sacred ground of worship into a hunting ground,” prosecutor Mary Hahn told the jurors in her closing arguments Thursday, according to local news accounts.
Bowers’ defense team, which did not call any witnesses and introduced no evidence, did not dispute that he carried out the massacre. In her opening statement, public defender Judy Clarke suggested that Bowers was motivated to violence not because of a hatred of Jews, but rather because he feared that congregants were aiding immigrants, whom he considered a threat to Americans.
“None of this is true,” another defense attorney, Elisa Long, said during her closing arguments Thursday. “But it is what Mr. Bowers believed to be true.”
Bowers sat next to his lawyers at the defense table during the trial, but he did not testify. Survivors and family members of the victims also attended the proceedings each day.
The first phase of the trial determined whether Bowers would be found guilty or not guilty of the charges. A second phase, now that a jury found him guilty, will determine whether he will face the death penalty or life in prison.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and the next phase of the trial could last up to six weeks, authorities said.
Defense lawyers have filed motions stating that Bowers suffers from schizophrenia and epilepsy, brain impairments that they could argue are mitigating factors against capital punishment. Prosecutors rejected a defense offer of a plea agreement that would have resulted in Bowers spending the rest of his life in prison. District Judge Robert Colville permitted prosecutors to conduct their own psychiatric analysis of Bowers in the days before the trial began in late May. The results remain confidential.
Get the Post Most Newsletter
The most popular and interesting stories of the day to keep you in the know. In your inbox, every day.
If the jury does not find unanimously in favor of capital punishment, Bowers would automatically receive a sentence of life in prison, under federal sentencing guidelines.
During the first phase of the trial, prosecutors called an FBI specialist to read dozens of vile anti-Semitic messages and memes that Bowers posted on Gab, a social media website popular with far-right extremists, including neo-Nazis. Witnesses testified that Bowers entered the Tree of Life synagogue on a Saturday morning when members of three congregations — Tree of Life, Dor Hadash and New Light — that shared the building were observing Shabbat prayer services.
Bowers killed members of each congregation, moving through the building from the chapel to the basement and stalking his victims in the pews, a kitchen and a supply closet.
Rabbi Jeffrey Myers testified that he survived after hiding in a bathroom for more than 40 minutes, one hand clutching the door handle in case Bowers tried to burst in. Dan Leger, who was wounded, testified that he thought he was going to bleed to death from a gunshot to the abdomen in a synagogue stairway before being rescued by a police officer.
Bowers retreated to an empty children’s classroom on the third floor and engaged in a fierce shootout with SWAT team officers, during which he was shot and surrendered after running out of bullets.
Those killed were: Rose Mallinger, 97; Bernice Simon, 84, and her husband, Sylvan Simon, 86; brothers David Rosenthal, 54, and Cecil Rosenthal, 59; Dan Stein, 71; Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, 66; Joyce Fienberg, 75; Melvin Wax, 87; Irving Younger, 69; and Richard Gottfried, 65. Leger and Andrea Wedner, Mallinger’s daughter, were shot but survived.
On the final day of testimony Wednesday, Wedner, 66, testified that she and her mother tried to hide in the pews of the Pervin Chapel. Bowers found them after returning to the room and shot them both.
When police officers found her, she said she kissed her fingers and pressed them to her mother’s skin, calling out, “Mommy,” as they led her out.
After Wedner finished testifying and left the courtroom, prosecutors played the audio recording of her 911 emergency call. She could be heard saying, “Oh God, I can’t believe this is happening” amid screaming in the chapel.
After the recording ended, prosecutors rested their case.
David Nakamura covers the Justice Department with a focus on civil rights. He has previously covered the White House, sports, education, city government and foreign affairs.
Democracy Dies in Darkness
© 1996-2023 The Washington Post
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The First Presbyterian Church in McMinnville, Tennessee (constructed between 1872 and 1876) was nominated and deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under criterion C as a significant local example of vernacular Gothic Revival architecture. The Gothic Revival style was popular in the United States from approximately 1840-1880. Gothic Revival architecture is defined by a pitched roof with an emphasis on verticality, which Augustus Pugin in his explanation on Gothic Revival architecture in churches in 1843, described as an expression of the resurrection through architecture. The style in churches was largely marked by arched windows and center steeples. First Presbyterian Church has representations each of these with the center steeple facade and arched windows that are on both the west and east sides of the building. Above the door is an original concrete plaque in the shape of a shield with the words "C.P. Church Erected AD MDCCCLXXII Dobson and Williamson", which identifies the architects for the church. Within the church building, the Henry Pilcher and Sons organ with approximately 600 pipes & seven stops and dated 1897, is still in perfect working condition. The organ is significant in music and is listed with the Organ Historical Society as an important historical organ. And it is also on the roll of historic pipe organs of the United States.
The First Presbyterian Church represents the best example of vernacular Gothic Revival architecture and is one of the oldest churches in McMinnville and Warren County, Tennessee. It was added to the NRHP on September 13, 1995. All the information above and much more can be found on the original documents submitted for listing consideration and can be viewed here:
npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=60e0aec2-7313-...
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the link below:
The Dyersburg Courthouse Square Historic District was nominated and deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under criteria A & C for its local significance in the development of commerce, politics/government, and architecture from circa 1850 to 1940. The State of Tennessee established Dyer County on October 16, 1803 and it was named in honor of Colonel Robert H. Dyer. The town of Dyersburg incorporated on January 10, 1850. The early growth of Dyersburg was based on the town's river location and abundance of natural resources. Situated at the head of steamboat navigation on the Forked Deer River, Dyersburg became known as a river town. The town grew steadily in size and influence, as the county seat, and center of trade, commerce, and culture. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Dyersburg thrived as a center of commerce, manufacturing and transportation. Railroad traffic largely spurred this boom as the town became a regional hub for the powerful Illinois Central Railroad and the Gulf, Mobile and Northern Railroad. Economic growth continued for Dyersburg into the twentieth century. The automobile was introduced in Dyersburg in 1902 and city street paving began in 1920. And, in 1924, First Citizens National Bank constructed this six-story, three-part Classical Revival adaptation vertical block building. The original structures first floor is stone and the remainder of the structure is brick; it has Recessed Corinthian capitals between the fourth floor windows and ornamental "circle in square" motifs in the string course above the sixth floor windows. On February 28, 1991, this building and the rest of the Dyersburg Courthouse Square Historic District was added to the NRHP. All the information above (and much more) can be found on the original documents submitted for listing consideration found here:
npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/AssetDetail?assetID=b5328d48-b94c-...
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D5200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the link below:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
…….. for the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run tomorrow. To be eligible for the Run a car must have been made prior to 1905, with a VCC dating certificate or passport to prove eligibility. The oldest car on the 2022 Run was made prior to circa 1892.
viewer.joomag.com/rm-sothebys-london-to-brighton-veteran-...;
About 3/4 of British Columbians eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine have received a first shot. I'm waiting for my second, which I hope will be in July.
Vivitar Champion 35
Fujifilm Neopan Acros 100 II
Blazinal/Rodinal 1:100, stand developed
Trying the Vivitar Champion 35 once again, and I have a feeling the shutter is slower than 1/125th; more like 1/60th. I guess the "softness" adds a bit of a vintage feel.
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
The Hialeah Park Race Track (also known as the Miami Jockey Club or Hialeah Race Track or Hialeah Park) is a historic racetrack in Hialeah, Florida. Its site covers 40 square blocks of central-east side Hialeah from Palm Avenue east to East 4th Avenue, and from East 22nd Street on the south to East 32nd Street on the north. On March 5, 1979, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Another listing for it was added in 1988. The Hialeah Park Race Track is served by the Miami Metrorail at the Hialeah Station at Palm Avenue and East 21st Street.
The Hialeah Park Race Track is one of the oldest existing recreational facilities in southern Florida. Originally opened in 1922 by aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and his partner, Missouri cattleman James H. Bright, as part of their development of the town of Hialeah, Florida, Hialeah Park opened as a greyhound racing track operated by the Miami Kennel Club. The Miami Jockey Club launched Hialeah's Thoroughbred horse racing track on January 25, 1925. The facility was severely damaged by the 1926 hurricane and in 1930 was sold to Philadelphia horseman Joseph E. Widener. With Kentucky horseman Col. Edward R. Bradley as an investor, Widener hired architect Lester W. Geisler to design a complete new grandstand and Renaissance Revival clubhouse facilities along with landscaped gardens of native flora and fauna and a lake in the infield that Widener stocked with flamingos. Hailed as one of the most beautiful racetracks in the world, Hialeah Park officially opened on January 14, 1932. An Australian totalisator for accepting parimutuel betting was the first to be installed in America. The park became so famous for its flamingo flocks that it has been officially designated a sanctuary for the American Flamingo by the Audubon Society.
In 1987, the horse-racing movie Let It Ride, with Richard Dreyfuss, Terri Garr, and Jennifer Tilly, had most of its principal film photography shot at Hialeah Park. Hialeah Park also made an appearance in Public Enemies but most scenes were shot in the Midwest. The Champ (1979) with Jon Voight, Faye Dunaway and Ricky Schroder filmed scenes on Flamingo Day, 3/4/78.
Hialeah Park Racetrack was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 2, 1979. On January 12, 1988, the property was determined eligible for designation as a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior.
In 2001, Hialeah Park stopped hosting racing after a change in state law kept it from having exclusive dates in its competition with Gulfstream Park and Calder Race Course. Consequently, owner John Brunetti closed Hialeah Park to the public. The filly Cheeky Miss won the last thoroughbred race run at Hialeah on May 22, 2001. Among the races the track hosted was the appropriately named Flamingo Stakes, an important stepping stone to the Kentucky Derby for 3-year-old horses, and the once prestigious Widener Handicap, a major race for horses four years and older that was the East Coast counterpart to the Santa Anita Handicap in California. Important annual stakes races that were run annually until 2001 were:
Flamingo Stakes
Widener Handicap
Bahamas Stakes
Black Helen Handicap
Bougainvillea Handicap
Everglades Stakes
Hialeah Turf Cup Handicap
Hibiscus Stakes
McLennan Handicap
Royal Palm Handicap
Seminole Handicap
n 2004, the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering revoked Hialeah's thoroughbred permit because it did not hold races for the previous two years. As of 2013, its facilities remain intact except for the stables, which were demolished in early 2007.[3] In 2006, the abandoned Hialeah Park site was considered to be a possible location for a new Florida Marlins Ballpark.
On March 2009, it was announced that track owner John Brunetti was awarded a racing permit. Design firm EwingCole was selected to develop a master plan for renovation and further development, including a new casino. A $40–$90 million restoration project was begun in mid-2009.
On May 7, 2009 the Florida legislature agreed to a deal with the Seminole Tribe of Florida that allowed Hialeah Park to operate slot machines and run Quarter Horse races.[6] The historic racetrack reopened on November 28, 2009 but only for quarter horse races. The park installed slot machines in January 2010 as part of a deal to allow for two calendar seasons of racing. The races ran until February 2, 2010. Only a portion of the park has been restored and an additional $30 million will be needed to complete this first phase of the project. The full transformation was expected to cost $1 billion since the plan included a complete redevelopment of the surrounding area including the construction of an entertainment complex to include a hotel, restaurants, casinos, stores and a theater. On June 2010 concerns were raised over the preservation of Hialeah Park's historical status as the planned development threatened to hurt Hialeah Park's potential as a National Historic Landmark.
On August 14, 2013, Brunetti opened a new casino at Hialeah Park and continues to host winter Quarter Horse racing meets (using temporary stables)
Credit for the data above is given to the following websites:
(20190204_171922TuMore&Flickr011321)
****************************************************************
"My thin white border is not so much a frame as a defense against Flickr's all dark background"
****************************************************************
Being a never-married but highly eligible bachelor :-) , hopeless romantic fool for love and crazy about the beauty of life around us every day, I was looking forward to the June 25-26, 2010 full moon. Stepping out to my downstairs deck to have a late evening low-light early light-supper, I suddenly noticed that the super moon was already out.
I was stunned by its rich golden tones on a darkening deep velvety blue sky. Forgetting about food, I rushed upstairs to grab the camera. I snapped several photographs before the moon would rise higher and become smaller and less deeply toned.
"Chaand" (چاند ) is the Urdu word for the Moon and also a pet word for a loved one. Standing on the deck, outside the master bedroom, where my beloved Chaand of the future is awaited, I gazed at the moon. Howling heart like a roaring animal, trembling soul hungry like the wolf, a thundering yearning desire cried out....
Come, my love, to celebrate the lunacy of love, in mad devotion, crazy passion, every day and night we spend together....
Come, my love, sharing the honey and cream and juices of life, savoring the dripping passion of nature's flow surrounding us, coating us in a shiny sheen of love, desire, lust, passion reflected under the light of the fickle moon, every day and every night a honeymoon....
Come, my love, come to me, come with me, come my love, come, be a part of me, as I become a part of you.... as the glowing orb of the moon, filled to the brim with desire, beckons and I await - our union, our merger, our eternal life....
Come, my love, in endless little deaths, soon rising up back to life, to die another death by willing ecstatic choice, in deep embrace, in trembling depth, in rhythmic unison, birthing new seed, seeding new birth, and loving the rebirth of love, til, countless little deaths later, with the pale moon as our witness, death do us part, my love.....
Come, my love, come, take me, my honey, moaning under a yearning, turning, burning Honey Moon honeymoon, forever .
--
Words & Photo © 2010 IMRAN
DSC_5091P
Tripod mounted, used Nikon D300 self-timer to avoid shake blur of the 450mm eq. zoom lens,
Just over 3MB JPG crop from 13MP 14MB RAW image, processed & framed in Photoshop
PS Thanks to my friend Jack Freund (jfreund1) for the reference to Pierrot.
Winegard HD8200U Platinum HD VHF/UHF Antenna It’s The Top Selling
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Eligible For Free Shipping
Winegard HD8200U Platinum HD VHF/UHF Antenna Review
If you want for the top a good idea Winegard HD8200U Platinum HD VHF/UHF Antenna and after that...
blogonlineshop.xyz/winegard-hd8200u-platinum-hd-vhfuhf-an...