Friday, October 13, 2017

MORE FROM THE ELIZABETHAN GARDENS IN MANTEO, NORTH CAROLINA

 
I have a doozy of a cold so if your comment is late in appearing, it is because I have the pace of a snail 🐌 right now. Thank you all for visiting and thank you everyone who leaves a comment.  I probably won’t be posting again until Monday. 


The Elizabethan Gardens' website can be found here.



Right outside the gift shop/entrance there was a very large selection of garden ornaments.  I would have enjoyed taking a few of these home but managed to keep myself in check.  We are downsizing and trying not to add anything else right now.


They were fun to look at though.















So, I tore myself away from all the garden goodies and started to explore.




These beautiful gardens can be found within the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, on 10 acres next to the  Roanoke Sound.  There are hundreds of native plants, and many others from around the world.  We didn't see any wildlife apart from a few squirrels, but it is home to a variety of birds and animals.



The Elizabethan Gardens are only yards away from the original homes of the 1580's Lost Colonists.  In the photo below is the building that contains the gift shop where we bought our tickets.



The following photo showing the iron gates were once placed at the French Embassy in Washington DC, and they gave them to the garden as a gift. 



We came across a statue of Virginia Dare.  The original sculptor's vision carved her as an adult, with fishing nets draped around her waist.  He saw in his mind-eye, what he believed she would look like had she grown up on Roanoke Island.  



Virginia Dare was the first baby born to the colonists in the New World, and was only an infant when she and the other colonists disappeared.  (There is a very interesting history here.  And there is also an urban legend of Virginia Dare and the White Doe here.  As legends often are, it is a rather sad and fanciful tale.)


This statue itself has an interesting history as it was carved in 1859 in Rome and was eventually donated to the gardens.  First, however, it survived a Spanish shipwreck, was a controversial display in the Raleigh State Hall of History, and then had a long stay with the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, and original author of the Lost Colony play, Paul Green.  There is a popular belief that Virginia Dare survived and was assimilated into the local Native American culture, that maybe others were too.


The Garden itself was officially opened to the public on August 18th, 1960, on what would have been Virginia Dare's 373rd birthday.



There were a lot of nooks and crannies to find, and more flowers to share, but I will leave those until next time.



If you would like to see my other posts from the garden, you can click on the label below this post that reads, "The Elizabethan Garden_Manteo_NC.”


I have also included two maps of the area and where it can be located.



19 comments:

  1. what a beautiful place...it has all the elements of a perfect garden!!

    it looks like you had the whole place to yourself?? thanks for the maps, the boy lives in north carolina!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Debbie, yes it was very quiet. Only a few people and we were on our own most of the time. Glad you enjoyed the maps and how lovely that your boy lives there. It is a beautiful state.

      Delete
  2. Hi Denise: Sorry not to have dropped by too much recently but we are in Slovenia and Croatia birding, often with intermittent Internet connection, and we arrive back at our accommodation late at night. Back home to Canada at the end of next week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How exciting David, I will look forward to your photos. Happy traveling!

      Delete
  3. Lovely views, Denise, as always and sorry to hear you are not feeling well. I also had a cold a couple of weeks ago and rest is the best cure, although it may take a couple of weeks...also nice of soup now that fall weather is here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Dorothy, sorry to hear you had a cold also. So many have them right now. Hot soup sounds good!

      Delete
  4. Hi Denise, and what an amazing place to visit with so much to see. What with the garden ornaments and all the hide away areas, you could spend a day with no problems, superb interesting post. Hope you are feeling a lot better. All the best, John

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you John, and I wish I lived closer, I would go all the time. Starting to feel better thank you. All the best to you too, and good health :)

      Delete
  5. Denise, what a place. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What an extraordinary place and you photographed it so beautifully! I hope you are feeling better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Lois, I appreciate that. Getting there, popsicles are great :)

      Delete
  7. I appreciate the map. I didn't learn much US geography, other than brief trips there.
    What a lovely spot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Jenn, I need to remember to include them more often.

      Delete
  8. P.S. Hope you are feeling better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed the maps Jen. I enjoy geography and my knowledge of the US became quite good once I moved here and lived in various states. Thank you, slowly getting there.

      Delete
  9. Beautiful gardens and sculptures ... you have so many lovely places to walk. Hope your cold is all better by now.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very pretty! For some reason we did not visit the gardens when we were there. Perhaps it was closing time or we were behind schedule.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's kind of tucked away and only had a small sign, that we could see, from the road. In fact, we drove by it and decided to go back the next day.

      Delete

Thank you so for taking the time to leave a comment. I enjoy reading them very much and always try to return a visit. As I do monitor comments it may take a while for them to appear, even quite late depending on what is going on and how much time I am able to spend on the computer.

I appreciate all who look at my blog, but I won't be publishing any businesses. If you are only able to publish anonymously, would you sign your name please, and leave an addy so I can return your visit where possible? Thank you!