"From Far East to West": the Chinese-American experience in the American Old West

     Our favorite St. Petersburg, Florida museum has launched another great exhibit, on view through January of 2024.  Called "From Far East to West," the exhibit chronicles the lives of the Chinese -American immigrants who came to the western United States in the mid-1800s.  Mostly young men, the immigrants were first drawn by news of the California Gold Rush and by the opportunities of work building railroads.  Many saw the US as a chance to acquire riches to take back to China, and the West was known as "Gold Mountain" among the immigrants.  There was wealth to be had, real wealth relative to what their life prospects would have been had they stayed in China. A few men did return quite wealthy, and many villages prospered from the wealth sent home from America.  However, more immigrants ended up staying in America and fighting to survive political, economic and racial discrimination.  Chinese immigrants were targeted by swindlers, con artists, and thieves, and they were lynched and attacked in racially-motivated riots.  Life was difficult, but there were still a few immigrants who became wealthy by organizing labor gangs and opening laundries, restaurants, and other businesses.

    There are a few artifacts and a few photographs of real-life individuals in the exhibit, but the "hook" or twist of the exhibit is that it focuses on paintings of Chinese-American life in the 1800s painted by 21st century Chinese-Americans who have immigrated from China to the US.  That's a really interesting perspective.  And on top of that, the paintings are fabulous.

    The exhibit includes a collection of western paintings by Z.S. Liang.  Several of Liang's works are part of the Museum's permanent collection.  He's unique in that his work focuses on Native Americans rather than the Chinese-American experience.

  

    If you're in Tampa Bay this fall and winter, go to The James and check out the exhibit.  ( https://thejamesmuseum.org/ )

"Roughing It" with the Bros in Fort Myers: The Edison and Ford Winter Estates

 

        The Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Ft. Myers, Florida recently hosted its annual "Airing of the Quilts" event on its grounds.  The members of the Southwest Florida Quilters Guild display their creations on clotheslines in front of the cottages built by Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  It was a perfect opportunity for us to explore the historic site for the first time.  

        In 1885, inventor Thomas Edison traveled to the wilds of Ft. Myers Florida, scouting for a winter home site.  Smitten, he purchased 13 acres for $2,750 and immediately began designing a family home, a guest cottage, and a laboratory.  He called it Seminole Lodge, and the Edison family spent their winters there, frequently hosting famous guests including Henry Ford, naturalist John Burroughs, industrialist Harvey Firestone, and Herbert Hoover.  Edison and his guests enjoyed the Florida outdoors, swimming, shelling, boating, and fishing for huge tarpon and other fish.  He also worked from time to time, and developed a major interest in botany, using his laboratory and acreage to experiment with various plants for industrial use.

Various pictures of the Seminole Lodge and guest house

    In 1916, Henry Ford bought the property next door to his buddy and built a bungalow that was christened The Mangos.  

    Ford, Edison, Harvey Firestone, and John Burroughs often went camping together around Florida and beyond.  They, or their underlings, packed their Model Ts and stocked their chuck wagon, complete with camp cook, and hit the road. Maybe they made smores around the campfire and told stories about how they abused their employees, electrocuted dogs, and spread racist propaganda.

    The museum on site contains quite a few interesting displays covering the careers and contributions of both men, minus any controversy or negativity.  The botanical laboratory is also open for visitors, and the Estates have quite an active gardening group which offers workshops, classes, and plant sales throughout the year.  

        The Edison and Ford Winter Estates are worth a visit. Website https://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/  It's a great look into the lives of two of the most influential Americans of the 20th century.  

The Wonderful World of Windsor

 

    A little over two years ago, founding Histocrat Margaret Duncan and her husband David moved from metro Atlanta to Windsor, United Kingdom because David's employer transferred him to its London headquarters.  It's been an absolute dream come true for Margaret, a lover of all things historic and an avid Anglophile.  When we started planning our trip to London, we knew that a day trip to Windsor had to happen.  Honestly, my expectations were low, but - whoa! - Windsor definitely exceeded all expectations.

    Windsor is a short 15 minutes by train from Paddington Station in London, so it couldn't have been more convenient, especially when you have friends willing to pick you up and play tour guides for the day.  Windsor is of course dominated by Windsor Castle, Windsor Castle is the longest-occupied palace in Europe.  the original castle on the site was built in the 11th century, but much of the current structure dates back to the 1200s.  Over the centuries, it has been renovated and enlarged and modified by various monarchs, and in 1992, a major fire devastated the castle, and it took years of reconstruction, which led to some great archaeological and historical discoveries.  From 2011 to 2022, it served as the primary residence of Queen Elizabeth II, and it has hosted many great state dinners and events over the years.  Today, it is a major tourist attraction, and there are numerous special events and tours throughout the year to augment the rooms on permanent exhibit.  (Unfortunately, no photos are allowed anywhere inside the castle.)  Also on the grounds is St. George's Chapel, the site of various high-profile royal events recently and the burial place of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. (Windsor Castle website https://www.rct.uk/visit/windsor-castle )

    Your first stop has to be Queen Mary's Dolls House.  From https://www.rct.uk/collection/themes/Trails/queen-marys-dolls-house 

Queen Mary's Dolls' House is the largest, most beautiful and most famous dolls' house in the world. Built between 1921 and 1924 for Queen Mary, consort of George V, by the leading British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, it includes contributions from over 1,500 of the finest artists, craftsmen and manufacturers of the early twentieth century. From life below stairs to the high-society setting of the salon and dining room, and from a library bursting with original works by the top literary names of the day, to a fully stocked wine cellar and a garden, created by Gertrude Jekyll, no detail was forgotten. The house even includes electricity, running hot and cold water and working lifts. Each room is fully furnished and waiting to be explored.

"It is built to outlast us all. To carry on into the future and different world this pattern of our own. It is a serious attempt to express our age and to show forth in dwarf proportions the limbs of our present world."

A.C. BENSON, THE BOOK OF THE QUEEN'S DOLLS' HOUSE (1924)

There is a video of the Dolls House at the above link. It really is an amazing thing to see in person.

    From the Dolls House, visitors take the self-guided tour through the State Apartments, the public rooms (and a few historic private bedrooms) where the royal family has entertained guests for hundreds of years, knighted illustrious individuals for meritorious service, and hosted huge dinners for heads of state and up to 164 guests.  The rooms are filled with fabulous works art that rival any museum's collection.  (https://www.rct.uk/visit/windsor-castle/highlights-of-windsor-castle#/ )

    From the website:

The ceremonial rooms are the main State Apartments that are used today by the Royal Family. Within these rooms the monarch hosts official visits by Heads of State from other countries, investitures, and awards ceremonies, where British men and women are recognised for their achievements.

Perhaps the most striking room is the Grand Reception Room. With its chandeliers and gilding it was once used as the main ballroom in the Castle. One object you can't miss in this room is the large malachite urn, presented to Queen Victoria by Tsar Nicholas I in 1839, and one of the largest examples outside Russia. Looking around the gold-covered walls and ceilings it's hard to believe that this room was so severely damaged in the fire of 1992. The room was painstakingly repaired to its former glory, which you can see today. 

George IV gave the State Apartments a new grand entrance and staircase, added the colossal Waterloo Chamber, celebrating the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, and created a new set of private rooms within the Castle, the Semi-State Rooms.

    During our visit in September, there were two separate ticketed tours available, a Tower tour and a tour of the Great Kitchen.  Since I had just had surgery in August, we opted not to tackle the 200 steps of the Tower tour, but we took the Great Kitchen Tour, and it was Great. Our tour guide was a delight, absolutely bubbling over with energy and full of great stories of the food, cooking, and feasting that have taken place there.  

    The grounds of Windsor Castle are gorgeous, and the Moat Garden is open for tours at certain times of the year.  As one would expect, the gift shop is great, and you can find almost anything from corgis to gin.

    From the castle, we went on a walkabout of the town and saw some interesting sights including the Crooked House and one of the oldest buildings still standing in Windsor, dating back to the Tudor period.  

    Near the castle is St. John the Baptist Church.  This is an interesting stop because the parishioners proudly display a painting of The Last Supper dating to about 1600; it was a gift to the church from King George III. Just a few months ago, it was joined by a sculpture of the same scene, made up of keys from computer keyboards.

    Finally, it was Sunday, so we crossed the Thames bridge into Eton and went to The George pub for a traditional Sunday Roast dinner.  Well, maybe not finally.  Since we were so close, the Duncans took us on a quick drive-by of Runnymede, the site of the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215.

    It was an absolutely fabulous day in all regards, and although I had my initial doubts, Windsor Castle has moved up to the top of my favorite royal residences.