Watery Wednesday

This lake is not far from my house and I'm not sure if it even has a name. If you look closely (or click on the picture and enlarge it), you will see someone fishing there at the lake's edge in the bottom of the picture just right of center. To see more wonderful watery pictures, be sure to visit Watery Wednesday.

Holland Building

A picture of one of the more generic state office buildings downtown. This building was named in honor of Spessard L. Holland, who served as governor of Florida from 1941 to 1945 and was later elected to the U. S. Senate in 1946. He was only the second former governor of Florida to be elected to the Senate and the first Florida native to serve as both Governor and Senator.

Not your ordinary fast food joint

The Wharf Express is not too far from my house and they serve fresh delicious seafood without too much of a wait. Their fried pickles are pretty good too and the staff is very friendly! I took this picture while they were back there preparing my take-out order. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see their menu.

Election 2000

Another display in the Florida Historic Capitol Museum is about Florida's role in the notorious 2000 United States Presidential election. The second picture shows a ballot box from Palm Beach County, home of the infamous "butterfly ballot".

Weekend Reflections

Continuing my tour of the Florida Historic Capitol Museum, one of the exhibits shows this "White Ladies" restroom door used in the old Whitfield Building, which housed the state Supreme Court until 1949. Jim Crow, or segregation laws, applied to almost every public activity. African Americans used "Colored Only" facilities. The second picture shows a closeup of the sign explaining segregation laws passed by Southern states after Reconstruction. Since I had a hard time not getting too many reflections in the glass protecting the exhibits (including a self portrait in the second shot), I decided to go ahead and make this part of Weekend Reflections.

House of Representatives

The restored 1902 House of Representatives chamber in the old Florida Capitol looks very much like the Senate chamber I showed yesterday, so I decided to show a few different shots with more detail. The first picture shows a reproduction of one of the 68 desks used by the Representatives. In the second shot you can see the original Speaker's bench in the front of the chamber. The third picture shows an original old Capitol steam radiator. Before 1903, heat for the Capitol was provided by 24 brick fireplaces, four of them in the House of Representatives chamber. A complete new steam heating system was ordered during the expansion of the building in 1902 and was in place when the first Legislative session began in 1903. The House received 12 radiators like this one.

Senate Chamber

The restored 1902 Senate Chamber in the old Florida Capitol is furnished with 32 reproduction oak desks and Senate President's bench. In 1902, an original desk and chair would have cost a total of $27.50. In the 1990's, when the desks and chairs were reproduced, they cost $750 apiece.

Supreme Court

Before relocating to their own building, the Supreme Court of Florida met from 1903 until 1913 in this Chamber located in the old Florida Capitol. The restored Chamber includes many original furnishings, one of which is the twenty-four foot long Supreme Court bench shown in the first picture. It was made of golden oak at a cost of $350 in 1902. Using original furniture, this room was restored based on a 1911 photograph. The current Supreme Court of Florida is housed in a separate building right across the street from the new Capitol and I previously posted a picture of it here.

Dome and Stairs

Continuing the tour I started yesterday, the first picture shows the beautiful stained glass domed ceiling over the rotunda inside Florida's old Capitol. The second two pictures are of the staircase directly under that dome. I took the first shot while leaning over the 2nd floor railing surrounding those stairs and trying very hard not to drop my camera in the process! As always, you can click on the pictures to enlarge and then click again to supersize them.

Florida Historic Capitol Museum

Recently I spent an afternoon exploring the Florida's old Capitol in downtown Tallahassee and for the next few days I am going to take you on a tour of this lovely old building. One of the first things anyone notices from the outside are the red and white striped awnings on the windows. Most people either love them or hate them and I admit I wasn't too fond of them when they first appeared after the building was restored, but now they have kind of grown on me. The old state Capitol has been standing on this same site since 1845, but it underwent many changes through the years, until the newer 20 story building which you can see standing behind it was completed in 1977. From 1978-1982, the old Capitol was restored to its 1902 appearance and those awnings are authentic to that period. This intensive project of historical, architectural and archaeological investigation made Florida’s Capitol one of the most thoroughly documented capitol restoration projects in the nation. I would love to hear your opinion of those awnings. Love them or hate them?

Camera Critters

A closeup of the mama duck and her babies that I showed in last Wednesday's post. To see more fascinating critters from all over the world, visit Camera Critters.

Weekend Reflections

The office of the Florida School Boards Association is located downtown about a block from the Capitol. To learn more about this organization, you can visit their website here. You can see the reflection of Monroe Street in their windows. To enjoy more wonderful reflections from around the world, don't miss Weekend Reflections.

SkyWatch Friday

Cloudy skies over the airport. To see more interesting skies from all over the world, don't miss SkyWatch Friday.

Utilities

The city of Tallahassee Utilities Operations Center. The reason the parking lot looks so empty is because I took this picture on a Sunday afternoon.

I apologize for not visiting and commenting on my friends' blogs lately. It's been a very hectic and stressful week, but I hope to be back visiting you soon!

Watery Wednesday

My grandkids feeding a mama duck and her babies at Lake Ella. To see more wonderful watery pictures from all over the world, don't miss Watery Wednesday.

The Warehouse

Just up the street from the place in yesterday's post. As its name implies, it is located in an old warehouse not far from the FSU campus and is quite popular with college students.

Terror

I spotted this sign while driving past the old warehouses on Gaines Street and just had to go back for a picture. You can visit their website here. Looks like they put on quite a show around Halloween!

Joanie's

We ate lunch at Joanie's Gourmet Market and Fabulous Cafe while we were shopping for antiques in Havana a couple of weeks ago. I liked the sign outside on her veranda.

Summer Flowers

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

Weekend Reflections

Antique glass bottles on display at Florida's historic old Capitol building. These bottles were found by archeologists in the 1970's when the foundation for the new capitol was excavated. You can see the reflection of one of the front windows and its red and white striped awning in the glass along with a passing car on Monroe Street outside. To see more beautiful reflections from around the world, visit Weekend Reflections.

SkyWatch Friday

Looking at the sky from a second floor window in the historic old Florida Capitol in downtown Tallahassee. To see more gorgeous skies from all over the world, visit SkyWatch Friday.

Oh no!

I went antique shopping in Havana (Florida, not Cuba!) last weekend and noticed that this poor little girl had experienced an unfortunate mishap with her ice cream cone.

Theme Days

I took this picture in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge just south of Tallahassee earlier this summer and it represents what north Florida looks like to me. The only thing missing is an alligator sunning himself on one of the rocks, but I'm sure there are a few out there hiding. The first day of the month is Theme Day for the City Daily Photo community.
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