While I should have been home painting I opted to do a little wandering this fall.
The first trip was to The Dominion Energy Garden of Lights Walk the Garden Aglow – At the Norfolk Botanical Gardens.
Having been at several of these types of tours this one was the best! Each area was themed, with a waterfall of lights, the seasons, underwater, wrapped trees, tunnels and more! In 2022, the community voted this show #5 Best Botanical Garden Holiday Lights in the Country through the USA Today/10Best contest. And I would have to agree.
It’s also the third time I’ve stayed at The Glass Light Hotel in Downtown Norfolk. The rooms are beautiful and the hotel is full of beautiful glass. It houses the Perry Glass Art Collection featuring beautiful glass pieces from local and internationally renowned artists.It includes a rotating selection of pieces, in the gallery as well as the hotel. Doug Perry was a co-founder of Dollar Tree Stores and it’s nice to see that he and his wife are huge supporters of the arts in the area.
Some of the artists currently being featuring are Dale Chihuly, Stephen Rolfe Powell, Nancy Callan, Karen Lamonte, Peter Bremers, Katherine Gray and Lucy Lyon. The building is the historic Royster Building which was built in 1912. It was immaculately preserved and restored. It still has an original elevator cab, a brass mail chute and decorative staircases. The rooms are beautiful too, and each has a handblown carrot in it! Mrs Perry’s nickname is Bunny and there are a couple huge blown glass rabbits on the first floor.
On the way home we stopped to look at the Dirgible facility just south of Elizabeth City. During World War II, blimps were a key part of the United States’ defense against German U-boats—this building could house a dozen of them. It is a pretty impressive structure right on the shore of the Pasquotank River. Its large, silvery dome is 20 stories tall and a thousand feet wide and is one of the few remaining structures that were built during World War II to manufacture, house, and service the U.S Navy’s blimps.
The blimps watched for signs of enemy ships. From end to end, these blimps measured more than 250 feet long, and were capable of carrying their 18-member crews from the base to the ocean in half an hour, and could stay in the air for as long as two days without a refueling.
I never heard about this until I moved to North Carolina but in the first few months of 1942, German U-boats had torpedoed dozens of ships off the Carolina coast, but once the blimps started going up, the attacks quickly fell off. Airship crews had the advantage of perspective: From the air, they could easily spot a submarine at shallow depth. The blimps were armed with machine guns and depth charges, and could also call nearby warships for backup.
After the war, Weeksville kept operating until 1957 when it shut down. They demolished many small buildings, but kept the large steel hangar and a smaller wooden one. In 1995, the wooden hangar accidentally burned down, leaving only the concrete pillars at the corners of the air dock.
The steel hangar currently serves as a testing facility for TCOM Airships, returning to its original purpose. It’s on private property now so you can’t get too close. This photo is from their website.
Trip Number two – Longwood Gardens in Kennet Square PA.
On the way we stopped in Berlin on the Eastern Shore, this tiny town has lots of beautiful homes and their downtown main street rocks! The first time i visited about 10 or 15 years ago it was pretty quiet. My favorite shop in the downtown is called Beached and Butterfly. But there were several other really nice ones.
The next day we visited Kennett Square and strolled through downtown. The most interesting shop was A Mushroom Cap. I did not know that Kennett Square is the Mushroom Capital of the World and produces 68 percent of the country’s mushrooms! I’ve always liked mushrooms, particularly Morels, but any mushroom will do! I also did not know that mushrooms are the only item in the produce aisle that has natural vitamin D.
My parents were big morel hunters. They went every year near Manistee, Michigan to find them. This is a photo of my mother with a laundry basket full of them. People keep their picking spots secret.
After the downtown we went to see the lights. A Longwood Christmas has been voted 2022 Best Botanical Garden Holiday Lights by 10Best/USA Today, marking the fifth year in a row that Longwood has achieved this recognition. In my opinion the best part of the outdoor display was the illuminated tunnels. The fountains were drained and instead there were lighted trees where water is in the summer.
The very best part of the display was the conservatory. It was beautiful.
In my opinion the outside lights did not compare in any way to Norfolk. The other thing about Norfolk was that you followed a path so you saw everything, at Longwood you weren’t exactly sure if you saw everything or not but it was still nice. But enjoyed the visit none the less.
We stopped in DC on our way by and visited the National Cathedral, my first time there. The main reason for the visit was to see the collection of nativities that belonged to a friends mother. She donated 600 nativites to the Cathedral that she had collected from around the world.
Next was The National Museum of the American Indian – it was dark when we arrived and we only had time to visit the gift shop inside, which was fabulous. The main reason for the visit was to see the memorial outside. It was understated and quite beautiful. The memorial opened in 2020. This tribute to Native heroes recognizes for the first time on a national scale the enduring and distinguished service of Native Americans in every branch of the US military.
Our final stop on that trip was at The Jefferson Inn in Richmond for lunch. The first time I had visited was last year at Christmas so I knew my travel companions would like it. And they did. Once again the decorations were over the top.
Trip Number Three – Raleigh and the Chatham Artists Guild Studio Tour
My favorite stops on the tour were at Vince Pitelka’s studio, Mark Hewitts, William Moore, and Andrew Wilsons.
A yummy lunch at the Ulmsted followed then when we got back to my friends house we spent the afternoon making clay Christmas trees.
She is a very talented hand builder. Her goal was to make 75 trees this season and she’s almost reached that,
This wraps up a busy year of travel, art making, and just enjoying life. I’m grateful for all of it.