The Ava Gardner Museum

The Ava Gardner Museum is home to an extensive collection of Ava Gardner memorabilia. Each object in the museum was either owned by Ava Gardner or her family, used in her films or had a special meaning or relationship to Ava.

 

The glorious cape and 2 pairs of 33 shoes used in making the movie The Barefoot Contessa (1954).

This stunning silk satin cape, embroidered with gold thread and brass sequins, was worn by Ava in publicity shots for The Barefoot Contessa. However, the costume does not appear in the movie and may have been included in scenes that were deleted in the final cut of the film.

One of 23 pairs of shoes warn in The Barefoot Contessa (1954)

Ava's wardrobe for Contessa included 23 pairs of shoes. Cast in a role that most critics agree paralleled her private life, Ava played the character of Maria Vargas. As the film's title implies, both Ava and Maria preferred to forgo shoes whenever possible.

Black Dress worn in The Great Sinner (1949)

Within the Main Case of the Museum Gallery is a visitor favorite: the black dress Ava wore in The Great Sinner. Visitors often remark on the diminutive size of the dress and exclaim over her waist size – 18 inches.

Ava Gardner Museum

Ava Lavinia Gardner was born on Christmas Eve, 1922, in Grabtown, a rural community seven miles east of Smithfield, NC. She was the youngest of seven children of Jonas and Mary Elizabeth (Molly) Gardner. The town of Smithfield now has an Ava Gardner Museum.

A view of the Museum

In October 2000, the new Ava Gardner Museum opened its doors and has continued to draw national and even worldwide attention with approximately 12,000 visitors each year.

Bodice from The Great Sinner (1949)

Gown crafted from silk and wool gaberdine worn in The Naked Maja (1958)

Jacket worn in Mogambo (1953)

Harem (1986)

Harem (1986)

A pair of shoes from Harem (1986)

TV-miniseries Harem (1986)

Really cool pair of pumps!

Handbag

One of the many story boards of Ava's life.

I saw signs posted along I-95 for the museum and decided to take a chance. I have to tell you, it was a great way to spend the afternoon! 

Nassau Botanical Garden

 

 The Nassau Botanical Garden was established on July, 10, 1973 on 18 acres and features over 600 species of shrubs and trees. 

The site was originally a rock quarry that supplied stones for roadways and the building of fort Charlotte but is now a quiet garden with trails, terraces, and grotto.

The gardens were damaged a few years back by a hurricane and is now in need of repair. One could tell it was a Grand place in the past. Although the gardens were closed to the public, two workers allowed me full access to the property. What luck!

A moss covered staircase

 Palms against a stormy sky

Banyan Tree

 Wooden Gate

One of the workers

 Terraced trails weave through the tropical garden.

There were many varieties of Palm trees that I have never seen before.

Tropical flowers

 

Staircase that empties onto the Grotto.

Ardastra Gardens

 Ardastra Gardens was first opened to the public in 1937. It was the brain child of Hedley Vivian Edwards, a Jamaican horticulturalist, who wanted to create a luscious garden here in the heart of Nassau.

This was not an easy task as the area in those days was more of a marshland than a lush garden. 

In the 1950’s flamingos in the Bahamas were nearly hunted to the point of extinction. The Government at that time brought flamingos to Ardastra Gardens as an experiment to try breeding them in captivity.

The flamingos were featured in the National Geographic magazine in the October 1957 issue as nobody had trained flamingos to be comfortable around people before and so people could come closer to the flamingos in Ardastra compared to anywhere else in the world.

Ringtailed Lemur

In 1982 the gardens were bought by Mr. Norman Solomon, a Bahamian, and it was then that the first zoo in the Bahamas was born.

Serval

The day I visited the zoo, I had the entire park to myself. I had the most wonderful time with each of the animals.

Military Macaw

Some of the animals were as facinated with me as I was with them.

Meer Kat

Molucan Cokatoo

These two were whispering secrets

Spectacled Caiman

This one thought I looked tasty!

San salvador rock iguana

The colors and textures on this lizard were amazing. He was quite large as well.

East African Crowned Crane

This little guy was not happy that I had gotten too close and had risen up and stomped his feet in distain. I really didn't know whether to run or take the pic.  The pic won.  The crane was no more than two feet from me when I captured this pic.

Black Swan

Black Swans were first seen by Europeans in 1697, when Willem de Vlamingh's expedition explored the Swan River, Western Australia. This one was quite aggressive. If you got to close he would try to bite.

Peacock

Many of the birds roamed the gardens. You can walk right up to many of the flamingos which was really quite surreal .

A Step Back In Time

The Great Smokey Mountains

Just outside Cherokee, NC is a wonderful visitor center as you enter the Smokey Mountain National Park. If you find yourself passing into the park, take time out to visit the Oconaluftee Visitor Center and Mountain Farm Museum.Visitors can explore a log farmhouse, barn, apple house, springhouse, and a working blacksmith shop to get a sense of how families may have lived 100 years ago.

Mountain Farm Museum

The farm buildings, most dating around 1900, were moved from their original locations throughout the Great Smoky Mountain National Park to create this open-air museum.

Corn Field

Old Equipment

Split-rail fences line much of the property. Constructed out of timber logs, split-rail fences were typically used for agricultural or decorative fencing. These were very  simple in their construction, and could be easily assembled with few tools even on hard or rocky ground. They could even be partially or wholly disassembled if the fence was needed to be moved or if the wood became more useful for other purposes.

Shake Roof

A shake is a wooden shingle that is made from split logs. When these are used for covering the top of a house, the result is a shake roof. In North America shakes are typically made from Western Red Cedar.

Out Building

Barn Door (Window)

Davis House

The Davis House is a rare chance to view a log house built from chestnut wood before the chestnut blight decimated the American Chestnut in our forests during the 1930s and early 1940s.

Oconaluftee Visitor Center and The Farm Museum is free. Open All Year:
Open every day except Christmas Day

January - April    8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. May    8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.June - August    8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
September - October    8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
November - December    8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.


Location
Inside the Smokey Mountain National Park, 2 miles north of Cherokee, NC, on US-441.

The Winecoff Hotel Remembered

 The Winecoff Hotel

Built in 1913 by renowned architect, William Lee Stoddard, best known for urban hotels in the eastern United States.

 William Lee Stoddard (1921)

The Georgian Terrace Hotel, Ponce de Leon Apartments, and the Connally Building were all built in Atlanta by Stoddard between 1910 and 1915.

Building Detail

The Winecoff Hotel was Atlanta's tallest and most luxurious hotel. Standing fifteen stories tall with an open-air terrace dining room, coffee shop and lounge, the hotel was strategically located in the heart of Atlanta's retail district.

 Stationary

According to their stationery, the hotel was advertised as being absolutely fireproof, even though it was designed without fire alarms, fire escapes or a sprinkler system. The Winecoff is best known for a fire that occurred there on December 7, 1946, in which 119 people died.

The Upper Floors

Guests at the hotel that night included teenagers attending a Tri-Y Youth Conference, Christmas shoppers, and people in town to see Song of the South.

Historical Marker 

It remains the deadliest hotel fire in U.S. history, and prompted many changes in building codes.