Avery Island Jungle Gardens. “Jungle Gardens is a 170-acre garden with semitropical foliage, abundant wildlife and a centuries-old Buddha statue. The garden’s rolling landscape stretches along Bayou Petite Anse on the northwest side of the Island. In season, visitors to Avery Island can expect to see a variety of azaleas, camellias and bamboo, in addition to alligators, deer and raccoons that live in the hills and marshes around the gardens. Visitors can stroll along a path covered by gnarled oaks laced with Spanish moss and stand at the shrine that houses a centuries-old Buddha. And then there are the thousands of snowy egrets that nest in Bird City each spring.”
GOING SOON!!! The Barnes Foundation. “Between 1912 and 1951, Albert C. Barnes assembled one of the finest collections of impressionist, post-impressionist, and early modern paintings in the world. Acquiring works by some of the most daring artists of the time—Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Chaim Soutine, and Vincent van Gogh, among others—Barnes marked himself as a collector of great ambition and audacity. Developing new interests, Barnes began to avidly purchase African art in the early 1920s. Barnes arranged and rearranged his collections in “ensembles,” distinctive wall compositions organized according to formal principles of light, color, line, and space, rather than by chronology, nationality, style, or genre. The ensembles changed as Barnes made acquisitions and new aesthetic connections between the works. Integrating art and craft, cosmopolitan and provincial styles, and objects from across cultures and periods, Barnes sought to demonstrate the continuity of artistic traditions and the universalism of human expression.”
Bishop Museum. “Bishop Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in honor of his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of the royal Kamehameha family. The Museum was established to house the extensive collection of Hawaiian artifacts and royal family heirlooms of the Princess, and has expanded to include millions of artifacts, documents and photographs about Hawai‘i and other Pacific island cultures. Today, Bishop Museum is the largest museum in the state and the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific, recognized throughout the world for its cultural collections, research projects, consulting services and public educational programs. It also has one of the largest natural history specimen collections in the world. Serving and representing the interests of Native Hawaiians is a primary purpose of the Museum.”
Birmingham Museum of Art, African Art. “The African collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art consists of about 1,600 objects. Africa is a continent of enormous diversity, with a landmass of almost twelve million square miles, and topography ranging from desert to snow-capped mountains. The continent is home to over fifty countries, and hundreds of ethnic groups, cultures, languages, religions, and traditions. African art, in its many forms and functions, embodies this diversity. The Museum has sought to build a collection that represents all of the major regions of Africa, as well as reflecting ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity within those regions across time. The collection includes masks, figure sculpture, textiles, ceramics, household and ritual objects, jewelry, musical instruments, currencies, furniture, clothing, and costume.”
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. “The remains of the most sophisticated prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico are preserved at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. Within the 2,200-acre tract, located a few miles west of Collinsville, Illinois, lie the archaeological remnants of the central section of the ancient settlement that is today known as Cahokia. In 1982, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), designated Cahokia Mounds a World Heritage Site for its importance to our understanding of the prehistory of North America. Cahokia Mounds has also been recognized as a U. S. National Historic Landmark. Cahokia Mounds is managed by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency as a State Historic Site.”
Christ Church. “Finished in 1735, Christ Church was the most finely crafted Anglican parish church in all of colonial Virginia. The church’s detailed brickwork, particularly the molded-brick doorways, had few rivals in Virginia and perhaps colonial America. The classical, full entablature was among the most sophisticated produced in the colony. With towering brick walls, vaulted ceilings, and large compass-headed windows, Christ Church cut an imposing figure in a Virginia landscape dotted by small, frame, earthfast buildings. On the interior, the superb high-backed pews, triple-decker pulpit, walnut altarpiece, and stone pavers gave the church a character unique among colonial houses of worship. No doubt it was one of the most astonishing buildings many colonial Virginians would see throughout their entire lives.”
LONDON CALLING!!! The Courtauld Gallery. “The Courtauld Gallery houses one of the finest collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world. Formed by the pioneering collector Samuel Courtauld, the collection offers an array of outstanding works charting the development of modern French painting from Monet and Renoir to Seurat and Gauguin. The Courtauld Gallery is the only museum in Britain with such an outstanding display of paintings by the French Fauves (or Wild Beasts), including important works by Matisse, Derain and Dufy. This is complemented by German Expressionist paintings with an extensive collection of Kandinsky’s works. A significant group of works by Kokoschka includes his enormous ceiling painting The Prometheus Triptych.”
Creole Nature Trail. “In 1975, the Louisiana legislature initially established the Creole Nature Trail as a scenic route. Through the continued support of local governmental bodies, tourist commissions, business organizations and interested citizens, the Louisiana legislature designed the Creole Nature Trail a state scenic route in 1993. The Creole Nature Trail was recognized as a National Scenic Byway by the Federal Highway Administration’s America’s Byways program in 1996. And, in 2002, this designation was upgraded to the highest possible status, that of an All-American Road, a destination unto itself.”
East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. “East Feliciana Parish, in Louisiana, is a beautiful, forested area of rolling hills located 30 miles north of the capitol city of Baton Rouge. East Feliciana Parish, the heart of English Louisiana’s Plantation Country, is noted for its scenic beauty and historic landmarks. A legal, educational and commercial center in the days when cotton was king, the parish offers a cornucopia of quaint historic towns and unsurpassed country drives. Jackson was founded in 1815 as the Seat of Justice for Feliciana Parish before the parish was divided into East and West in 1824. The town also served as a land office and as a center for learning and culture. Clinton was founded in 1824 as the parish seat of justice when the parish of Feliciana was divided into East and West Feliciana. It was located on a tract of land that had been granted by the Spanish government. Clinton became known as the legal center of the area, and when the Clinton and Port Hudson Railroad was established in the mid- 1830s, the town found prosperity as the cotton trading point for a large area.”
The Field Museum, North America Collections. “Since its founding, The Field Museum has devoted considerable attention to the Native peoples of North America. The result is a series of collections of striking depth, strong in recent history and contemporary culture. Staff collaborate actively with Native American groups, who come regularly to visit and study the collections of their nations. The Museum holds a large collection of material from the Hopewell Culture of Ohio dating back more than 2,000 years. It is one manifestation of the far-flung Hopewell network that extended over much of the eastern United States and included trade in copper, obsidian, pearls, exotic flints, mica, and quartz.”
George Washington Birthplace National Monument. “George Washington, America’s first and greatest hero, was crucial to the establishment of the United States as a nation founded on the principles of liberty. George Washington Birthplace preserves the heart of the Washington lands and a memorial plantation where the staunch character of our hero comes to the imagination.”
Georgia Guidestones. “A massive granite monument espousing the conservation of mankind and future generations. Sources for the sizable financing of the project choose to remain anonymous. The wording of the message proclaimed on the monument is in 12 languages, including the archaic languages of Sanskrit, Babylonian Cuneiform, Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Classical Greek, as well as English, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish, and Swahili.”
Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. “The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden is a museum of living plants that attracts photographers, gardeners, botanists, scientists, and nature lovers from around the world. The Garden’s collection of tropical plants is international in scope. Over 2,000 species, representing more than 125 families and 750 genera, are found in this one-of-a-kind garden. The 40-acre valley is a natural greenhouse, protected from buffeting tradewinds and blessed with fertile volcanic soil. Throughout this garden valley, nature trails meander through a true tropical rainforest, crossing bubbling streams, passing several beautiful waterfalls and the exciting ocean vistas along the rugged Pacific coast.”
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. “Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park displays the results of 70 million years of volcanism, migration, and evolution — processes that thrust a bare land from the sea and clothed it with unique ecosystems, and a distinct human culture. The park highlights two of the world’s most active volcanoes, and offers insights on the birth of the Hawaiian Islands and views of dramatic volcanic landscapes.”
Hillwood. “Founded by American collector and heiress to the Post cereal empire Marjorie Merriweather Post, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens is one of the premier art collector’s museums in the United States. The museum features the most comprehensive collection of Russian imperial art outside of Russia and a world-renowned collection of eighteenth-century French decorative art and furnishings. The collection includes Fabergé eggs, Russian porcelain, Russian Orthodox icons, Beauvais tapestries, and Sèvres porcelain. Encircled by woodlands, the twenty-five acre estate provides visitors a tranquil oasis of luscious formal gardens.”
Honolulu Academy of the Arts. “The Honolulu Academy of Arts is dedicated to the collection, preservation, interpretation, and teaching of the visual arts, and the presentation of exhibitions, films and videos, performing arts, and public programs specifically relevant to Hawai’i’s ethnically diverse community. From 300-year-old Hawaiian artifacts to 20th-century Maui landscapes by Georgia O’Keeffe, the Academy’s collection of Hawai‘i-based painting, sculpture, and decorative arts encapsulates the history of visual arts in the islands and is probably the finest such collection anywhere.”
Indianapolis Museum of Art, African Art Collection. “The Eiteljorg Gallery of African Art, on the second floor of the Krannert Pavilion, features more than 400 objects. Visitors can see and enjoy a collection that includes masks, figures, textiles, and many other types of objects that represent all major regions of the continent. Maps help to pinpoint African peoples and their art within the continent’s vast geographic and cultural framework, and informational labels and photomurals clarify the religious, social, and political contexts of the art.”
Jefferson Island Rip Van Winkle Gardens. “Lose yourself in a wonderland of flora and fauna, a twenty five-acre semi tropical paradise that captures the senses and cleanses the soul. Discover a year-round explosion of color where irises, magnolias, hibiscus, camellias, azaleas, thousands of springtime bulbs and a breathtaking array of annuals paint a landscape across the Southern sky. As you walk through the Gardens you will see many unusual plants and historic sites. The Jean Lafitte tree is one of them. Three buried treasure chests were found there in 1928. The treasure is believed to have been buried by Lafitte. The Joseph Jefferson Mansion was built in the early 1870’s. The Mansion is filled with period antique furniture and paintings. It delights the eyes of many visitors. Professional trained tour guides will walk you through the house every day, seven days a week.”
Kaumana Cave. “Kaumana Cave, located 5 miles above Hilo, was created during the 1880 eruption. It was formed as the surface of the pahoehoe cooled and hardened, insulating the molten lava within. A portion of the thin crust later collapsed, creating a skylight through which streams of lava could be seen pouring through subterranean passages. As the eruption abated, the channel emptied, leaving behind an extensive lava tube.”
Kula Kai Caverns. “Kula Kai Caverns is located down slope Mauna Loa near South Point on the Big Island of Hawaii. Kula Kai Caverns offers a spectacular adventure inside 1000 year old lava tubes. Situated on the Southwest rift, the caverns consist of several miles of braided lava tube systems.”
Kazumura Cave. “Kazumura Cave is a lava tube on the island of Hawaii. The cave formed between four and six centuries ago, when a vent on the east side of Kilauea Caldera erupted, sending lava down the northeast flank of the volcano. As these lava flows advanced, they cooled from the outside in. This produced a hard crust around the flow, which protected the lava from cooling too quickly. In time, this protective crust thickened and confined the flow to an oval or rounded conduit referred to as a lava tube.”
Kreeger Museum. “The Kreeger Museum is a private, non-profit art museum located in the former residence of David and Carmen Kreeger, set within five and a half acres of sculpture-filled gardens and tranquil woods. Designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, it is among the few examples of his work in DC. The Kreeger’s focus on 19th and 20th century paintings can be seen through works by Monet, Picasso, Renoir, Cézanne, Chagall, Miró, and Stella, along with prominent Washington artists. Also included in the collection are outstanding examples of traditional African and Asian art.”
Marksville State Historic Site. The 42-acre Marksville State Historic Site is located on a bluff overlooking the Old River, adjacent to the town of Marksville. Professional archaeologists consider this prehistoric Native American ceremonial center to be of unique national significance. The Marksville culture, a southeastern variant of the Hopewell culture centered in Ohio and Illinois, was characterized by elaborate mortuary ceremonialism, the construction of conical burial mounds, complex trade networks, decorative pottery, and the importation of certain raw materials. It is also possible that agriculture of a limited nature, such as the horticulture of native plants, had begun by this time. The main portion of the Marksville site is surrounded by a semi-circular earthwork which is 3,300 feet long and ranges from 3 to 7 feet in height. The open side of the enclosure is the edge of a bluff along Old River. Openings in the earthwork, one in the western side and two in the southern end, suggest that its purpose was ceremonial rather than defensive. This enclosure probably was built to delineate a special area where the dead were buried and formal affairs were conducted. Six mounds of various sizes and shapes are located within the main enclosure, and others are built outside of it.Marksville State Historic Site was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1964, and thus joined a select group of properties which have since been recognized for their importance in American history.
Minneapolis Institute for the Arts, Art of Africa and the Americas Collection. “The Arts of Africa and the Americas Department is dedicated to the immense creativity of Native peoples across the world, from prehistory to the present. The collection has grown significantly since the department was founded more than thirty years ago, and now numbers more than 3,000 objects, including masterworks of sculpture, ceramics, metalsmithing, painting, basketry, and bead-, shell-, and quillwork, reflecting the diversity of these regions and cultures.”
Mississippi Indian Mounds. Many diverse Indian groups, drawn by the bountiful wildlife, warm climate, and fertile soil, made their homes in what is now Mississippi for thousands of years before the first Europeans and Africans arrived. Mounds built of earth are the most prominent remains left on the landscape by these native peoples. This latest National Register of Historic Places Travel itinerary highlights 11 mound sites, which include some of the best-preserved examples in Mississippi. Further information on mound sites in Mississippi and throughout the Lower Mississippi Delta can be found in the NPS’s Archeology and Ethnography program’s Ancient Architects of the Mississippi website.
Moundville Archaeological Park. “Telling a story – that’s what a 10-year, $5 million renovation of the Jones Museum at Moundville Archaeological Park is about. The museum combines the latest technology with more than 200 stunning artifacts to describe one of the most significant Native American archaeological sites in the United States. Lost Realm of the Black Warrior, the new exhibit, relates the rich existence of an ancient people who once populated the site.”
Natchez Trace Parkway. The Natchez Trace Parkway, extending through Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, is a 444-mile drive through exceptional scenery and 10,000 years of North American history. Used by American Indians, “Kaintucks,” settlers, and future presidents, the Old Trace played an important role in American history. Today, visitors can enjoy not only a scenic drive but also hiking, biking, horseback riding, and camping.
New Buffalo City Beach and Lakefront Park, New Buffalo, Michigan. “More than a Beach… In addition to swimming, there are dunes and wooden walkways. The Lakefront complex is often used as a scenic backdrop for professional photographers and a location for weddings and reunions. Sunrises & Sunsets are Free.”
Oak Hill Cemetery.In the center of Georgetown, lying along Rock Creek, a neighbor of Dumbarton Oaks (where John C. Calhoun lived while in the Senate) and of Evermay, is a 19th Century garden park cemetery rivaled only by Boston’s Mount Auburn Cemetery in graciousness and a sense of community.The Oak Hill Cemetery was founded by Mr. W.W. Corcoran. Mr. Corcoran was a banker and founder of what is now The Riggs National Bank. Because of Oak Hill’s age, its history is largely 19th Century, with emphasis on the great Civil War. The burials and monuments identified on the map are mostly for that period. All lots were sold long ago and, until recently, the only new interments possible were in the few spaces remaining in old family lots. Recently, a new project has been started to renovate the paths and walkways. This is being done by excavating and installing double depth concrete crypts over which new Buckingham slate walks are installed, with appropriate spaces on each side for memorial stones. In this manner, new interment spaces are being made available. Thus Oak Hill will be a neighborhood garden with a continuing history.
Ogden Museum of Southern Art. “The mission of The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, University of New Orleans, is to broaden the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the visual arts and culture of the American South through its permanent collections, changing exhibitions, educational programs, publications, research center, and its Goldring-Woldenberg Institute for the Advancement of Southern Art and Culture. To that end, the museum will collect, conserve, exhibit, study, and interpret the art of the South within the context of the region’s history and culture.”
Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park. The Old Stone Fort was built during the Middle Woodland Period, 1,500-2,000 years ago. Native Americans used this area continuously for about 500 years, eventually leaving it abandoned. By the time European settlers arrived, it was unclear of what the area had been used for which resulted in it being misnamed as a fort. In 1966, the state of Tennessee purchased 400 acres of the Chumley estate as the core of what is now Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park.
Poverty Point State Historic Site. “The time was eight centuries after Egyptian laborers dragged huge stones across the desert to build the Great Pyramids, and before the great Mayan pyramids were constructed. The place was a site in what is now northeastern Louisiana. The people were a highly civilized group who left behind one of the most important archaeological sites in North America.”
Punalu’u Beach Park, Big Island, Hawaii. “Punalu’u Beach Park is the most famous black sand beach on the island. This black sand beach is the most expansive and most accessible black sand beach on the Big Island. This is a perfect place to enjoy the scenery, explore the black sand beach and watch the sea turtles.”
Rosenbaum House. An American architectural treasure, the Rosenbaum House is the only structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the state of Alabama and the only such house in the southeast that is open to the public.optimized-family. The Usonian designed house was offered by Wright as a low-cost home for middle income families. With Wright’s plans, a young family could build their own home, fulfilling the American dream of home ownership. Considered to be the purest example of Wright’s Usonian design, the house was occupied by the Rosenbaums until 1999, when the City of Florence acquired the house and developed a plan to restore the house using a capital improvements account funded by a one-cent sales tax. Dozens of volunteers and professionals contributed to the restoration, without which, the house may have been lost. This treasure, meticulously preserved, is now a city museum, open to the public.
Shangri La Center for Islamic Arts and Cultures. “Shangri La is the Honolulu home of American philanthropist Doris Duke. Built in 1937, Shangri La houses an impressive collection of Islamic art and is considered one of Hawaii’s most architecturally significant homes. Shangri La is open to the public for tours and special programs, and can also be visited by virtual tour. Unconstrained by the organizing principles of museum exhibitions, Shangri La provides a unique environment for the study of Islamic art and culture. The estate houses around 3,500 objects, many of which are embedded into the structure of the house. Most of the collection can be classified as Islamic art and artifacts although other cultural traditions are also represented.”
Silver Beach, St. Joseph, Michigan. “Located in St. Joseph at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, Silver Beach County Park features a clean, wide beach on Lake Michigan and public access to the South Pier. It is a favorite destination for a variety of beach and river front activities, ranging from swimming and beach volleyball to sunset strolls.
Theodore Roosevelt Park, Washington, DC. “One of Theodore Roosevelt’s greatest legacies was his dedication to conservation. Today, this island stands as a fitting memorial to the outdoorsman, naturalist, and visionary who was our 26th President.”
Vermilion Parish, Louisiana. “Welcome to ‘the Most Cajun place on earth!’ Over 150 years in the making, Vermilion Parish is a multicultural blend steeped in history with a dash of “joie de vivre” or, love of life, finishing the mix. This bilingual, coastal parish is very large and diverse with wandering bayous and farmlands, authentic local cuisine, family-friendly festivals and Cajun towns connecting it all.can find a wealth of Eco-Cultural resources along the Jean Lafitte Scenic Byway. Take a drive along this byway as it winds its way through the southern part of the parish, where you’ll see farms, marshes as well as other native birds, alligators, deer and nutria. See first hand how things are grown and produced and experience nature at its finest.”
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Faberge Revealed Exhibition. “The name Fabergé is synonymous with refined craftsmanship, jeweled luxury, and the last days of the doomed Russian imperial family. The array of enameled picture frames and clocks, gold cigarette cases and cane tops, hardstone animals and flowers in rock crystal vases, and ruby encrusted brooches and boxes continue to fascinate viewers as they did when first displayed in the windows of Fabergé’s stores in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and London.”
M. Christian Green 