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Adventures in the Villa

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2022-10-08 Bella Vista, Arkansas

We have a mostly free day today. Time to stay relaxed and to watch some college football!

We walked through the park… There was a craft show/flea market/car show…

There was also great beauty. Lynda gets all excited about “fall colors”. I just see dead leaves…

Mid day we drove the few miles into “downtown” Bella Vista. It is really just a few shopping centers…

But the real reason for the drive was to see the Mildred Cooper Memorial Chapel.

Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel is a chapel in Bella Vista, Arkansas, designed by E. Fay Jones and Maurice Jennings and constructed in 1988.  The chapel was commissioned by John A. Cooper, Sr. to honor Mildred Borum Cooper, his late wife.  The chapel was designed to celebrate both God and his creations.

Located on a wooded site along Lake Norwood, the chapel has become a popular tourist destination in Northwest Arkansas. It is also popular as a venue for wedding ceremonies.

Architect Jones apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright, and designed a building with numerous windows open to the landscape.

Jones used 31 tons of steel and 4,460 square feet of glass to create a series of tall, vertical Gothic arches that run the length of the chapel. Though it looks like an open-air structure, the chapel is glass-enclosed and air conditioned.

We managed to sneak in for 5 minutes between weddings… It is a stunning place!

We returned to the Villa to watch some more college football…

This evening we visited “Simple Pleasures”. This is a rural event venue which features lots of old and classic cars and lots of nostalgia…

1958 Cadillac convertible. Perry Mason drives a black one like this in several episodes…

1959 MGA. Note the license plate…

SPEBSQSA is the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America. Their motto, “We sing that they shall speak” denotes their activities in charitably supporting people who cannot speak…

I am very familiar with SPEBSQSA. When I was in college I sang in a Barbershop Quartet. Due to the fact that there were no math majors in our group, we had 12 members…

But I digress…

Here is a 1958 Chevy Impala. My brother had two of these… A black one in high school, then a gold one later on…

We ventured “out back” to another car barn…

My father had a 1941 Buick. Of course, it was not a convertible…

He bought it just before WWII. After the war, with the car shortage, he sold it and used the money to buy a house…

Lynda’s family had a 1959 Chevy like this…

Frank Lloyd Wright loved to drive Lincoln Continentals like this. He always had them custom painted “Cherokee Red”, his favorite color. (If you look at the photos I post of Wright houses you will see this color often. It was often used for the color of the concrete floors…

This is a 1957 Continental, just like David Rockefeller used to drive from New York City to his weekend house in Sleepy Hollow and to his summer home in Maine…

This collector know his continentals…

It is not a Lincoln! Continental was a separate division of Ford and had no connection to the Lincoln division…

After viewing the cars we returned to the main building and had a lovely dinner, followed by some silly games, and ice cream sundaes…

After the event we returned to the villa. We watched more college football.

An enjoyable time was had by all…

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2017-07-25 Nor by Nor’east Caravan – Maine – Scoodic Peninsula and Seal Cove Auto Museum;

Our adventure at Acadia continued for another day. This time we headed out to the Scoodic Peninsula.

2017-07-25 Acadia Scoodic 13

This place is on the mainland, across the bay from Mt. Desert Island, to the east.  It is about a one hour drive, because you have to drive way north and east before you can begin the drive down the peninsula.  Much of the peninsula is also part of Acadia NP, but there are other towns – many are working lobster towns.  But it was another beautiful drive, very remote and quiet.  We found many great views and quiet towns and harbors.

2017-07-25 Acadia Scoodic 12

2017-07-25 Acadia Scoodic 10

In Winter Harbor we stopped in at their Farmers’ Market and bought blueberry scones for a special breakfast treat (tomorrow):

2017-07-25 Scoodic - Winter Harbor Farmers Market 02

2017-07-25 Scoodic - Winter Harbor Farmers Market 01

 

There is a sculpture in the bay at Winter Harbor of a stylized whale tail; we saw it at low tide, and later as the tide was coming in:2017-07-25 Scoodic - Winter Harbor Whale Tail Sculpture 01

2017-07-25 Scoodic - Winter Harbor Whale Tail Sculpture 02

We saw Winter Harbor, Prospect Harbor, and Gouldsboro…  And plenty of rocky shoreline:

2017-07-25 Acadia Scoodic 11

2017-07-25 Acadia Scoodic 09

2017-07-25 Acadia Scoodic 07

2017-07-25 Acadia Scoodic 07

 

When it was time for lunch, we stopped it at Smokey’s BBQ and Lobster. Texas BBQ here in Maine!  But, we are in Maine, so we had fish and chips instead…

2017-07-25 Smokeys BBQ and Lobster

Our afternoon destination was Seal Cove Automobile Museum, back on Mt. Desert Island.  The museum’s collection is the legacy of Richard Paine, a local resident whose passion for cars and their related history led to his buying and selling many collectible cars throughout his life. Upon his death the collection was culled by selling off duplicate cars to create an endowment to keep the cars that tell the story of the beginning of the automobile age.

The collection features some of the earliest automobiles and motorcycles, as well as clothing and accessories, from 1895 through the early 1920s. The cars represent the stories about invention and innovation, art, design, women’s rights, and social and economic changes that came about through the automobile.  Inventors were experimenting with steam, electricity, and gas-powered engines.  There were no standards – anything that might work was tried.

The current exhibit, Auto Wars: Then & Now, explores the debate a century ago over whether or not to allow cars on Mount Desert Island.  The exhibit is presented in a “choose your own adventure” style, allowing YOU to decide whether you would have been for or against cars on the island.  In a nutshell, the wealthy summer residents, who considered their lifestyle to be “rustic”, were opposed to cars on MDI. The locals, who needed the convenience of easy transportation, were in favor. For many years those opposing cars won out, but finally, in 1916, cars were allowed, and this decision forever changed the nature of MDI.

Two cars were of particular interest to me:  A 1934 Ford, with a body custom made in Germany, and custom fitted to a 1934 Ford chassis. It was the design of Edsel Ford, and it was his personal car at his summer cottage on the island.  It became a prototype for the Continental which was released shortly thereafter.

2017-07-25 Seal Cove Auto Museum 22

2017-07-25 Seal Cove Auto Museum 21

Also, while not an old or rare car, I liked seeing the 1991 Mercedes SEL; it belonged to Laurance Rockefeller, and it was the car that he kept at his summer cottage year ‘round.

2017-07-25 Seal Cove Auto Museum 11

2017-07-25 Seal Cove Auto Museum 12

If you recall from an earlier blog post, David Rockefeller also had his favorite summer cottage car, a 1956 Continental, which we saw at Kykuit in Pocantico Hill, New York:

2017-07-01 Kykuit 65

After enjoying the exhibits in the museum we headed back to the Villa. Tonight the caravanners enjoy a BBQ – hamburgers and all the usual sides; we began by finishing off the leftover cheese and wine from Monday’s party… And an enjoyable time was had by all…

2017-07-25 Trenton - BBQ

 

 

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2017-07-24 Nor by Nor’east Caravan – Maine – Bar Harbor, Acadia National Park, Seal Harbor, Northeast Harbor, and Lobster!

Mt. Desert Island is quite a beautiful place, with rocky shores and quiet harbors.

2017-07-24 Acadia NP 01

Like Newport, RI, Mt. Desert Island was a favorite place for the very wealthy to have summer cottages.  However, rather than being sophisticated and elegant, filled with grand, showy homes, like Newport, MDI was known for its quiet, rustic ways.  Homes, while huge, and filled with servants, were simple, wood houses, with fireplaces and always set back into the wilderness.  Some of the houses from the late 19th century survive, but many were torn down by the 1950s because they were obsolete and too rustic for modern living.  The descendants of the original families who had homes here (Fords, Rockefellers, Astors, Vanderbilts) still have homes here, and many come for the summer season; but the houses are not as visible – they are mostly hidden in the woods…

The heart of social life, for those who participated, was (and is) the town of Bar Harbor. Many elegant hotels line the waterfront. Many of the families, though, stayed away from the town – they preferred to be in the woods, and along the sea, living the simple life – swimming, sailing, and taking long carriage rides along the carriage roads (mostly built by John D. Rockefeller). In fact, most of the land making up Acadia National Park was donated by the Rockefeller family.

We had been warned about the terrible traffic both in Bar Harbor, and in Acadia; we also were warned about road construction in the area.  So, armed with good maps we set off at 7:00 am (along with Larry and Kathy Warrren) to get an early start on the day.  We easily found the “good” road, and we easily found parking in Bar Harbor.  We strolled down empty streets; the only people out this early are folks heading for the whale watching boats. We were soon at our destination – Sunrise Café.  We enjoyed a nice quiet breakfast in this tiny place, then we walked along the Shore Path. The path runs right along the water’s edge, and it extends from the edge of town for about 1 ½ miles. We then could walk back along quiet residential streets. It was a great way to start the day.

2017-07-24 Bar Harbor 11

2017-07-24 Bar Harbor 12

Once back to the car we headed up Cadillac Mountain, the tallest “mountain” along the Atlantic coast – about 1,500 feet elevation. (In California we call these “hills”…)  From here you can see all the islands surrounding the main island of Mt. Desert Island.  The views are stunning!

 

2017-07-24 Acadia NP 05

 

2017-07-24 Acadia NP 04

2017-07-24 Acadia NP 03

 

As the park began getting busy we headed to the quieter side of the island, where many of the original wealthy families had their summer cottages.  We stopped in Seal Harbor, a beautiful place, and amazingly quiet.  The town of Seal Harbor consists of a church, an empty store building, a coffee house, and a bookstore.  And, of course, a real estate office.  There are three or four houses along the water’s edge, and many more in the hills.  All the houses are simple, neat, and unassuming.  There is a tiny Yacht Club perched on the side of the hill overlooking the harbor.

2017-07-24 Bar Harbor 15

2017-07-24 Seal Harbor 01

2017-07-24 Seal Harbor 02

Someone even built a very nice new vacation house right at the harbor’s edge:

2017-07-24 Seal Harbor 03

The next town is Northeast Harbor, a bustling place, filled with many art galleries. The harbor is much larger, and ferries run regularly between the harbor and two of the larger islands just off shore: Great Cranberry Island and Little Cranberry Island.  Many houses dot the streets of the town and the surrounding hills. People who live in Seal Harbor must come here to shop and eat.

2017-07-24 Bar Harbor 13

 

By now we were ready for lunch. We had been tipped off to another fabulous lobster pound, Trenton Bridge Lobster Pound. Only it was much more of a restaurant than a lobster shack. They served wine and offered napkins, eating utensils, and tools for eating the lobster.  Lobsters were great, but it was not as much fun as a real lobster pound…

We decided to call it a day and head back to the Villa. Tonight we had GAM #5, and we are hosting.  As we arrived at the RV Park it started to rain.  And it continued to rain.  Cold rain.  Maine rain.  We decided to have our GAM inside The Villa – all 10 of us.  It was cozy. But it was much nicer than sitting in the pavilion out in the cold.  We had great snacks and there was free flowing wine as we got to know another set of new friends. An enjoyable time was had by all…

 

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