All night long I heard and saw tornado warnings on the weather channel; storms were coming in from the west. We were up at 6:00 am to hitch up and go; then ambulances and fire trucks rolled in, blocking all traffic lanes in the RV park. Apparently there was some minor medical issue 3-4 trailers down the row… But by the time we were ready to go they had all left, and we rolled out at 7:00 am. We saw lots of lightning as we drove north 15 miles, then, as we turned east we started to get some light rain. But no tornadoes, no hazardous wind (despite the large flashing signs warning us about hazardous winds…), and the rain soon stopped. We heard of terrible storms in Michigan and Texas and Alabama, but I think the storm had petered out by the time it got to Florida…
We arrived safely in Tallahassee and set up in a nice RV park. We walked around and found another Airstream – and found out that it was another couple that we knew from an earlier caravan, and who will be going on the Kentucky caravan with us! Small world!
We had an appointment at 2:00 pm to see the Spring House, the only Frank Lloyd Wright house built in Florida. We had light rain as we approached, but the house itself was delightful.
Obviously it is in need of repair and restoration… The daughter of the original owner, who grew up in the house, still lives here; she is trying to raise funds on behalf of a foundation (www.preservespringhouse.org) so that they can buy the house, restore it, and open it for philanthropic events…
We met Byrd, the current owner, and heard the story of the house. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs Lewis, saw an article by Frank Lloyd Wright in a magazine about houses having “souls”, and they were impressed. They had a chance to meet FLlW in 1952 and they said, “We have a lot of children (4) and not much money; can you design a house for us?” At the time FLlW was 84 years old and was still excited about his “Usonian” houses for people of modest means, so he agreed. After a 2 1/2 years the Lewises had found this five acre property with a stream running into a lake. The house was designed and eventually built, with all the usual FLlW drama, even though he never visited the house…
The house is boat shaped, and it has three curved walls, the two exterior walls being convex, and the interior balcony being concave. The ends are pointed. There is a huge two-story tall curved wall of glass facing the forest; all the major rooms in the house face this wall of glass and have a continuous view of the wall of trees a few feet away from the house. Spectacular! Unfortunately, interior photos are not allowed…
The little windows resemble half-portholes…
The ship lap siding runs through the glass…
So between talking to Byrd, the other docents, and other visitors, we spent a delightful two hours.
We then traveled to the home of the WBCCI Caravan Director, Jay Thompson, and his wife, Elna. They were leaders of the Southwest Caravan that we did last year. We had a nice time catching up, drinking wine, and batting around ideas about how the caravan experience can be improved…
We returned to the Villa about 6:30 and enjoyed a bottle of wine and some pasta…
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 