Via Flickr:
This is the famed Londonderry Arms in Northern Ireland, GB. I took this trip for my birthday in September of 2006. The skies were gray but only this day. What a great trip!
"The Londonderry Arms Hotel was built in 1848 as a coaching inn by Frances Anne Tempest, Marchioness of Londonderry.
Frances Anne was the grand-daughter of Randall William, sixth Earl and second Marquis of Antrim. He was the great great grandson of Sir Randall MacDonnell, the first of that branch of the MacDonnells to bear the title Earl of Antrim.
Frances Anne inherited from her mother, Anne Katherine, Countess of Antrim in her own right, land between Glenarm and Cushendall, including Carnlough.
At the age of 19 she married Charles William, Lord Stewart, the British Ambassador to Austria, later the third Marquis of Londonderry and sometime affectionately known as fighting Charlie. As Ambassador he assisted his half-brother Castlereagh, and afterwards the Duke of Wellington in the negotiations of the celebrated Congress of Vienna. Lady Londonderry was greatly admired at the Russian Court and the Russian Emperor, Alexander I, gave her some of the Londonderry family jewels - the Down diamonds and the parture and cross.
Conscious of their responsibilities as landlords, the Marquis and Marchioness of Londonderry were determined to provide assistance for the people of the area.
Ireland at that time was suffering one of the greatest tragedies in its history - The Great Famine, also known as the potato famine.
They initiated the erection of a town hall, lime kilns and the building of a protected harbour. Later a mineral railway line was built to connect the south pier with the limestone quarry in the hills rising behind the village.
The Marquis died in 1854 and on the death of Lady Londonderry in 1865 the Carnlough estate passed to her son Henry the fifth Earl. After his death in 1884, the estate passed to her grandson Herbert Vane Tempest who was tragically killed in a train accident in Wales in 1921. After his death the estate, including the hotel, passed to his second cousin, Sir Winston Churchill.
In 1934 Winston Churchill sold the hotel to the Lyons family. During the Second World War part of the hotel was commissioned by the Army to allow for the recuperation of wounded soldiers; after the war in 1946 Mr Lyons sold the hotel in several lots which considerably reduced its size.
For 60 years the hotel has been owned by the O'Neill family who are the longest established hotelier families in Ireland.
The hotel boasts original Georgian architecture and this can be viewed throughout the hotel. The architecture is complimented by antique furniture. The walls are decorated with local artwork and evidence of local history through newspaper clippings and photographs."
Taken from www.glensofantrim.com/our_history.html as it appeared on August 21, 2013.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Londonderry Arms
Cape Neddick "Nubble" Lighthouse
Via Flickr:
I took this a week before Christmas in 2007, so the skies were cloudy, but this was a great trip!
"THE BEGINNING
In colonial days mariner traffic was important to the commerce of the area. Knowing that Maine’s rocky coast was very dangerous to those mariners and their livelihood, the Citizens petitioned the United States Government for a lighthouse.
In 1874 President Rutherford B. Hayes appropriated the sum of $15,000 to build a lighthouse on this “Nub” of land. On July 1, 1879 construction was completed on what, at the time, was known as the Knubble Lighthouse with a 4th order light began to protect our men and women on the sea. The men and women serving in the Lighthouse Service were the first guardians who provided great care for the light and its surrounding buildings.
INITIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Once the Lighthouse Service completed their work, the United States government transferred this valuable service to the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939. They gave Nubble Light the official name of Cape Neddick Lightstation. The Coast Guard and their families were wonderful caretakers of our Maine Lighthouses. Eventually this service became short of resources and funding to care for our majestic beacons. Because of this in part, as well as the growing development of technology, the Lighthouses became automated. Nubble Light was automated in July, 1987. As the last service man from our Coast Guard and his family left their home on the island, the future of the buildings and the beauty of the island were left in question.
RECENT HISTORY
In order to insure the protection of our valuable Maine treasure, Nubble Lighthouse was placed on the National Register of Historic Places to preserve and protect its historical presence in history. This is overseen by the United States Secretary of the Interior and the State of Maine’s Historic Preservation Office.
In addition, a lease agreement was signed in 1987 between the United States government and the Town of York to ensure that the property would be maintained and cared for.
The Maine Lights program was developed in 1994 specifically to save all of Maine’s lighthouses along our coast. Out of this agreement came the application and evaluation process to find a new and permanent guardian for our lighthouse. The Town of York, with great concern for the significance of the Lighthouse to our town and its people and facing competition for ownership of Nubble, formed a committee to represent its best interests in a lengthy process of acquiring the lighthouse through action of the Congress of the United States.
NUBBLE IS OURS!
On December 18, 1997 the announcement came from the office of Senator Olympia Snow that, based on its strong application, The Town of York Maine was, and will continue to be, the permanent guardian for Nubble Lighthouse (Cape Neddick Light Station). And today in 2012, the daily work of maintenance for our Nubble Lighthouse is under the Parks Department who care for our property and our buildings on a daily basis. The United States Coast Guard will continue to maintain the aids to navigation (the Light and the Horn).
THE FUTURE
The Town of York has an awesome endeavor and tremendous responsibility. We have developed a financial and maintenance plan. From Sohier Park, donated to the town by the Sohier-Davis Family, our visitors can enjoy a magnificent, close-up view of the lighthouse. Through the kindness of the Town, the continued hard work of the staff of the Parks and Recreation Department, and most especially the diligence of countless volunteers we have been able to build a Welcome Center through which we can raise the necessary funds to maintain the beauty of both the park and the island. The planned expansion of the Welcome Center will provide even further for the comfort of our visitors and the funds needed to continually beautify our town’s gem.
We, in turn, promise you that we shall continue to honor the promises we made in the application of ownership: to preserve the historical, protect the wildlife and maintain and execute a financial plan to care for the lighthouse well into the future. "
Taken from nubblelight.org/discover/history as it appeared on August 21, 2013.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Fellowship Rainbow
Via Flickr:
A rainbow formed during one of Tennessee's many summer showers. I quickly pulled into the Fellowship Bible Church parking lot to take a photograph.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
The Leo W. Seal Family Business Complex
"STARKVILLE, Miss.--The Leo W. Seal Family Business Complex officially is part of Mississippi State's College of Business and Industry.
During Saturday [Oct. 6] ceremonies held as part of the 2007 Homecoming celebration, university leaders and Seal family members formally dedicated the 52,000-square-foot addition to McCool Hall. Three Seal generations have attended the 129-year-old land-grant institution.
A cornerstone contribution several years ago by the Bay St. Louis family, along with other private contributions, funded the project begun in early 2005. The recently opened complex makes up the new west end of the 30-year-old, three-story building that serves some 2,500 business and accounting majors each school year.
"Leo Seal and his family have their fingerprints all over this campus," said MSU President Robert H. "Doc" Foglesong. "We will be standing on the legacy established by the Seal family not just for years, but for decades. The university certainly acknowledges the support of Leo Seal Jr., who has brought much progress to the university through his work on advisory boards and with other areas."
In addition to Leo Seal Jr.--a 1949 banking and finance graduate and longtime Hancock Holding Co. president--other alumni in the family include: his father, the late Leo W. Seal Sr., a 1911 graduate of then-Mississippi A&M College; and his sons, Leo W. Seal III and Lee Seal, both 2000 geosciences graduates. Also, Clay Wagner, grandson of Leo Sr., is a 1982 marketing graduate.
"It is most pleasing to our Seal family to enhance the facilities of the College of Business and Industry for its impact on both students and faculty," said Leo W. Seal Jr., who was honored by MSU in 1999 with an honorary doctorate in public service.
Beyond academics, the family has been a major supporter of MSU athletics. Leo Jr., a former Bulldog football player, provided funding for the M-Club building named in honor of his father, a two-year football letterman.
Other family support has been provided for the business college's Leo Seal Jr. Distinguished Speaker Series and Seal Electronic Classroom, along with the Seal Vice President's Suite in the Hunter Henry Center, home of the MSU Foundation and Alumni Association, and a variety of academic scholarships in business, engineering and forestry.
Leo Jr. also supports the university's Distinguished Scholarship's Program.
The new business complex includes:
--Additional central-campus classrooms and conference rooms,
--Additional business faculty offices and student project "team rooms,"
--A three-story atrium to serve as a public gathering and special events locale, and
--The W.A. "Bill" Taylor Jr. Auditorium, a 300-seat, high-technology teaching and general assembly facility endowed through an excellence fund gift honoring the longtime chairman of the board of Louisville-based Taylor Group of Cos.
"We are definitely pleased that the expansion of McCool Hall is enabling us to better serve the needs of our business students as well as other MSU students who use our facility in the heart of the MSU campus," said business Dean Lynne Richardson.
"Overall, the new complex has allowed us to greatly enhance the capabilities of the college in delivering undergraduate and graduate education," she added.
MSU's business college--one of the Southeast's oldest--is accredited by AACSB International, the world's foremost accrediting organization for business schools. Graduates may be found at the top levels of Fortune 500 businesses, as well as throughout state and regional commercial and industrial firms.
The college's academic programs also include the recently endowed Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy, which honors another prominent alumnus.
For additional information on the Seal Complex or assistance in contributing to business endowments, contact Jack McCarty, the college's development director, at 662-325-9580 or jmccarty@foundation.msstate.edu.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see www.msstate.edu/."
The above story was taken from www.msstate.edu/web/media/detail.php?id=3996 exactly as it appeared on August 15, 2013.
Those funky fungi
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Chapel of Memories
Unfortunately, I could not find a wealth of readily available information online about Mississippi State University's Chapel of Memories. Below is what I did find.
"As the first dormitory on campus, it was called the Main Dormitory and in later years became known as Old Main. The first section of Old Main was built in 1880. Additions were constructed in 1901, 1903, 1906, and 1922. When it burned January 22, 1959, it was thought to be the largest college dormitory in the United States. Bricks salvaged from the fire were used to build the Chapel of Memories."
Taken from library.msstate.edu/exhibits/university_buildings/index.asp exactly as it appeared on August 14, 2013.
Owens Lake near Olancha Dunes, California
This photograph is not mine; it comes from an academic mentor. It is a very powerful image to me, personally.
Via Flickr:
The above image is all about a major trade off.
In exchange for the survival and growth of Los Angeles -- North America’s second-largest metropolis -- the place that you see here had to be drained dry.
The Owens Valley is located at the site of what was once a major lake that had formed at the end of the last ice age. As the glaciers were exhausted and as North America’s climate changed over the following millennia, much of that lake’s water gradually dwindled or disappeared.
Located between the Sierra Nevada and the Inyo Mountains in eastern California, the Owens Valley is a desert region due to what is known as “the rainshadow effect.” The winter storm systems which provide the state most of its annual precipitation generally move across the state from west to east. As they progress up the western slopes of the Sierras, moisture in these systems condense and precipitate out of saturated clouds. As these air parcels descend down the eastern slopes, a reverse process occurs. Whereas the western slopes and summits of the Sierra can receive snowfall measured in feet in just one storm, the eastern slopes and interior valleys may only get flurries and a nasty blast of wind.
Most of the runoff from these storms and Spring snowmelt flows westward into the San Joaquin Valley, but some makes its way eastward into the Owens River, which is fed by about 40 mountain tributaries. With no natural outlet, the Owens River empties into Owens Lake in the southern end of the valley. Since much of the water evaporates during year, Owens Lake was in recent centuries a very large, but relatively shallow pool of brackish, salty water.
Over the past century, Owens Lake has been all but eliminated by the diversion of the fresh water of its source, the Owens River. As the boomtown of Los Angeles had nearly exhausted its local supplies of surface and ground water by the late 19th century, its leaders searched for new, exotic sources of water.
The Owens River was their solution. Through a rather underhanded and controversial series of land deals in 1904-05, officials from The City of Los Angeles secured the water rights to the river from local land owners. The innovative Los Angeles Aqueduct that transported the river’s water over 220 miles to LA was completed in November 1913. The aqueduct was extended and expanded over following decades.
The water from the Owens River and other nearby sources now supply the city with about 40% of its fresh water.
This northward-looking image was taken along what used to be the southern shore of Owens Lake. The Sierras are on the left side of the image; the Inyo Mountains are to the right.