The following post (and two more to follow) are from a recent cruise to Bermuda which I took in mid April. The first entry is from a trolley tour around the West End of Bermuda near the Royal Naval Dockyard and Somerset Parish. Even though the weather was overcast, there were still some lovely coastal views.
The Duportail House in eastern Chester County is a frequent feature on this blog. Today we look at some of the Spring flowering trees on the grounds.
In 1740, a Welsh Quaker named John Havard, Jr. built a stone farmhouse on a large William Penn land grant in Chester County’s Great Valley. During the Continental Army’s encampment at Valley Forge in 1777-78, the Havard family played host to a guest from France, General Louis Lebègue Duportail. Recruited by Benjamin Franklin, Duportail served as the army’s Chief Engineer, designing fortifications at Valley Forge that could enable Washington’s troops to hold off a potential attack by the British army, which was encamped in nearby Philadelphia. The house is now used as an event venue, and the surrounding property is a park.
It feels like the season is a bit late this year. However, the early bulbs and the forsythia are finally making an effort.
Below are some early Spring scenes from around Valley Forge.
Yellow Springs Village is a historic village in West Pikeland Township in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The community includes historic churches, established in the 1770s by German Reformed and Lutheran members. It has been a location for a boys’ school, the country school of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fiine Arts, a restaurant, an inn and many other uses. Today it is a haven for artists and hosts special events.
The village was busy the day I visited, so I concentrated on the peripheral areas. The early Spring color was still in evidence. You can learn more here.
I will be taking a break this week to celebrate the holiday and regroup from a colder than average winter that largely kept me cooped up inside.
In the meantime, enjoy some shots from Springtimes past.
The mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) is the state flower of Pennsylvania. It is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae and is native to the eastern United States. Its range stretches from southern Maine south to northern Florida, and west to Indiana and Louisiana. Mountain laurel is also the state flower of Connecticut. It inspired the name of the Laurel Highlands in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Mountain laurel is an evergreen shrub growing 3–9 m (9.8–29.5 ft) tall. The leaves are 3–12 cm long and 1–4 cm wide. The flowers are hexagonal, sometimes appearing to be pentagonal, ranging from light pink to white, and occur in clusters. It blooms in May and June. All parts of the plant are poisonous, and the roots are fibrous and matted.
Jenkins Arboretum in Chester County has several nice examples of the plant. Locally I have also seen some on Mt. Misery in Valley Forge National Historic Park. I spent some time at Jenkins recently taking film photos using shallow depth of field.
Vosburg Neck State Park has some lovely natural areas, in addition to the park facilities. Below are some more scenes from my visit. The birding was also very good here, and I had over 50 species during my trip here.
Early Spring has sprung in my section of Pennsylvania. Here are some of the forsythia and daffodils on display in mid March in Chester County.
Ryerson Station State Park is in Greene County in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, near the West Virginia border. It seems to sit off by itself down in that corner. It is near Moundsville, WV, a place I have been to, but that is a story for another day. The 1,164-acre park features the fanciest state park swimming pool I have ever seen, campground, hiking, fishing, picnicking, and winter activities.
Next we have an interesting feature – the remains of an old reservoir. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one quite like this. You can see where the hole was created in the dam to allow the stream to run again. The lake appears to have been fairly shallow.
