A Fauna Fountain


I've seen a lot of things during my travels but I've never seen a fountain like this.  It stands in a sunny corner of historic Fernandina Beach and it looks like a creative art installation. I stared at it for a long time, trying to discover exactly what its for. Washing dishes?  Splashing nearby plants?  Look closely.  There's a tiny fountain at the bottom, a huge fountain at the right and a normal sized fountain on the left.  What in the world do you do with all of them?  Turns out that this is the Duryee Fountain, built in  the 1870s, by the wife of an army officer.  She loved animals, perhaps a little bit more than humans so she commissioned this fountain to give water to horses, cats and dogs and humans! Now what did you think it was for?

Comments

A Cuban In London said…
Morning ablutions. :-)

No, seriously. These colonials had funny ideas about animals. And humans. I love the way they loved the former to the detriment of the latter living in the barracks. :-)

The photo is marvellous and the history behind fascinating.

Greetings from London.
June 16, 2010 at 1:29 AM
Eileen said…
I'm glad the humans got in on it, we do almost seem like an afterthought!
June 17, 2010 at 11:58 AM
Cate said…
Smart woman, I thought the small one could be for birds or large spiders and the rest for other types of animals.A bit redundant but def a piece of art.
June 17, 2010 at 1:08 PM
Fly Girl said…
Cubano, I think you're right.

Eileen, I think that humans definitely came last in her considerations.

Cate,Large spiders! I don't think I'd want to join insects while drinking!
June 17, 2010 at 8:03 PM
Beauty Is Diverse said…
I like the detailing on the fountain.
June 17, 2010 at 8:22 PM
Fly Girl said…
Tiffany, the detailing and workmanship are beautiful, it's the purpose that's weird.
June 17, 2010 at 8:51 PM
Jesson Balaoing said…
nice post,,,..... magnificent fixtures
June 18, 2010 at 2:44 AM
Fly Girl said…
Jesson and Rey Ann, thanks and thanks also for dropping by!
June 18, 2010 at 6:35 AM
Jean-Luc Picard said…
The fountain has a good history. Thanks for telling us about it.
June 18, 2010 at 8:58 AM
Fly Girl said…
Jean-Luc, I never would have figured out that history if the history museum hadn't helped!
June 18, 2010 at 9:04 AM
eden said…
I have never seen a fountain like this. Truly amazing. Thank you for sharing this.

Have a great week ahead!
June 20, 2010 at 5:51 AM
Anonymous said…
nice photo's really like it!
June 20, 2010 at 8:25 PM
Fly Girl said…
Trainer, thanks for dropping by!
June 20, 2010 at 8:34 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Puerto Rico's Taino Culture

Image
The original inhabitants of the Caribbean region of North America were the Arawak, Taino and Carib  native peoples.  The Tainos are a subgroup of the Arawaks and are recognized as the founders of the island of Boriken or Puerto Rico.  These were the people who offered a peaceful welcome to Columbus in 1493.  They didn't know the cruelty and violence that would follow his so-called "discovery" of the land that they had cultivated for centuries. Despite official government pronouncements that the Taino have been killed off by the massacres and slavery that followed in Columbus' wake, they live on.  As demonstrated in the photo above by  members of  the Puerto Rico Folklorico Dance & Culture Cultural Cente r, Taino traditions, food and names remain strong. Throughout Puerto Rico, town names like Mayaquez, Utuado and Caquas echo the Taino language as do the musical instrument maracas and hamaca or hammock. Legends of Taino warriors, like Hatuey, who organized the ba
Read more

Traveling Through A Liberian Childhood

Image
I like to explore the world with books as much as I like to actually travel. A well-written narrative can transport you to places that you'd never experience with just superficial details like photos and descriptions. I've been interviewing writers about the criteria they use to select books for Summer reading and it made me think about my own general reading criteria. As a journalist, I'm really drawn to biographies, autobiographies and memoirs more than fiction. There's something about using the facts to entice readers into your world that gets me. It's no coincidence that some of my favorite writers--Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Zora Neale Hurston, Hemingway, started out as journalists. So when I glimpsed The House at Sugar Beach , at my local bookstore and saw it was a memoir written by a journalist, it was pretty much a done deal that I would buy it. Now it wasn't only that the author Helene Cooper was a journalist, it was that she was a Liberian journalist chro
Read more

Switzerland's Fete Des Vignerons

Image
                                               Once every generation, the centuries-old viticultural festival, Fete des Vignerons, unfolds in Vevey, Switzerland. Watching this spectacle of music, dancing, wine and fanciful costumes, felt like I had been transported to something out of a Dr. Seuss story. With a law that prohibits the fest from taking place more than five times in a century, I felt incredibly lucky to witness this celebration of Swiss wine traditions dating back to the 17th century.  Some of the fetes 5,500 performers in costumes strolled the narrow streets of Vevey after a show that featured fairies, bees, royal courts, playing cards and 17th-century wine growers. The performance was in French but the drama transcended language barriers. It's a difficult experience to describe but if I had to sum it up, I would explain it as the magic of Cirque Du Soleil combined with the pageantry of the Olympics, topped with the history of folk celebrations.  Take a peek at my v
Read more