Sunday, February 12, 2012
Cheri Feb-11-12
6:21 AM | 
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Our day began with breakfast at golden Corel with Sandy & Greg at 8:30am. We’d bragged about the breakfast there so they wanted to check it out. Needless to say we did not go away hungry!
Greg had never been to a Harbor Freight so that was a must stop for them when we reached Lakeland. Sandy & I waited for them in the car. An hour later they were ready to leave, so off we went to Bok Tower in Lake Wales.
The tower is located on Iron Mountain. At the elevation of 298ft, this is one of the highest points in Florida.
They began construction of the Bell Tower in 1927 and was completed it in 1929. It was built as a centerpiece to the gardens for the Bok family. It stands 205 feet high. The outer facing is of pink & gray Georgia marble & Florida coquina (a limestone of shell & coral fragments).
It houses the 60-bell carillon. The bells weigh from 16 lbs to 11 tons. They give a concert at 1 & 3pm Thursdays through Sundays. They also play taped music during those days.
The tower has 7 levels, none that are accessible to the public.
The 1st level is The Founders level, 2nd The Archives, 3rd Maintenance Workshop, 4th Carillon Library, 5th The Carillonneur’s Studio, 6th Keyboard Room, and 7th The Carillon (60 bells).
We strolled through the gardens, while listening to the music, took in the view from the scenic overlook and then headed for the Pinewood Estates.
The Estate was built in the early 1930’s, as a winter home for Charles Buck, President of Bethlehem Steel. It is one of Florida’s most outstanding examples of Mediterranean Revival architecture.
The staircase features a different tile pattern on each riser. Also, there was lots of tile on the walls that was all brought in from Cuba. It had striking decorative doors and tiled fireplaces. The house was furnished with original 1930’s pieces from the Buck era, including the pottery and chandeliers.
We strolled back to the museum and checked it out, and checked out the movie on the Bok Tower.
I had to check out the gift shop of course, they had such beautiful things but I just looked and didn’t buy!
We made a slight change in our return trip home, we grabbed a quick burger and then headed for Parksdale for one more Strawberry Shortcake before Sandy & Greg had to leave for home. We had never been at Parksdale at 5pm before. We couldn’t believe the line waiting to be served. It was a nice way to end our day. Sandy and Greg leave in the morning; we sure enjoyed their visit and hope they come back next winter.
Gay has uploaded pictures of the day, click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Bok Tower and Pinewood Estate
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