Bells and blooms await at Bok Tower Gardens.
A Disney - utter pink tug cut up with flowers and birds put up amidst lush Florida greenery . The scenery is reflect in a lily pond at the base of the tower , where koi flit beneath the control surface . While you wo n’t find a princess at the top of the structure , phonation purloin in Song dynasty , the tower has something arguably more wizardly : 60 harmonious bell . And it ’s surrounded by a 250 - acre wonderland with such fanciful sights as a fairy village , grotto , and secret garden .
Sound like your cup of whimsy ? If so , you ’ll need to overshootDisney Worldby about an time of day as you lead south to Lake Wales and its legendaryBok Tower Gardens .
One of Florida ’s earliest tourist attractions , Bok Tower opened in 1929 . This marked the close of a decade that assure a massive land godsend in the state , as wave of traveller rolled in with their young automobiles , seeking sunshine and joy . The 205 - foot Singing Tower was an instant hit , immortalized on everything from cereal box to playing cards , some of which you’re able to still see today in the attraction ’s exhibit manse .
Photo courtesy of Bok Tower Gardens
The tug ’s lush context added to its solicitation . Its gardens were designed by celebrated landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. , fuck for conception projects likeBiltmoreand theJefferson Memorial(sometimes workingalongside his famous father ) . The tower ’s quality position atop Iron Mountain offer wholesale sentiment over citrus groves and a nearby nature conserve .
But unlike other wayside attractions of the earned run average — a spring with mermaids , an island with monkey , andthe alleged Fountain of Youth , to name a few — Bok Tower was n’t intended to be commercial-grade . Edward Bok , who ’d immigrate from the Netherlands and done rather well for himself in the States , create it as a gift—“a place of hushed and put down for the electronically - drive people of America , ” he ’d called it with preternatural foresight for the twenties . As such , both tugboat and gardens had a high intention than mere money .
“ Both were raise and laid out solely and singly to express the church doctrine of beauty : to open up our oculus and awaken our good sense to the beautiful , ” Bok explained in a letter to President Calvin Coolidge . “ What more can the heart ask for than is here ? Beauty , sweetheart , ravisher — everywhere and on all sides . ”
Photo courtesy of Bok Tower Gardens
That determination seems pretty evident even if you ’re not compass through Bok ’s archival letters . An archway above a flower - fulfil courtyard at the entering proclaims his mantra , “ Make you the humanity a bit well or more beautiful because you have lived in it . ” The towboat — ringed by a moat and uprise above the trees — looks every turn the storybook bodily structure , the surround gardens dot by showy pinkish and chicken blooms .
In most cases , a campana tower is just a Vanessa Bell tower . Bok Tower housescarillon bells , a type of toll played via keys by a carillonneur — and according to Geert D’hollander , the garden ’s full - time carillonneur , it ’s peculiarly special . D’hollander would certainly bed ; he estimates he ’s played more than two thirds of the 600 or so carillons in the world .
“ After I graduated from the Royal Carillon School at 17 , my father asked if I wanted to see the most beautiful carillon playing in the man , ” D’hollander recalls . “ And he flew me from Brussels , Belgium , to Bok Tower . I ’ve never regard a more beautiful tower than this one . ”
Courtesy of Bok Tower Gardens
Made of pinkish marble and gray coquina , the tower flux Art Deco and neo - Gothic way . It features herons at the top rather of gargoyles , roofing tile Mosaic in the windows instead of varnished glassful , and is sculpted all over with wildlife — swan , seahorses , foxes , flamingos , you name it . At the base , a luminous cheek threshold describe the creation of Eden . But the column is more than just a pretty face . sizing matter when it add up to carillon playing — and Bok Tower has some of the biggest bells around , enceinte than Florida ’s three other carillon combine .
“ The heaviest bell is 12 tons , and it produces a very rich , warm sound . That ’s what you need , ” D’hollander says . “ This carillon is comparable to an orchestra . you may play Bach , Mozart , Lady Gaga , and everything in between . ”
And he sure as shooting does . Daily concert joyously cross genres , swapping between classic , jazz , folk , and the Beatles . The lawn behind the column has primo seating room — benches , if you ’re into that form of matter , or a patch of grass under a Southern oak — so you could daydream as you gaze at the clouds while listening to the melodious hum of the bells .
Courtesy of Bok Tower Gardens
As for the garden , well , they ’re at their most striking in spring when thousands of azaleas and camellias bloom , but they ’re colored year - beat thanks to wintertime temporary worker that rarely dunk below 50 . And they ’re as fanciful as you please . Care to sit in a giant bird ’s nest , compose verse with stones , or dance in a fairy ring of decoration trees ? Each corner has something you ’d be sad to pretermit .
For example , you might be charm to skim Hammock Hollow Children ’s Garden if you ’re this side of 12 , but then you ’d miss out on its fairy track , music tree , cypress tree boardwalk , and mini limestone caves . On the westerly edge of the garden , discover El Retiro , a 1930s Mediterranean - style mansion . you’re able to tour its interior , but the lavish earth slip the show . depend for the frog outpouring at the entree and a moon gate said to guard against vicious spirits .
Further afield , Window by the Pond ( which is exactly what it sound like ) is often deserted , save for the birds . Bok Tower doubles as a bird sanctuary , home to more than 100 species . There ’s also an Endangered Plant Garden , Wild Garden , Pollinator Garden , Edible Garden , and a 1.5 - mile trail through a longleaf pine woods , providing varied landscape for visitor to search .
Photo courtesy of Bok Tower Gardens
Bok Tower Gardens may not really be enchant , but it can be hard to think back that during your visit to this whimsical blank space . One can barely be blamed for expect its timber creatures ( chiefly gopher tortoise and squirrels ) to talk , and admittedly the songbirds should have plenty to say . But that sunlight glittering through the Tree ? Well , it ’s the next best thing to pixie dust .
Photo courtesy of Bok Tower Gardens
Photo courtesy of Bok Tower Gardens
Photo by Cheryl Rodewig
Photo courtesy of Bok Tower Gardens
