Florida State Capitol

15 Jan 10--We went by the Florida State University campus today because it is Wayne's birthday and we know how much of an FSU football fan he is. So here are a few pictures just for him!!! We got pictures of Doak Campbell stadium, where the Seminoles play their games, along with pictures of the statues of the Seminoles mascot and the just retired and still great Bobby Bowden. This statue was dedicated to him in 2004.




Here is the statue again, along with the dedication stone and a quote from Bobby!

We actually started the day at the Knott House Museum, a house built in 1843. Its biggest claim to fame is the fact that the Emancipation Proclamation was read from its front steps, but the tour we got mostly covered the period after the Knott family bought it in 1928 and on through the Depression era. Mr Knott was a government guy, State Treasurer, etc., but our guide almost exclusively talked about Mrs. Knott, a very politically active woman who not only ran this house but also was very influential in Florida's ban on alcohol during that time.

Mrs. Knott was also quite quirky! All the furniture in this house is the orginal stuff she put in it...and if you can see the card attached here to the service, you would realize that she actually put cards on almost every piece of furniture in the house. She was a poet amongst other things, so on these cards she wrote poems about her furnishings, and how they served her family.



This is a painting of Mrs. Knott's mother. Because it was during the Depression, what has been learned is that Mrs. Knott actually took a painting of someone else and then had a painter only paint her dead mother's face over the original! Isn't that funny!!!!??? Very frugal!!!

This was our tour guide...she is putting on gloves because you are not allowed to touch anything in the house as you are touring. We started in the kitchen...every time I see one I think of you Patti...I know you love them! Check out the toaster...you put the bread in and then slide it up to close it.

There was a seperate room for sewing and ironing. The roller here was used to iron sheets and tablecloths. I cannot imagine anything more mind-numbingly boring!

Cathy and I actually had a bath and shower like this one in a house we rented when we were stationed in Montana. And that is an exercise bike in the bathroom, circa 1930!!! Mrs. Knott was certainly ahead of her time!

The furniture in the music, bedrooms, library and dining rooms were quite ornate.

Cathy and I headed over to the state capitol building from the Knott House...here is Cathy walking along the road! And friends of hers riding along.

In these pictures you can see both the old and the current state capitol buildings, the new behind the old. We toured most of the old building, which is now a tourist stop only. It is clearly the more interesting of the 2 buildings...I don't know why they felt that a modern building was better than the original structure. Seems like all these old buiildings have great entrance stairways.

For the most part, each room in the building had a theme, from the origins of the state to the functions of the legislature. Learned something right off the bat when we entered...Andrew Jackson was the 1st Territorial Governor of Florida. Not that the info is earth-shattering...I just didn't know anything about where he came from.

Check out some of the flags that Florida has flown...I love the one that says "Let us alone".

And then there was the room from hell!!! This room dedicated all its space, except one display, to the 2000 election...Bush v. Gore...it was painful even being there, never mind taking the pictures. But notice that Florida has twice been involved in this type of escapade...and both times the Dems lost!!! The bottom pictures show the official "butterfly ballot"! I still think that Gore should have "gone to the mattresses" as the mob says! haha

I am always surprised at what has actually happened in this country in my lifetime, and here is another example. I am sure that anyone reading this who is my age saw the movie "Gideon's Trumpet" like I did years ago...what I didn't realize is that it happened in Florida, and in the 1960s! Can anyone believe that prior to that we didn't have the right to a lawyer???

A really odd room was this one dedicated to law enforcement...just didn't seem to fit the whole theme of the building. But look how they use decks of cards for wanted or lost people. Reminds me of Bush and those guys during the beginning of the Iraq War. Remember them looking for Saddam and his henchman? I wonder who came up with the idea first?

Florida had a lot of problems with their Indian population, as I guess we all did, but I don't know enough about it to explain all the ins and outs.

Whether the 1920s or the 1980s, Florida's legislature doesn't seem to have been on the side of women! What is up with that?

Here are some pictures showing the salaries of teachers, relative to their race and sex, along with Jim Crow law info, an old advertisement that was obviously acceptable back then and a record of the signature of the sole black man that paid the poll tax and was able to vote at that time. The info on the actual pollt tax shows that it affected not only blacks, but poor whites, too. Finally, some pictures of info on lynchings. I can't imagine how much it must have sucked to be black in this country in those days!

As you can see from the 1st picture below, Tallahassee was a compromise site for the state capitol. And like the state of Texas, Florida's legislature is a "part-time" legislature. I don't know how many other states do this, but Florida's legislature only meets for 60 days a year, while Texas has its legislature meet for only 140 days ever 2 years.

Here are some pictures of the different state seals Florida has had. I especially liked the middle two...so colorful!

After we left the old Capitol building, we went up to the 22nd floor of the new Capitol building where you can see a 360 degree view of the city. I had Walter in mind when I was taking these pictures because he seems to think we are in some podunk town (haha). It is nowhere near as big as San Antonio or Boston, but as of 2007 it had a population of 261,000 people in the county, so it's not Mayberry RFD either! What I like the most is all the trees.

And just a little fun fact...Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan filmed many of their underwater scenes from the Tarzan movies just outside Tallahassee in Wakulla Springs!!!