I hope you had a beautiful Christmas and are enjoying your holiday with your family and friends! What was your favorite present to give and to receive? (Besides Christ!)
After a week of our family being sick with fever, congestion, coughing, headache, and sore throat, and having to cancel our family Christmas plans until this Friday or even next week, I am ready for something NEW!!!
But I wanted to finish telling you about my trip to the south for my sister Maria’s college graduation. I had hoped to tour The Crescent again while I was visiting my family there. Unfortunately, it was closed the day I could have toured it ~ next time!
It is so beautiful, inside and out. Many people believe The Crescent is something from Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind. It’s actually not a remnant of the Civil War, but it is a historical landmark. (Resource: http://valdostascene.com/june2009/x155362519/The-Crescent)
I feel the huge, white mansion with its tall, white pillars, spacious rooms, and large oak trees with Spanish moss symbollize the beauty and Gone With The Wind romance of the deep south, southerners, and southern charm and hospitality ~ and a time gone by that makes you long for it again (almost!).
It’s a staple of Valdosta’s scenery. It has always been my dream home!
The house was once the house of Colonel William S. West. Col. West and his family built it in 1898 along North Patterson Street. West and his family moved to Lowndes County. He later became an attorney, served as a General Assembly representative and senator from Lowndes County, became the speaker of the state senate, and then became a Georgia senator. (Resource: http://valdostascene.com/june2009/x155362519/The-Crescent)
His home, The Crescent, became a symbol of his success. (Resource: http://valdostascene.com/june2009/x155362519/The-Crescent)
It was the first home in Lowdnes County to have electric lights, indoor plumbing, and central heating. The enormous oak trees surrounding The Crescent were planted after the home was built (the home wasn’t built around the large oaks, as many people believe. (Resource: http://valdostascene.com/june2009/x155362519/The-Crescent)).
The oak trees themselves are breath-taking. You truly feel as if any minute Scarlett O’Hara and one of her beaus might start walking around the corner in the yard, silhouetted against the Spanish moss.
At one time it was one of several homes earmarked for demolition, but was saved by the Valdosta Garden City Club members, who learned of its potential fate of destruction and bought it in 1951 as a restoration project for Valdosta, “The Azalea City of Georgia.” (Local garden clubs were pushing to beautifyValdosta in the late 40’s after the Civil War.) The Valdosta Garden Club federated with the Garden Club of Georgia and National Garden Clubs Inc., and members received the outstanding achievement trophy for The Crescent. (Resource: http://valdostascene.com/june2009/x155362519/The-Crescent)
Because The Crescent was not open when I went there, I wasn’t able to take pictures of the inside, which I have toured several times before.
When I came home to Missouri, I googled The Crescent and found these beautiful pictures of its furnishings inside from one travel blogger. Just click here and scroll to the bottom, clicking on whatever picture you’d like. (I don’t know the blogger, so please don’t email me to complain about it!)
You really have to just see The Crescent to appreciate its incredible beauty. Like I said, this is my dream home – I love the Victorian era!
Funny, but one of the wine-red Victorian sofas in a sitting room at The Crescent looks almost just like the one I have in our dining room at home! Great minds think alike.
What is your dream home?
What is your dream trip?
What is your dream?
What will do you to achieve it in 2012? Maybe you should start here.
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