Blogging in Myrtle Glen

Visiting the Campus of Belmont Abbey College, NC 

(This is the second post of  our trip to Charlotte, NC, first post ‘Rosedale Plantation‘)

 

 

 

Belmont Abbey Basilica of Mary Help (Maria-hilf)
Its architectural style is German Gothic-Revival, built in 1892 – 1894 and since 1973 on the National Register of Historic Places.

The art glass windows were crafted by an artist in Munich, Germany.

 

 

 

Belmont Abbey College was founded in 1876 by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey.

 

 

St. Benedict

 

 

The monastery’s Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes was created in 1891 and designated as a pilgrimage shrine.

 

 

 

The Grotto Garden with a statue of St. Walburga in its wintery look

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful large old trees, like this Crepe Myrtle, grow all over the Campus grounds

 

 

 

 

St. Leo’s Hall, built in the American Benedictine style

 

 

 

 

This growth on a Crepe Myrtle trunk gives me the creeps (can you see ‘it’?) 

 

 

 

 

The Graveyard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Website of Belmont Abbey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spending one February afternoon in Charlotte, NC, we decided to visit the Historic Rosedale Plantation. I did not take pictures inside, just in the gardens.

 

 

The tour through the house was 1 1/2 hours of interesting history of the families living in this 13 room antebellum plantation home. Archibald Frew built the house on his 900 acre plantation in 1815, flaunting his wealth with white paint, Parisian yellow trim and wallpaper imported from France.  

 

 

 

The garden is charming, even this time of year, and I can only imagine how beautiful it is when the growing season starts. 

 

 

 

 

The Kitchen Garden

 

 

 

The garden paths are bordered by boxwood, with some of them still alive from the first planting in 1815

 

 

Beautiful, large Camellia shrubs 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s truly a hidden gem worth discovering!  

Official website at Historic Rosedale

 

 

 

We decided to take a family vacation to Washington, DC. the boys were growing up, and this was the last vacation for just the four of us. This was some time ago….  Of course the Botanical Garden was on the ‘must-see list’  

 I am sure the Gardens look different by now, with added gardens and exhibits. Who knows when I will be able to visit Washington DC again :-/

 

The National Garden Fountain

 

 

Green Man and Green Lady adorn the exterior of the Conservatory building

 

 

 

 

The United States Botanic Garden Conservatory contains eight garden rooms under glass, totaling 28,944 square feet of growing space

 

 

 

The Dome is 93 ft high

 

 

 

 

 

 

The orchid collection numbers about 5,000 with several hundred on display at any given time.

 

 

Orchid Thunia alba

 

 

Nepenthes

 

 

The Desert room in the Conservatory, this one caught my eye, looks like a huge spider coming up from behind the rock /shudder/

 

 

 

Back when we visited , there was a neat glass art exhibition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Regional gardens

 

 

 

large collections of cacti and bog plants

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed our visit and I am hoping to visit again sometime! 

Learn more about it on the Website of the United States Botanic Gardens