Wilmington, Delaware: Jasper Crane Rose Garden

 The final stop in the Brandywine Park of Wilmington, Delaware is the Jasper Crane Rose Garden.  Established in 1933 a year after the completion of the nearby Josephine Fountain, it is named after Jasper E. Crane who was an executive with DuPont Chemical Company.  Mr. Crane made an initial donation of 670 rose bushes representing some 58 varieties.  At it's peak there were over 1,000 bushes from over 100 varieties.  Like many things, the garden went into decline.  In the 1990's, the process of restoring it and refurbishing its collection began.  Today, there are over 500 bushes recreating the splendor of it's glory days.  Honestly, I don't even know how you could reasonably plant 1,000 rose bushes in the space provided.  When I first arrived members of a dedicated group of volunteers was pruning and removing fallen petals.  I waited to visit until the end of my stay in the park so they would have time to complete their work.

The Park is bisected by I-95 the preeminent east coast interstate highway.  Fortunately, it is high above, a pity the travelers have no idea what beauty lies below in its shadow.

A bronze plaque at the entrance

Wilmington, DE: 2 Memorials and 1 Bandstand!

 More points of interest to be found in Brandywine Park in Wilmington, DE.  When you drive up and away from the flood plain, you end up on the southeastern end of the park in a pair of green spaces that feel a world away from the Brandywine River and old growth trees that cover the steep palisades.  Here there are three attractions.  Two are war memorials and one a performance venue that traces its origins back to the early days of the park when street cars still operated on the abandoned tracks now so far below along the river.  

The first is the Delaware World War I Memorial featuring a wingless Angel of Peace with a olive branch on a high pedestal looking down on a circular brick plaza.  There is also a bronze plaque bearing the names of the dead directly across from the statue on the opposite edge of the plaza.  Japanese cherry trees of some age line the sidewalks leading to the memorial.

Reminds me of the Bethesda Angel in Central Park, New York City

Across Baynard Boulevard in view of this war memorial is the Delaware Vietnam War Memorial featuring a statue of a very different sort.  On a mound surfaces with cobble stones stands a statue of two men.  One hale and standing proud.  The other limp and cradled in the first solder's strong arms.  Any student of art will immediately recognize the allusion to the Pieta: Mary, the Mother of God, cradling the limp, sacrificed body of Jesus in her arms.  Across about a third of the mound at the midway up point is a series of bronze plaques.  Circular plaques feather the names and emblems of the various branches of the military starting with the Army and ending with Coast Guard.  Between these, rectangular plagues contain the names (in alphabetical order) of the men and women who were killed in the war.  The statue is certainly more affecting than the one of the Angel.

No one with the surname "Ash" or "Ashe".  Not that it should matter...

The final point of interest is the Sugar Bowl Gazebo.  First build in 1902 as a venue for musical presentations, if was rotten away with a platform only sequestered from the public by a chain-link fence when in 2006 restoration efforts began.  The recreated version opened to the public in 2016.  Built on the edge of the palisade, the view from the far edge down left me dizzy--but I am no fan of heights.  Still, it would wonderful to attend a musical or other presentation there on the ample green lawn stretching away between Baynard Boulevard and W. 18th Street.

Wilmington, DE: The Josephine Tatnall Smith Memorial Fountain

 If confession is good for the soul, then I confess that I love Wilmington, DE.  I could so easily see myself living there.  The Brandywine River flows through the heart of the city, and at its heart is a lovely little park (178 acres) that was designed by the inventor of the modern urban parkscape, Frederick Law Olmsted, in 1886.  The city ran a street car line into the heart of the oasis back in the day.  A long section of the abandoned rails are still part of the contemporary park.  

The western side is defined by the Brandywine river which flows next to a generous flood plain on its east.  Then a steep, forested rise pulls the park upward to a higher plateau that stops at 18th street.  Throughout are various monuments and memorials, a public rose garden, athletic facilities, hiking trails and nestled against and along part of the rising embankment is the little Brandywine Zoo, established in 1911.

Although the original design was set in 1886, over the years other elements were added (and some removed).  The Josephine Tatnall Smith Memorial Fountain was added in the early 1930's after the death of Josephine at the age of 77.  She was the daughter of Henry Lea Tatnall who was a businessman and artist.  In fact, he was the founding president of the Delaware Artist's Association--which had a hand in the founding of the Delaware Art Museum.  Josephine's husband, J. Ernest Smith (a lawyer and banker who drafted Delaware's low tax/corporate friendly legal framework known as the Corporate Act of Delaware, or CAD--you can't make this shit up!), upon her death commissioned the fountain in her honor.  He also purchased nearly 120 Japanese Cherry Trees to line the pathways all around the fountain and along the flood plain of the park.

The fountain was designed by Edward Canby May based on one found at the Villa Petraia in Florence, Italy.  The original having been created by Niccolo Tribolo (1500-1550) in the sixteenth century.  A nearby historical marker simply reads: "The Josephine Fountain has been drawing visitors to Brandywine Park sine the 1930's.  The fountain was built in honor of Mrs. Josephine Tatnall Smith who enjoyed walking through the park."  No reference to the out-sized contributions of either her father or husband to contextual her merits.

A Canada goose who prefers the Brandywine River to the Josephine Fountain.