|
The Miraculous Staircase New Mexico The Loretto Chapel was completed in 1898, there was no way to access the choir loft twenty-two feet above. Carpenters were called in to address the problem but they all concluded access to the loft would have to be via ladder as a staircase would interfere with the interior space of the small Chapel. Legend says that to find a solution to the seating problem, the Sisters of the Chapel made a novena to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters. On the ninth and final day of prayer, a man appeared at the Chapel with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work. Months later the elegant circular staircase was completed, and the carpenter disappeared without pay or thanks. After searching for the man (an ad even ran in the local newspaper) and finding no trace of him, some concluded that he was St. Joseph himself, who came in answer to the sisters' prayers. The Miraculous Staircase, which legend says was constructed or inspired by St. Joseph the Carpenter, was built sometime between 1877 and 1881. It took at least six months to build, and has two 360 degree turns with no visible means of support.
Muir Woods, The Redwood Forest It is known that the Native Americans living in the area which later became Marin County were Miwoks. The Miwok were, for the most part, coastal dwellers. The largest centers of population were located near present-day Bolinas, Sausalito and San Rafael, because these areas put them close to a dependable food supply of clams, mussels, limpets and acorns. Most likely the Miwoks never lived in Muir Woods; however, it is probable that they did pass through the area and, on occasion, hunt in this vicinity. Western man came upon the scene with the arrival of the Spanish missionaries in the mid 1700's. The Spanish practiced occasional logging to provide timbers for their ships and missions. Some grazing was done on coastal grasslands, and of course, crops were planted to provide the settlements with food. The most important legacy left by the Spanish on the environment of Marin County was their very great cultural influence which is still seen today, especially reflected in architectural themes. In 1838, William Richardson received a Mexican grant of land, Rancho Saucelito (Little Willow Ranch), which contained all the Marin land southeast of Mt. Tamalpais, and included Redwood Canyon and the lands now within Muir Woods National Monument. The tranquil Spanish way of life was maintained until gold was discovered in California, at Sutter's Mill, in 1849. This caused a mass migration of those who hoped to make their fortunes in the gold fields. The password of the day became...get in, get rich quick, and get out. San Francisco became the center for this horde of humanity, and the tradition of leisured living came to an abrupt halt. Timber, meat and crops were now needed in much greater quantities. As a result black tail deer populations were reduced, and elk, antelope, grizzly and black bear, cougar and coyote disappeared completely. Most of the easily accessible timber in Marin County was logged between 1840 and 1870. Luckily Redwood Canyon escaped much of this onslaught because of its inaccessibility, and the extreme difficulty of logging such steep slopes. Early visitors arrived on foot, on horseback, by buggy, and via the Mill Valley and Mt. Tamalpais Railroad, dubbed the "crookedest railroad in the world" because of the many twists and turns made by the tracks as they climbed Mt. Tamalpais. In 1908 the first automobile reached Muir Woods over the wagon road from Mill Valley. This early use of the Monument was quite casual as people wandered as they wished, and vehicles passed through the length of the canyon. Needless to say, such indiscriminate use caused severe damage to the understory (ground cover) vegetation, and eventually necessitated stronger regulatory measures. Cars were excluded from redwood groves in 1924, and the elimination of picnicking, the fencing of trails, and the prohibition of plant, animal and rock collecting soon followed. Also, small tracts of private land were added to the Monument to prevent incompatible land uses on contiguous lands. Lincoln's Tomb in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois is the final resting place of 16th President of the United States Abraham Lincoln his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, and three of their four sons. The monument is owned and administered by the State of Illinois as Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. History On April 15, 1865, the day President Lincoln died, a group of Springfield citizens formed the National Lincoln Monument Association and spearheaded a drive for funds to construct a memorial or tomb. Upon arrival of the corpse on May 3, it lay in state in the Illinois State Capitol for one night. After the funeral the next day, his coffin was placed in a receiving vault at Oak Ridge Cemetery, the site Mrs. Lincoln requested for burial. In December her husband's remains were removed to a temporary vault not far from the proposed memorial site. The location of the temporary vault is today marked with a small granite marker on the hill behind the current tomb. In 1871, or 3 years after laborers had begun constructing the tomb, the body of Lincoln and those of the three youngest of his sons were placed in crypts in the unfinished structure. In 1874, upon completion of the memorial, Lincoln's remains were interred in a marble sarcophagus in the center of a chamber known as the "catacombs," or burial room. In 1876, however, after two Chicago criminals failed in an attempt to steal Lincoln's body and hold it for ransom, the National Lincoln Monument Association hid it in another part of the memorial. When Mrs. Lincoln died in 1882, her remains were placed with those of Lincoln, but in 1887 both bodies were reburied in a brick vault beneath the floor of the burial room. By 1895, the year the State acquired the memorial, it had fallen into disrepair. During a rebuilding and restoration program in 1899-1901, all five caskets were moved to a nearby subterranean vault. In the latter year, State officials returned them to the burial room and placed that of Lincoln in the sarcophagus it had occupied in 1874-1876. Within a few months, however, at the request of Robert Todd Lincoln, the President's only surviving son, the body was moved to its final resting place, a cement vault 10 feet (3.0 m) below the surface of the burial room. In 1930-1931 the State reconstructed the interior of the memorial. Rededicated in the latter year by Presiden Hoover, it has undergone little change since that time. The tomb is in the center of a 12 1/2 acre (51,000 m) plot. Constructed of Massachusetts granite, it has a rectangular base surmounted by a 117-foot (36 m)-high obelisk and a semicircular entrance way. A bronze reproduction of sculptor Gutzon Borglums head of Lincoln in the U.S. Capitol rests on a pedestal in front of the entrance way. Four flights of balustraded stairs�two flanking the entrance at the front and two at the rear�lead to a level terrace. The balustrade extends around the terrace to form a parapet. In the center of the terrace, a large and ornate base supports the obelisk. On the walls of the base are 37 ashlars, or hewn stones, cut to represent raised shields, each engraved with the name of a State at the time the tomb was built. Each shield is connected to another by two raised bands, and thus the group forms an unbroken chain encircling the base. Four bronze statues adorn the corners of the latter. They represent the infantry, navy, artillery, and cavalry of the Civil War period. In front of the obelisk and above the entrance stands a full-length statue of Lincoln. |
