Huron National Forest Corsair Trail

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (kinnikinnick or bearberry) has a circumboreal distribution, growing around the world in northern latitudes.

Pinus banksiana (jack pine) predominates on more than one million acres of forest in Michigan.

Vaccinium vitis-idaea (Lingonberry) is also circumboreally distributed.

Quercus (oak). There are a dozen species of oak in Michigan.  Quercus alba (white oak) & Quercus rubra (red oak) are most common in this area.

Pantherophis vulpinus (eastern fox snake) is found in the upper Midwestern United States, east of the Mississippi river.

Pinus banksiana (jack pine)

The Lumberman's Monument.  Photos taken in October 2017

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In the Huron National Forest, we hiked the Corsair Trail for 2.5 hours. The forest was very quiet & stunningly beautiful. It was filled mostly with pine & oak trees, plus many understory plants. The forest was replanted by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression of the 1930s, helping it recover from the devastation of the timber industry from 1870 to 1900. I saw many plants I recognized & a few that also grow in Washington. I had bought a field manual of Michigan flora before I left Seattle, but it was too big to carry with me.  I almost stepped on a fox snake, which then lay motionless on the trail. After we finished the hike, we drove to the Lumberman’s Monument, where we saw interpretive displays about logging & lumberjacks. The Corsair Trail system has 28 miles of trail that varies from gently rolling to somewhat hilly terrain. The system was developed primarily for cross-country skiing.  But the trails may be hiked anytime during the snow-free periods.

Pinconning Nature Preserve

Photos taken in October 2017

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In October 2017, we drove up the shore of Saginaw Bay (Lake Huron) on Michigan highway M-13 to Pinconning Nature Preserve. It was quick & easy to access the preserve from the highway at the small City of Pinconning along E Pinconning Road. We walked on a pleasant trail through a small forest to a wetland on the bank of the Pinconning River. We were unable to go far into the wetland, let alone to the river, because the trail became too wet & mucky. But it was pretty there on that small preserve, which had once been a farm.  My advice is to wear big rubber boots.

The preserve has a variety of plant communities including lowland deciduous forest, scrub/shrub, & marsh. In addition to wetlands, there is 2,165 feet of frontage on the Pinconning River.  The complete loop trail is a little over 1 mile.  The preserve is owned & maintained by the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy. Headquartered in Bay City, the SBLC owns and maintains 10 nature preserves that are open to the public, dawn until dusk, every day of the year, forever. They are natural areas in need of protection & management for the ecological benefits they provide to people & the environment. Some land was purchased through partnerships, while other properties were donated outright, or donated while reserving the right to live on & use the property. When the landowner dies, the Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy takes title & control over the property.

Downtown Bay City Michigan

 

Bay County Building

City Hall

Pere Marquette Depot

  

Saginaw River.  Photos taken in October 2017

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I visited Bay City Michigan in October 2017.  I liked the downtown area very much. The were many interesting & attractive buildings. Most were built between 1880 & 1930. It reminded me of Pioneer Square in Seattle.  Unfortunately, many buildings had also been destroyed. Those spaces became little-used parking lots.  That happened to a lesser extent in Pioneer Square.

New development centered on Water Street along the Saginaw River. Several buildings with new condos had recently been built. A few old buildings were converted to condos. The Victorian train station was restored, converted to offices & surrounded by parkland. The 8-story, Art Deco, Bay County Building (Bay City’s skyscraper) was in good shape, as was the Victorian city hall. Five blocks from the riverfront, at the edge of the small downtown, were Victorian houses, mostly shabby (but none derelict) with some refurbished, or decently maintained. It was all very charming to me.  

Half a mile south from downtown, there was new development on the Saginaw River at the former site of Defoe Shipbuilding Company called Uptown Bay City. There were condos, restaurants, shops, office buildings & a hotel.  It was nicely done.  

As of the 2010 census, Bay City's population was 34,932. There are a number of suburbs. The Bay City Metropolitan Area population was 106,107. Settlement began in 1831. Bay City was established as Lower Saginaw in 1837 & incorporated as Bay City in 1865. It was the largest community in Bay County & became the county seat.  Rapid economic growth took place. Lumber & shipbuilding industries created many jobs. Timber was floated to mills & factories along the Saginaw River.  Businesses concentrated along Water Street. 

Courtland Place Seattle

Townhouses of the 2010s

Townhouses of the 2010s at the foot of the Charlestown Hillclimb

An original house in the Craftsman style of the 1910s.

Townhouses of the 2010s

Townhouses of the 2010s

A typical townhouse development in the faux-Craftsman style of the 2000s

Click here for more photos of Courtland Place.

Courtland Place is a small part of the larger neighborhood of Mount Baker in Seattle.  It has been zoned for multifamily buildings since around the year 2000 & is an good example of  townhouses that have been built in Seattle since that time.  Small single family houses from the early 20th century still exist there, but are rapidly being replaced during the building boom that consumed Seattle in the late 2010s.  There are also townhouses from the national housing boom of the 2000s.  Three full blocks are zoned Lowrise 2.  The LR2 zone provides for a variety of multifamily housing types in existing multifamily neighborhoods & along arterial streets. A mix of small scale to multifamily housing such as townhouses, rowhouses and apartments are encouraged.  An apartment building of 7 units was built in 2004.

Courtland Place is near the major arterial of Rainier Avenue S & adjacent to Rainier Square Plaza, a small shopping center with Safeway & Ross Dress for Less, among other tenants.  The 7 Rainier bus provides transit to Mount Baker Station & Downtown Seattle.  The areas on 2 sides of Courtland Place are zoned for commercial development.  The other 2 sides are zoned for single family homes, most dating to the early 20th century.  The name Courtland Place is used for one of 2 large apartment buildings at nearby Rainier Court.  The City of Seattle has acquired land for a small park on S Charlestown Street.  The Courtland Place P-Patch was established in 1999.  The Charlestown Hillclimb was completed in October 2014.  The hillclimb (stairs) connects Rainier Valley to Cascadia Ridge.

Roman Architecture of Nîmes France

 

Above: Arènes de Nîmes. Below: Maison Carrée

Photos taken in March 2017

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I went to Nîmes on March 7, 2017.  I took the train from Montpellier & was there about 3 hours. I liked Nîmes. It was an upscale place. The old town is full of narrow streets with expensive shops in buildings with stone facades. The stone is a light yellow-beige that seemed to glow, even on that gray & windy day. The buildings are not as tall & the historic district is not as extensive as in Montpellier.

The most interesting things were the Roman arena & the Roman temple called the Maison Carrée, or square house. It's rectangular. Both are among the best-preserved Roman buildings anywhere. The arena can hold 24,000 spectators. The temple is large, but not huge. It is amazingly intact, built by the Emperor Augustus & dedicated to his 2 grandsons in 19 BC. The interior had been made into a small theater where I saw a 25-minute film about the birth of Nîmes in the Roman era, a docu-drama with actors playing historical figures, fairly well produced.

The remains of villages in & around Nîmes date back as far as 1800 BC. Nîmes started out as a small, fortified Iron Age village. Sometime before 28 BC the village became the Colonia Nemausus, known because coins stamped with that name have been found. Nemausus was a very local god, apparently not worshiped anywhere else. Nemausus became the capital of the Roman province of Narbonensis during Emperor Augustus' 2nd visit there from 16 to 13 BC

The Arena of Nîmes was built around 70 AD.  It was remodeled in 1863 to serve as a bullring. It is now used for 2 annual bullfights, concerts & other public events. It measures 436 feet long and 331 feet wide, with an arena of 223 by 125 feet. At 69 feet tall, its exterior façade comprises 2 floors of 60 superimposed arches & an attic, separated by a cornice. At the top, drilled stones were positioned so that poles could could support a canopy.  The interior is deeply atmospheric.

The Maison Carrée is extremely well preserved. It is a nearly textbook example of a Roman temple, as defined by Vitruvius in On Architecture, written during the first century BC.  This is particularly interesting because the Maison Carrée illustrates the model for many significant buildings constructed in Europe & America from the 17th to 20th centuries.

The return to classical styles in architecture began with Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). Palladian architecture grew from Palladio's ideas based on the classical temple architecture of the Ancient Greeks & Romans.  Palladianism got its start in Britain during the mid-17th century & then spread to the British colonies in North America.  A famous example is Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia.  I saw that building in the fall of 1973 with my father, an architect.

The Early Classical Revival style developed at the end of the 18th century took inspiration directly from the ancient buildings of Rome & Greece. While earlier styles were also inspired by classical forms, they used architectural details & did not recreate the look of ancient buildings. The Roman Classical Revival & Greek Revival style copied the form of Roman & Greek temples. It recalled the power & influence of  the Roman Empire. Thomas Jefferson designed campus of the University of Virginia using ancient Roman temples as his guide.

The Neoclassical style is common in the United States. It was inspired by the World's Columbian Exposition held in 1893 in Chicago, which promoted renewed interest in classical forms of architecture. Neoclassical buildings have massive columns with classical capitals, topped by a front facing pediment. The arrangement of windows & doors is symmetrical.  The Neoclassical style was most often used for courthouses, banks, churches, schools & mansions.  My own high school was built in this style in 1912.

The Maison Carrée has a single cella (cell or room) & a deep porch on a high podium. The podium of the Maison Carrée is more than 9 feet high. The footprint measures about 87 by 44 feet at the base. The building has 6 Corinthian columns (acanthus leaf motifs on the capital) across the façade, 10 along each side & 6 across the back. The 10 columns of the portico (porch) are free standing, while the rest are attached to the cella.

The temple had an inscription that was removed in the Middle Ages. A reconstruction of the inscription in 1758 reads (in translation): To Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul; to Lucius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul designate; to the princes of youth.  The worship of the emperor & imperial family was not uncommon in the provinces. The Temple of Augustus & Livia located in Vienne is similar to the Maison Carrée. These temples show how much local elites invested to celebrate the emperor & his family.

Beziers France

Cathédrale Saint-Nazaire-et-Saint-Celse de Béziers

Place Gabriel Péri

Photos taken in March 2017

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The old city or centre ville of Béziers has an array of medieval streets unlike any urban plan seen in the United States.  Certain shopping villages have a similar designs with wider streets & cars.  A closer comparison might be at a complex of closely spaced apartment buildings.  But what if this model were copied more closely in US urban planning?  Walkability would be very high.  Density on this level would have a certain charm when commercial spaces & small open spaces were combined with housing.  Access to nearby green spaces would be essential.  Every roof could be a deck with abundant planters & vigorous plants.  There should be easy access to frequent & speedy public transit.  There would be few cars, mostly in underground parking. Doesn't that sound like an urban paradise?  I'd like to see this happen.  Perhaps somewhere it has.

Béziers is a very charming small city on the Mediterranean coast of France.  It's not far from Montpellier where I was staying when I made a day trip to Béziers.  I was quite enchanted, not only with the narrow streets, but the high quality of the buildings, which are tastefully designed & mostly well maintained.  The medieval cathedral is impressive both inside & out.  There is a beautiful view down to the river & bridge from there.  The narrowest streets of the old city are in a small area just behind the cathedral.  There is an attractive central plaza nearby.  An abundance of narrow streets with ground floor shops flow from the plaza.  The centre ville doesn't cover a very large area, but comfortably covers the top of the hill. Béziers is one of the oldest cities in France. Research shows that Béziers dates from 575 BC. Béziers was largely destoyed during the Albigensian Crusade in 1209. Rebuilding started as early as 1215. The restoration continued until the 15th century.

From my travel journal: 3-8-17 Wednesday.  I got to the train station at 8:30 AM. I got on the train to Béziers at 9:30 & arrived at 10:30. I had low expectations for Béziers, because someone on the Internet said that Narbonne (which was just okay) was better than Béziers. But Béziers was great, way better than Narbonne & more charming than Nimes. The old city was lovely & well-integrated with the rest of the city. The streets near the cathedral were a very narrow warren & connected to a lovely plaza where the city hall & many shops were located. The cathedral was impressive but not huge, with vaulted ceilings that almost gave the impression of being underground, in spite of their height. There were views down to the river from outside & it was very windy there. Much of the city is on a hill. The shopping streets near city hall were narrow with eclectic shops. There were vintage/antique shops together on one street with items arranged outside, along the walls, to very charming effect.

Jardin des plantes de Montpellier

Palms with the Tour des Pins in the background

Phlomis species (Jerusalem Sage)

Cycas revoluta (Sago Palm) & greenhouse

Prunus tomentosa (Nanking Cherry)

 Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape)

Yucca rostrata

Photos taken in early March 2017

Click here for more photos of the Jardin des plantes de Montpellier.

Montpellier became an important center for botany in the 16th century.  Botany was taught by the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Montpellier. At that time & long before it, most medicine came directly from plants & doctors needed extensive knowledge of medicinal botany.  The Royal Garden of Montpellier was created in 1593. It was ruined during the bombardment of Montpellier in 1622, then restored in 1629. It was opened to the public at end of the 18th century. The Jardin des plantes de Montpellier is the oldest botanical garden in France. It has remained university property since its creation.

The garden had significant development during the 19th century. The orangery was completed in 1804, the arboretum in 1810, the English Garden in 1859 & the greenhouse in 1860. The garden was named a protected nature preserve in 1982 & a national monument in 1992. The garden contains more than 2,500 plant species, including 500 native to the Mediterranean region. About 2,000 are grown outdoors & 1,000 under glass. The main collections include medicinal plants, the family Cistaceae (rockrose), arboretum trees, plus tropical & temperate plants in the greenhouse.

To be honest, I wasn't very impressed with the Jardin des plantes.  But I have seen many arboreta & botanical gardens, some of them excellent. The Jardin des plantes was interesting enough.  I was pleased to see a collection of plants from the western United States.  The garden is certainly worth a visit when you are in Montpellier. When I was there in March 2017, it wasn’t very well-maintained & many of the plants were still dormant. I’m sure it’s better in May. There were a number of gardeners working to clean it up.