This is page two of information about beautiful Bok Tower and Bok Tower surroundings. Page one of information is here. Bok Tower is also known as the “singing tower”, a reference to the 60-bell carillon found within and which plays daily at 1pm & 3pm. It is constructed of pink Etowah marble and gray Creole marble from Georgia and coquina stone which is found in Daytona Beach. It juts 205′ above the top of Iron Mountain which is the summit of the Lake Wales Ridge.
Unless you are one of the folks that purchases a Sustainer Membership ($100 in 2014) – the minimum level necessary for Bok Tower access – you will not be able to actually enter through the famous brass door – shown below – and visit some of the eight levels within the Bok Tower during your visit.
A moat with Koi surrounds the base of Bok Tower. Access to the immediate base is across gated walkways one of which is shown below. The gates are locked, preventing visitors from reaching and touching Bok Tower.
Visible in the photo below is the Bok Tower sun dial, added to the base of the tower in 1928. The hours are marked by the 12 signs of the zodiac.
The photo below is through one of the two gated walkways to the base of the tower. Note the small “garden” of white flowers to the right of the image. This is actually the final resting place for Edward Bok, interred here in January of 1930 upon his death.
Access to the first level of the Bok Tower is through the brass door directly opposite Edward Bok’s burial plot, at the base of the tower.
The geometery of Bok Tower changes from base to parapet. Square at the base the tower changes to an octagon at the 150′ level and maintains that shape on up to the tower. In the image below you can see some of the intricate window detail and the beauty of the stone used to build the tower.
Bok Tower Gardens
The Bok Tower is spectacular. But perhaps even more so if you are a flower and garden lover, are the Bok Gardens which surround this “America’s Taj Mahal” at the top of Iron Mountain near Lake Wales Florida.
One of the first things that struck us as we toured the gardens were the numbers of benches available for visitors to sit and rest. Dozens and dozens of them. One can spend hours touring the gardens, and that can make you fatigued. It clearly did so for the visitor shown below.
Found in groves, along the paved and mulched garden paths, depending on what time of the day, any bench might be in bright sun or cool shade. A nice place to rest a spell while touring Bok Gardens.
Pathways abound throughout Bok Gardens, and down every one of them are flowers, shrubs and trees. Some in full bloom almost any time of year. In springtime Bok Gardens bursts into glorious color throughout.
An amazing display of blooms
And another gorgeous flower display.
Ponds and water features abound throughout Bok Gardens.
Another pond, one of many about the grounds of Bok Gardens.
Sit in the garden, enjoy the tower, and watch the live video feed as the carilloneur performs at 1pm and 3pm every day.
We took hundreds of photos of the flowers at Bok Gardens. No matter how many we show you here, they still won’t do justice to this beautiful place. When in the Orlando Florida area, take the time to drive the 55 miles or so to Bok Gardens and see for yourself.
And we haven’t even touched on their rare plant conservation program, their Pine Ridge nature trail, aznd that there are a number of geocaches within Bok Gardens, around the Pinewood estate 1930’s mansion, and more.
The Window By The Pond at Bok Gardens
The Window by the Pond is quite a simple concept. Build a small room in a clearing overlooking a pond. Add some bleachers and a room divider to mask the light from the door. Make the wall facing the pond all window. Place some tree stumps a few feet away from shore as bird feeders to prevent the squirrels from taking all the bird seed.
Sit, wait, and watch! (Alert: Window by the Pond is being upgraded early in 2015 and may not be open when you visit.)
If you are lucky enough to have the Window by the Pond to yourself, as we did for a quite a while during our visit, we expect that this magic place will relax you, as it did us. We could feel our blood pressure lowering and our pulse slowing as the quiet enfolded us and the window captured our full attention.
A male cardinal, plumage flaming, flitted in and out. Across the pond, and multi-hued duck, maybe a Harlequin or a Wood duck, lazed along the shore looking for food.
After a short wait, a fat black snake, maybe 2 1/2 feet long slithered in from the left. Ahead of it, schools of tiny fish burst into the air, an effort to escape being the reptile’s meal, we think. We are not snake experts, yet we think this one was an Indigo Snake. In Florida, Eastern Indigo Snakes can be found throughout the peninsula. They are a non-venomous endangered species so we are pleased if the snake we saw was actually an Indigo.
Sorry, we didn’t get a photo of it. Too busy watching.
Lots of wildlife can be seen, but you’ll just have to sit and relax, and for meditation’s sake, hope that fellow watchers keep the noise to a minimum.
Leave lots of time to fully enjoy the Window by the pond at Bok Gardens to destress!
More info? Visit the Bok Gardens website which will provide you with abundant additional information about the beauty of Bok Gardens and Bok Towers at… http://boktowergardens.org/