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Ballentine Manor

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    • Day 14

      The Greatest Show - grounds

      May 9, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      The Ringling brothers (originally Rüngling) were seven American siblings who transformed their small touring company of performers into one of America's largest circuses in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[1][2] Four brothers were born in McGregor, Iowa: Alfred T., Charles, John and Henry William, and the family lived in McGregor for twelve years, from 1860 until 1872. The Ringling family then moved to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and finally settled in Baraboo, Wisconsin, in 1875. They were of German and French descent, the children of harness maker Heinrich Friedrich August Ringling (1826–1898) of Hanover, and Marie Salome Juliar (1833–1907) of Ostheim, in Alsace.[3] In 1919, they merged their Ringling Brothers Circus with America's other leading circus troupe, Barnum and Bailey, ultimately creating the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which operated for 146 years.

      Reasonably early start to beat the crowds at The John and Mable Ringling Museum. This is one of Greg's favourite places to go either accompanied or on his own. Hopefully my photos will show there is just so much to see here, with gardens, home of the Ringlings, views over the bay, Museum and Art Galleries.
      Looking around the gardens we saw an Osprey eating its fish 🐟 supper and Banyan Tree. Banyans are strangler figs. They grow from seeds that land on other trees. The roots they send down smother their hosts and grow into stout, branch-supporting pillars that resemble new tree trunks. Banyans are the world's biggest trees in terms of the area they cover. - as Greg explains to a couple of passing ladies.
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    • Day 14

      The Greatest Show - Bay View

      May 9, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      One of America’s wealthiest couples, the Ringlings started building Ca’ d’Zan in 1924 and completed it shortly before Christmas in 1926 at the then princely sum of $1.5 million. Sadly, their happiness there was not to last, for only three years after its completion, Mable died from Addison’s disease and the complications of diabetes.

      The House

      The 36,000 square-foot house sits on a waterfront site 1,000 feet long and 3,000 feet deep. It is five stories tall and has a full basement. Constructed from terra cotta “T” blocks, concrete and brick, it is covered with stucco and terra cotta and embellished with glazed tile. Decorative tile medallions, balustrades and ornamental cresting in soft red, yellow, green, blue and ivory highlight the pink patina of the stucco and terra cotta exterior.
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    • Day 14

      The Greatest Show - Model

      May 9, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

      Roll up Roll up, the circus is in town. The train has been unloaded and the big tent is up and ready to welcome you.
      First of all there is the circus cook house where everyday:-
      2 barrels of sugar
      30 gallons of milk 🥛
      110 dozen of oranges 🍊
      200 lbs of tea and coffee ☕️
      226 dozen eggs 🥚
      2220 loaves of bread 🍞
      2479 lbs of fresh meat
      and plenty more items etc etc ....

      Now it's time to take a trip to the Ringling Museum and the World's Largest Littlest Big Top. In sunny Sarasota, hides Howard Tibbal's life work -- an exact 3/4-inch-to-the-foot scale replica of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as it might have looked from 1919 - 1938.
      All the fixings are present -- acrobats fly gracefully above the audience. A legion of mess hall workers bustles to prepare the daily meals. Horses shuffle in their stalls, children sneak peaks into the dark halls of the freak show, and Goliath the ferocious Elephant Seal bellows at onlookers. The Howard Bros. Circus, named after its creator, is 3,800 square feet in size and shows off the entire circus process from the railway to the rodeo.

      The scale of it is mindboggling, and in perfect detail to boot. For over 50 years Tibbals has worked with excruciating effort to recreate old circuses from photographs, posters, schematics and old news articles. Thousands of figures the size of your thumb populate the tiny grounds as patrons and performers. Animals from pups to elephants number in the hundreds. Tents tower overhead. In fact, there's so much going on that an observation deck was created just for you to get a bird's eye view and take it all in.
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    • Day 5

      Ringling Museum

      May 1, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

      Headed south to the Ringling circus museum today. They also had some fine art there too but skipped that...

      There was an impressive mini circus model made by one man, one very obsessed man I would guess. Then the museum had things like walking the tight rope, a clown car, and the train carriages they used to carry animals from back in the day.

      It was fun, they had nice gardens too, although Alex quietly dissaproved at their use of animals back then.
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    • Day 14

      The Greatest Show - Ca' dZan

      May 9, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

      The home of the circus king and his wife, a couple from humble mid-western origins, Ca’ d’Zan stands as a testament to the American Dream of the Roaring Twenties. Inspired by and designed in the Venetian Gothic style of the palazzos that ring the Venice canals, this dazzling palatial mansion perfectly captures the splendor and romance of the Italy the Ringlings so loved. To honor its owner, they named it Ca’ d’Zan, “House of John”, in the dialect of their beloved Venice.

      The History of Ca' d'Zan

      The Inspiration

      The Ringlings had been traveling throughout Europe for nearly 25 years, acquiring circus acts and art. They both greatly admired the architectural style of Venice’s Ducal Palace, Ca’ d’Oro and the Grunwald Hotel. When they decided to build a home in Sarasota, Florida, where they had been winter residents for a number of years, The Ringlings took these palazzi as their inspiration – and Sarasota Bay as their Grand Canal.
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    • Day 14

      The Greatest Show - Transport

      May 9, 2022 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

      The Ringling Brothers had their own train to transport the travelling circus all over the US, stopping on average every 1,000 miles. They only stayed in a town 1 or 2 days before loading up and moving onto the next town.

      The Wisconsin was John Ringling’s private rail car.  Built in 1896 by the Pullman Car Company, it was refurbished at John Ringling’s request in 1905. For the next 11 years, John Ringling conducted the business of the circus aboard the Wisconsin. As the advance man, he would often arrive first in a city before the big show, but the car was also frequently joined with the circus train.

      The Ringlings also took vacations aboard the car to Utah and Yellowstone National Park, as well as Sarasota when they bought their property here in 1911. Like a luxury yacht, a luxury rail car had its own set of monogrammed table and glassware, of which the museum has only a single glass.

      The RBBX circus trains were more than one mile in length and consisted of 60 railroad cars, which is the equivalent of 120 trucks. The trains consisted of stock cars for exotic animals, flat cars for heavy equipment, and coaches to the rear. No space went underutilized.

      Stock cars were 72 feet long and of two basic types. One was designed for the horses and ring stock, and the other for the elephants, or “bulls.” The cars designated for bulls were about a foot taller than the others, with solid sides and small windows for ventilation near the top. The bulls were usually positioned in three pairs at each end of the car and another elephant could be loaded at the center. Thus, each bull car could carry 12 or 13 adult elephants. Stock cars were usually coupled directly behind the locomotive to help minimize jolting the animals, and were then followed in the consist by the flat cars which were the heaviest due to rides, wagons and other equipment. Finally, the passenger coaches brought up the rear of the train.

      The circus had a very strict employee caste system that was apparent in the sleeping assignments onboard. Featured performers and key personnel were often assigned a stateroom or even a half or third of a car. Some of the larger shows had a private coach for the owner or star performer. Most of the circus coaches were filled top to bottom with bunks, and an individual’s assignment in the circus and length of employment dictated the assigned bunk. For example, a newcomer might be assigned a top bunk, while working men might be assigned two to a bunk. These cars were not air conditioned and many a circus worker chose to sleep on an open flat, beneath the wagons, on a hot summer
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    • Day 13

      Ringling Museum

      April 21 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      Ce musée sur l'histoire du cirque Ringling Barnum contient une reconstitution du plus grand cirque du monde qui comptait 1300 employés et nécessitait un train de 150 wagons

    • Day 34

      The Ringling

      February 12 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

      Today we went to Sarasota to "The Ringling". It is the Winter home (called Ca' d' zan - House of John) of John and Mabel Ringling. There is also a wonderful museum and circus display. The house was finished in 1926 with 36,000 sq ft, it's pretty gaudy. The grounds were beautiful with many huge Banyan trees. It would have been amazing to go to the circus back then, they were a city within themselves. They would travel by train and set up for 1-7 days. They had vets, Drs, cooks, laundry, black smiths, barbers, seamstresses, etc. As always we learned a lot.Read more

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