Public art is which encompasses any form of art you see in a public place, large or small, statues, murals, graffiti, gardens, Christmas lights, even buildings or bridges. The art should be visible from streets, sidewalks or outdoor public places. I chose to post photos from the list below.
Graffiti
Statues and Sculptures
Murals
Transportation
Car Shows
Artistic Construction (Bridge, benches and buildings)
Wall Art
Bridges…George Washington Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge
Statues…Upper left, the Field Gallery (Martha’s Vineyard) – Upper right, Marquis De Lafayette, Colonel Alexander Hamilton, General George Washington (Morristown, NJ) Lower left, Atlas (Rockefeller Center, NYC) – Lower right, Martha’s Vineyard.
Cube and sculptures at Grounds For Sculptures, Hamilton, New Jersey
Statue at Eagle Rock Reservation, West Orange, NJ honoring the search and rescue dogs of 9/11…
Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.In 1971, Congress established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May and as a federal holiday.
Civil War Memorial at Fairmount cemetery – Newark, NJ
Below is a photo of the veteran’s section in the Fairmont Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey, where, on my father’s side of the family my great great grandfather, Stephen Freeman is buried. Stephen did not die in the Civil War but was wounded in the battle of Antietam in 1862. He was sent home, lived another 29 years and died on May 30, 1891, which ironically was Memorial Day.
My great great grandfather.
On my mother’s side a somewhat tragic story. My great grandfather, Joseph Littlefield fought in the Civil War and died because of his wounds. He was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. He was sent home to Maine to die. He died of typhoidal pnemonia on Sep 30, 1864, he is buried in Rome, Maine. Unfortunately his wife and his 3 oldest children died of the same thing shortly thereafter, leaving my grandfather, Charles Littlefield at age 10 the oldest of the four remaining children.
Indeed a tragic story and once my daughter Deb and I learned about it felt compelled to find their graves and honor them. Their small plot is off the beaten track in Rome, Maine we found it and traipsed through the brush to get to it. Worth the trip indeed. This was very emotional in that Joseph (41), Martha Jane (36), Margaret (18), Adison (14) and Atwood (12) have become very real to us and we feel very close to them. We weren’t able to bring them flowers but left 5 pennies to indicate we were there and remembering them.
My great grandfather.
Two years ago in 2019 I was contacted by a gentleman from Maine who had been visiting this grave site for many years. This is what his email said:
I found your web site while looking for more information On your great grandfather Joseph P. littlefield . I have a summer place on the camp road that goes beside the family cemetery I visit the family cemetery every year before Memorial Day to pay my respects to him and his family and to honor his service . I often wondered what was his life like. I’m the featured speaker at the Belgrade Me. town Memorial Service next week and I plan to include him I’m my remarks honoring his service to his country.Best Regards ,
It meant a lot to me to know that my great grandfather Joseph P Littlefield was being honored and remembered 155 years after he died.
Take a moment to remember the original reason for Memorial Day and the men and women who fought for, and gave their lives for our country.
The prompt: Share with us an image, or two, or three, (or more!) of where you live. For bonus points, tell us what it is about the photo(s) that you love. I can’t wait to go on a fantastic virtual tour of the world, courtesy of photo challenge participants. Away we go!
Rather than share where I live now I want to share where I was born and raised and lived until I got married.
My home town… Newark, New Jersey
Above is the Essex County courthouse. In the forefront is a statue of Abraham Lincoln called the Seated Lincoln sculpted by Gutzon Borglum who was the creator of the Mount Rushmore sculpture of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
Surprising to many who don’t know much about the city of Newark, it has some beautiful parks in it. Washington Park, Lincoln Park and the newly revitalized Military Park. Here sits another of Gutzon Borglum’s works, one of his most compelling : Wars of America. He created this magnificent sculpture over the course of six years, completing it in 1926. It memorializes all the major conflicts in which Americans participated up to and including the First World War.
Thus ends a short tour of two of the beautiful sculptures you can find in Newark, New Jersey 🙂
Newark, New Jersey is where I was born and grew up. As you can tell by the clock it’s a timeless city 🙂 Last week my daughter Deb, our cousin Kris, our friend Dawn and I went off on our adventure
.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our family, the Freeman’s go back to the original founding fathers of Newark. My 8th times great grandfather (not sure of the number), Stephen Freeman, along with Robert Treat and a host of other men from Milford and Branford, Ct founded the city of Newark in 1666. It has just celebrated its 350 birthday in 2016. I am the last of our particular Freeman line to be born in Newark as was my father, my grandfather etc.
The monument to the founding fathers fell into disrepair and actually disappeared for many years.
(The 9-foot-tall monument, which weighs 13,000 pounds, was lying on its back underneath a tattered blue tarp in a city lot at the city’s Division of Traffic and Signals. Without further inspection, you’d think it was discarded junk.The marble base was detached. The wooden pallet that held the monument was in standing water between a trash bin and a gaggle of inoperable traffic lights.Not exactly what Newark’s stakeholders had in mind when they gave it to the city in 1916 to celebrate its 250th anniversary.) You can read more of that article by CLICKING HERE…
Thankfully it was restored and put in its new location in 2016 for Newark’s 350th anniversary.
There is also another founding fathers statue which is located in Fairmont Cemetery. Just so happens many of our ancestors are buried there but that will be in another blog post.
My daughter Deb, myself, our cousin Kristan.
Newark NJ founders statue (Robert Treat)
We headed to the Court House to see the ‘Seated LIncoln’ statue of Abraham Lincoln sculpted by Gutzon Borglum who was the creator of the Mount Rushmore sculpture of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. CLICK HERE to read about the Seated Lincoln statue in Newark.
The main reason I wanted to visit this sculpture was to try and recreate a picture my mother and grandmother had taken in the 1920’s.
My grandmother and mother Me with daughter Deb.
Court House – Newark NJ
Surprising to many who don’t know much about the city of Newark, it has some beautiful parks in it. Washington Park, Lincoln Park and the newly revitalized Military Park. CLICK HERE PLEASE…
Military Park
The newly revitalized park reopened in June 2014. There are outdoor tables, walking paths, statue of John F Kennedy, ping-pong tables, nice umbrellas which my group utilized to get out of the 87 degree heat the day we were there, and the Liberty Pole.
Military Park- Newark NJ
JFK – Military Park – Newark NJ
*From Wikipedia — Military Park is a 6-acre city park in downtown Newark, New Jersey. From 1667, when the city was planned, until 1869 it was a training ground for soldiers. In 1869 it became the town commons.*
The most impressive thing in Military Park is the ‘Wars Of America’ sculpture by Gutzon Borglum (who also sculpted the above mentioned statue of Lincoln).
*From NJ.com -The bronze masterpiece consists of forty-two human beings and two horses and commemorates America’s participation in the Revolution, War of 1812; Indian Wars; Mexican War, the Civil War, Spanish American War and World War I.
It is in Military Park, which dates back to 1667–when the park was a training ground for soldiers and, later, a drill field for the Colonial and Continental armies–where the colossal Wars of America statue stands in striking relief. It is the centerpiece of the park.
Thus ends my latest trip back to Newark. Since we’ve been delving into our family ancestry and our connection to the city I come from we’ve been back to Newark more times in the past two years than I had been in the last maybe 30 years. I have a feeling we’re not done yet 🙂
The monument lists the names of the Mayflower Pilgrims and also on the four buttresses are seated figures emblematical of the principles upon which the Pilgrims founded their Commonwealth; Morality, Law, Education and Liberty.
According to Wikipedia : {The National Monument to the Forefathers, formerly known as the Pilgrim Monument, commemorates the MayflowerPilgrims
The nation’s oldest continuously operating public museum, Pilgrim Hall Museum houses an unmatched collection of Pilgrim possessions telling the story of brave and determined men and women building lives and homes for themselves and their children in a new world. See William Bradford’s Bible, Myles Standish’s sword, the only portrait of a Pilgrim (Edward Winslow) painted from life, the cradle of New England’s first–born, Peregrine White, the great chair of William Brewster, and the earliest sampler made in America, embroidered by Myles Standish’s daughter.
The only thing we were allowed to photograph were these beautiful stained glass windows
And that…. that’s two of the most delicious, mouth watering, , heavenly New England lobster rolls… 🙂
This concludes part 4 of our Plymouth, MA trip.. actually it may conclude this series all together, or it may not !! Hope it’s been as enjoyable to read about as it was to have experienced it 🙂
.
MV Obsession 