Thursday, September 23, 2010

Wing Haven

We're visiting the Iglfolks this week, and yesterday I left the compound for the first time since Saturday, when we arrived.

The draw was Wing Haven, a quirky garden and bird sanctuary in an unlikely location: a residential area near downtown Charlotte. I'd heard rumors that there were some nice old neighborhoods within the city's numbing, soulless sprawl, but this was the first time I'd seen anything historic there since the Ramesses II exhibition when I was in college.

From a decidedly inauspicious beginning in 1927 - one city lot with a single tree in the red Carolina clay - the garden eventually grew to three densely planted acres, an oddly successful mix of manicured formality and natural landscape. With narrow, comically buckled brick paths, it wasn't exactly wheelchair friendly, but I took my time and saw almost all of it.






Photos by Dan.

1 comment:

djeffreyunderwood said...

Would love to visit Wing Haven some time, it looks beautiful! Glad you enjoyed and didn't fall on your ass!
Jeff U