Bok Tower Gardens Celebrates Olmstead's 200th Birthday

This year marks the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, and Bok Tower Gardens will be joining the celebration. As one of the sites shaped by the Olmsted legacy, Bok Tower Gardens has joined a national celebration called “Olmsted 200″ in honor of the man who believed parks were for all the people.

A visit to the beautiful Bok Tower Gardens should be a must for everyone's bucket list. The journey to this bucolic backwater may be a bit tedious, but good things come to those who wait. A short drive from highway 27, serene lines of orange groves line the road leading up to the gardens. Arriving at one or two o'clock, visitors will be greeted to the sounds of the tower's carillon bells.

In 1921, Edward W. Bok, the garden's visionary, was spending the winter months in the residential Mountain Lake community located adjacent to one of the highest hills on Florida’s Lake Wales Ridge, at 298 feet above sea level. He enjoyed taking evening walks to the top of “Iron Mountain,” among the virgin pines and sandhill scrub, to enjoy Florida’s dramatic sunsets and bird life. The idea came to him to preserve this hilltop and create a bird sanctuary – a place of beauty, serenity and peace.

Integral to Bok’s idea was the availability of a famous landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmstead, Jr. Having made arrangements to buy land on the hilltop, Bok commissioned Olmsted to change this arid sandhill into “a spot of beauty second to none in the country.” The first year was spent digging trenches and laying water pipes for irrigation, after which rich black soil was brought by the thousands of loads.

Bok hoped that the tower would be a Taj Mahal for America. In February of 1929, President Coolidge arrived to officiate the grand opening of the tower which has seen millions of visitors since that time. Bok took up residence near the property and his house may be toured today for visitors to admire the structure's Tuscan style.

To plan your visit to Bok Tower Gardens, go to boktowergardens.org.