To Live in Hearts We Leave Behind is Not to Die: The Enchantments of Forest Park
By Calvin Saxton - 9/8/06
photos by Calvin Saxton
Exit
1 off I-91 will take you to Forest Park, Longmeadow/Springfield, Massachusetts.
This magnificent park offers fun for the whole family at $5 a carload.
Park facilities include a petting zoo, swimming pool, baseball grandstand and
diamond, a hockey and ice-skating rink, rose garden, bocce courts, opportunities
for miles of nature walks along with many other delights.1
A portion of the 735 acre park was
originally the estate of Everett Hosmer Barney (1835-1916), the 19th
century ice-skate magnate, who invented the all-metal, screw clamp (with a skate
key), ice skate in 1866. His 178 acre estate included an ice skating pond,
carriage house, and mansion. The mansion was a casualty of the I-91
construction in the late 1950s.2 The carriage house
stands and is available for weddings and other special
events or receptions (see:
http://www.barneycarriagehouse.com/ This website
includes a scrapbook page with photos of the original
mansion, carriage house and mausoleum). The mausoleum was restored in
2003.
Near the carriage house stands the Barney
mausoleum, with a flagpole and a statue of the three graces nearby. Like the
flagpole, the statue’s top is briefly visible from I-91. Mr. Barney
apparently had more than a passing interest in things Egyptian. He
imported lotus plants from Egypt for his seven aquatic lotus gardens along with
the two Egyptian sphinxes decorating/guarding his mausoleum. The mausoleum
contains the coffins for Mr. and Mrs. Barney and their 21 year old
son who died of malaria.
The
sphinx-like creatures appear to be on an east/west orientation. Egyptians
believed the sun-god Ra traveled the underworld from west to east during the
night and needed protection from the underworld enemies until Ra reemerged in
the morning’s eastern sky. Presumably these creatures are protecting the
souls in the mausoleum from underworld threats. Another presumably
Egyptian feature of the mausoleum is that it would appear
that the mausoleum
was
finished after the coffins were inside (There is no apparent or observable way
the coffins could be placed inside the completed mausoleum). Readers are
probably familiar with the Egyptian tradition of encasing/entombing the dead
within a memorial structure.
The park superintendent in the early 20th century was the father of author Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss). Fans of Dr. Seuss will appreciate various influences of the park on his work, e.g. the mansion was full of winding staircases, an image that he liked to draw. Morganetta the elephant at the petting zoo was the inspiration for his character "Horton" (Horton hears a who, Horton hatches the egg, etc.).
Though the original Barney mansion was sacrificed to expedite motoring between Springfield and Hartford, the mansion (originally called Pecousic Villa) is magically recreated every year at the Bright Nights tour at Forest Park. Thirteen thousands lights are used to replicate the exterior of the original mansion. One more good reason to visit one of America’s largest municipal parks (http://www.brightnights.org/tour/barneyman/index.html).
2 http://www.bostonroads.com/roads/I-91_MA/