The Lightner Museum in St. Augustine, Florida

Dear Friend,
How are you today? Good, I hope.
Yesterday while driving from Amelia Island to Clearwater we pulled off of I-95 into St. Augustine, Florida. The picture to the right is the Lightner Museum taken from inside the courtyard there. For those who enjoy the decorative arts created from the 1860s – 1920s or so, a visit to the Lightner Museum in St Augustine Florida is a treat. While the collections are limited in size, the variety of the collections is plentiful. The collections range from furniture including a lovely Biedemeyer (Did I spell that correctly? )desk to folk art including cigar band decorated glassware. They have ceramic tobacco jars, and silver match safes, diamond cut crystal, Louis Comfort Tiffany glass, and a delightful music box collection that plays about 3 times a day. If you want to hear them, I would call to see what times they will be playing. One of them plays both a violin and what sounds like a piano. A couple of others have those old metal disks – but these are a huge 27 inches across. The museum is owned by the city. Mr. Lightner donated the building and his things but died before he could make financial provisions for them, so the city supports this. The volunteers who are available in the rooms to answer questions are lovely but for maintenance of the building and collections I would love to see this museum receive a little more financial support than it has now. I don’t know that I would travel across the country just to see this collection, but if you are nearby, it is a lovely side trip. Here’s a picture of some of their crystal and one of a few framed examples of ladies’ handiwork.
I am enjoying our travels today. I think of enjoyment as a form of gratitude. I remember when a picture I had made as a child hung in the art museum in Houston, Texas. That is wonderful memory !

Take care,

MaggieGladYouCame

http://www.lightnermuseum.org/main_special.html