It's been way too long since I've had a Wandering Wednesday! The school year kinda gets in the way!  But Spring Break gave the me perfect opportunity to do some wandering!  Yesterday I picked up my sister Jen and friend Kenzy and we hit the road.

First stop was about 2 and half hours from home, but the sun was shining and the drive was fun!  Nothing like good company, good music and a road trip!  We took the interstate as far as Gadsden and then we were on smaller roads, going through small towns and vast areas of nothingness, which is common on the country roads of Alabama.  Although, in all honesty, it wasn't nothingness, it was beautiful fields and woods and nature at it's best, sprinkled with the occasional small town that evoked different feelings from the three of us in the car.  I was thinking, "I cold totally live in a place like this", while Jen and Kenzy were pointing out that there wold be nothing to do for entertainment in such a place.

We were headed to Summerville, Georgia, to Paradise Gardens. Now, if you are not familiar with Howard Finster, you may have never heard of Paradise Gardens. Until the early 90's when I moved to Southside, I had never heard of  Reverend Finster.  I had a neighbor and friend who reportedly visited Finster on occasion. That wouldn't surprise me, as they were both folk artists with a side of eccentricity.  Chuck Blythe was the person who taught me about the Reverend Howard Finster, preacher, artist and very interesting man.  Another friend later gave me a Finster print and someone gave me a book with Finster's work in it, although I cannot find the book right now.  I have the print and I really need to frame it and hang it up.

On a whim, a few years ago, I convinced my mom to ride over to Summerville, when we were on a day trip to Little River Canyon.  We walked around Paradise Gardens and took pictures, which I somehow managed to lose. I'm not sure my mom was impressed with the gardens or Finster's work, but I was fascinated and have wanted to go back since them.

So, yesterday, we arrived in Summerville, got to what was once the front gate to Paradise Gardens and found the door to what was the visitor's center locked. I was a little frustrated as the website had said they were open Tuesday-Sunday. Last time I checked, Wednesday fell between those days.  There was a banner hanging with a phone number, so Jen called it.  It went to voice mail, so she hung up.  Someone immediately called back and I answered.  The man I spoke with told me that if we went around to the back we would find the new visitor's center.  He also told me how he and a group of people had been trying to keep the place going for 10 years, then applied for a grant with the county, got the grant, but when the grant ran out, the "politicians locked them out of the property and took over".  According to him the politicians told him it was all about the money. He also said they tell everyone he is crazy and irrational. I listened to him and expressed the appropriate amount of dismay  and  dislike of crooked politicians, said goodbye and then we went around to the other side of the property and found the new visitor's Center.  Now, the kind gentleman on the phone had told me that the politicians had torn down the building that Finster had dome a good bit of his work in, in order to build the visitor's center.  To me, it look like they added to the building that was there--perhaps tearing down part of it.  But regardless, we were there, they were open and we were going to go through the gardens built by a "man of visions".

Now, there is no way for me to tell you who Howard Finster was.  I could give you the Wikipedia version or you can Google him.  In a nutshell, he was a preacher, he was an artist, and he was a self-proclaimed man of visions. His art work often has bible verses within it. He said he was inspired by God to spread the gospel through his art and his gardens. You can also find his art on some REM and Talking Heads album covers.

The purpose of this Blog though, is not to teach you about Howard Finster, but share interesting things from my wanderings with you.  Perhaps the best way to do that is to share some pictures from Paradise Gardens.

 These pics are some close ups of some of the cement works in the garden.

This is a work hanging on the fence.

This is a collage of some close up pictures of the work above.

 The Casket on display--see the next pic for an explanation.

And now from some of Howard's art.

Now for just a few more collages of pics from Paradise Gardens.

I took many, many more pictures, but no way to include them all in this blog.  I think every time you visit Paradise Gardens, you see something you didn't see the last time!

After walking through Paradise Gardens, I went into the visitor's center and watch a clip of Howard on the Johnny Carson Show.  http://youtu.be/OQUaqyCIeDo

After leaving Paradise Gardens we headed to Mentone.  We drove past the charred remains of the Mentone Springs Hotel, but I didn't have the heart to take a picture of it.

Next stop was one of my favorite places in Alabama--Little River Falls and Little River Canyon.  This is such a beautiful part of our state.

I wish I'd had enough time to go to Desoto State Park also, but unfortunately it was getting late and was time to head home.

I suppose this will be the last Wandering Wednesday until June! In the meantime, if you have a chance, take the trip to Summerville, GA and visit Paradise Gardens and then swing over to Little River Canyon!