Spike William is our new kitten and he was born January 30th, 2013.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Photohunt Theme: Rock(s)

"ROCK(S)" is the theme this week.
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In September of 2008 my husband and I went to meet my parents at Lake Taho
e. We took a tour of the lake which took us to Emerald Bay, on the west shore of the lake. The only island in Lake Tahoe is located in Emerald Bay and is called Fannette Island. It is an upthrust of granite (aka ROCK) that rises up 150 feet above the water. It has not always been called Fannette Island. Among it's other names from the past are Coquette, Baranoff, Dead Man's Island, Hermit's and Emerald Isle.
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Geologists say that Emerald Bay was gouged out by glaciers thousands of years ago. The Island supposedly is a resistant rib of granite ROCK that was overridden by the glacial ice.
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Vikingsholm was the summer home built on the shore of Emerald Bay, west of Fannette Island. Mrs. Lora Josephine Knight bought the property and the island in 1928 for $250,000. Before construction started Mrs. Knight and her architect went over to Scandinavia for ideas. Construction had to stop at the first snowfall in the winter of 1928 and started up again in the spring of 1929. Two hundred workers were brought in to hand hew the timbers, carve intricate designs, hand plane wood for the interior walls and forge hinges and latches. The granite (aka ROCK) for the foundation and walls was quarried from behind the house.
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The ROCK structure on top of the Island that looks like a miniature castle is the "Tea House" which was built sometime between 1928 and 1929 while the main home, Vikingsholm, was being constructed. The owner, Mrs. Knight, would take guests over to the Island by motorboat. There was a small fireplace in the corner and a large oak table and four oak chairs sat in the center of the 16 by 16 foot room. Over the years the Tea House had been vandalized and now only the stone shell remains. The island is closed from February 1st to June 15th. If we go back to Emerald Bay I would love to go up to see the Tea House and take a tour of Vikingsholm!I got my information from California State Parks website:
Fannette Island
Vikingsholm

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As always, you can find more of Tnchick's Photohunters here!
And here
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9 comments:

Gemini and Ichiro said...

We like the castle type place on the rock! It's made of rock too!

Dragonstar said...

This is a lovely, fascinating post. Just the sort of thing I love to learn when I visit blogs. Thanks for dropping by.

jams o donnell said...

What a beautiful place. Great take on this week's theme

Kim said...

All of these pictures of rocks are just amazing. And I want to thank you for the history lesson that goes along with them. I'm now adding this place to my ever growing list of places to visit some day in my lifetime.

I have mine up...not as interesting as yours but it's up.

Also if I may be so bold to ask...I've entered a photo contest and while you are over visiting would you please vote for me? It would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great rest of your weekend.

jenny said...

That was cool! I'd like to visit there, too.

Claudia said...

Excellent photos for the theme.
Good job!

healingmagichands said...

I thoroughly enjoyed this tour, and I want to take a picnic basket with tea and scones and sit inside the stone shell and watch the sun go down. What a beautiful place.

srp said...

What a lovely home... and that tea house.. what a great place for a playhouse.. I can think of some imaginations that could run wild there. My hunt is up HERE.

JO said...

wow! i love the last 2 pics.

Mine's up