Pearl Fryer Topiary Garden

A place that is alternately beautiful, whimsical, educational, and inspiring...

On our 2015 Square Bottom Adventure tour, this was one of our first stops. We didn't get a chance to meet Mr. Fryar in person, but perhaps next time.  

Since the early 1980s, Pearl Fryar has created fantastic topiary at his garden in Bishopville, South Carolina - The Pearl Fryer Topiary Garden. Living sculptures, Pearl’s topiary are astounding feats of artistry and horticulture. Many of the plants in Pearl’s garden were rescued from the compost pile at local nurseries. 

With Pearl’s patience and skilled hands, these “throw aways” have thrived and have been transformed into wonderful abstract shapes. Pearl Fryar and his garden are now internationally recognized and have been the subject of numerous newspaper and magazine articles, television shows, and even a documentary, A Man Named Pearl. Today, the Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden draws visitors from around the globe.

A delightful and fanciful place.  Should you make it to Bishopville, SC don't forget that the South Carolina Cotton Museum is right down the street.

The Return of Vollis Simpson

A treat awaits whirlygig fans in Wilson, NC... 

When we passed through Lucama, NC a few years ago, we had the pleasure of seeing the fantastic and garganuan whirlygigs of Vollis Simpson 'in the wild'.  After his death in 2013, nearby Wilson, NC announced their plans to relocate, restore, and display his works in their town.

Prepare yourself... the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park now has a foothold, with an enlarging footprint, in Wilson!

Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park, Wilson, NC (December 2014)

The Whirligig Park will be constructed in three phases, beginning with Phase 1 in the Fall of 2013. Phase 1 will include storm water structures, infrastructure work, water and electrical, footings for all thirty-one Whirligigs, and rough grading. Eight to ten of Vollis Simpson’s whirligigs will be installed, including the 55' long and 40 some feet high V. Simpson whirligig…to give the community a preview of what is to come in the later phases. 

Phase 2 is hoping to start Fall of 2014 and will consist of installation of the plaza, amphitheater, shade structure, and  more Whirligigs.  Phase 3 will follow and consist of installation of the interactive water feature, lighting and controls, signage, trees, shrubs, benches, bike racks, and the final Whirligigs. 

Twenty-one of the planned thirty-one whirligigs have been moved from the Simpson Farm into the warehouse space at Repair and Conservation Headquarters in Historic Downtown Wilson to be conserved.  At the corner of Douglas and Barnes Street, a team of specially-trained community members, including former mechanics and engineers, are working on both mechanical repairs and surface conservation of the pieces.  When a new whirligig comes in, the preservation team evaluates it’s condition, frequently consults with outside conservators, to decide the best course of action.  This often involves completely removing reflectors,sometimes as many as 2000 per piece, replacing bearings, re-engineering Vollis’ mainly ad-hoc welding and mechanics, repainting surfaces, and re-attaching reflectors.  Through this process, fresh coats of epoxy and paint are being applied daily and many of the formerly immobile and rusted whirligigs have now been brought back to seamless spinning shape.

You can also stop by  the Conservation Headquarters, Monday through Thursday 9-5 at 305 Barnes Street in Historic Downtown Wilson - although we were there on a Sunday morning.

So whether you spell whirleygig with a 'Y' or an 'I', this park is bound to grow into the epicenter of whirleygigdom!  It's located in the Historic Downtown of Wilson, near the intersection of Goldsboro St (S) and South St (S) - shown below - just down the street from Worrell's Seafood restaurant.

Vollis Simpson's Whirlygigs

Although we did not meet Vollis, we were lucky enough to visit the site of his workshop in Lucama (NC) in March of 2013...  

Unfortunately, a few months later he passed away at age 94. 

Vollis Simpson in 2010 (photo: Jeremy Lange, NY Times)

He did live long enough to learn that the nearby town of Wilson was planning to safely store his creations, for placement in the town park.  Now that will be something, but seeing them in their natural (albeit forlorn) state - many still spinning away - was a sight to behold.

Edisto Beach Fossils

Along the way, we heard that Edisto Beach (SC) was a well known area for finding fossils... 

Archaeologists have known about the paleontological fossil site at the north end of Edisto Island at Jeremy Inlet since at least the 1960s. The Charleston Museum has fossils from this place dating back to at least the 1820s and possibly earlier.  The inlet is just over a mile walk along the beach, North from the Edisto Beach State Park.

Looking South at low tide from Jeremy Inslet

Approximately 47,000 years ago, the Laurentide glacier began expanding over what’s now Canada.  Much of the water that existed in the atmosphere became trapped in this growing sheet of ice.  As a result of decreasing precipitation, the Atlantic Ocean receded many miles to the east of what today is the coast of South Carolina and other ocean-bordering states.  Somewhere to the east of what would become Edisto Beach 40,000 years later, grass, shrubs, and finally trees colonized the new top soil that had formed from sea bird guano, plant detritus, pulverized shells, sand, and river deposited mud.  This soil built up on top of a fossiliferous geological formation dating to the early Miocene when the area was deep under the ocean.  

The later Pliocene and early Pleistocene strata washed away, creating what geologists refer to as an unconformity where the late Pleistocene strata overlay the Miocene – strata from the ages in between are missing here.  Conditions were favorable for fossilization here, and many Pleistocene age vertebrate fossils became preserved over thousands of years.

Now, the glacier has melted and the Atlantic Ocean has once again advanced.  Strong currents blast through both the Pleistocene strata, and the Miocene formation, eroding slabs of fossils into the sea where the waves carry them to the shore.  Edisto Island is a productive fossil site, albeit the fossils are from three different ages and are totally mixed, so that Miocene and Holocene marine fossils are found right next to Pleistocene land vertebrate specimens.  Shark’s teeth, including those of the giant great white shark, Carcharodon megalodon, as well as an impressive the list of Pleistocene mammals.

Outflow from Jeremy Inlet at Edisto Beach

The fossil deposit has yielded a rich assortment of Pliocene and Pleistocene fossils. These include both land and marine creatures both big and small. The land animals include mammoth, mastadon, giant sloth, bison, horse, camel, capybara, deer, elk, large cats, various turtles, and numerous small mammals. The marine animals include whales, dolphins, manatees, many species of sharks and rays, drum fish, and numerous other species.

Jeremy Inlet at low tide

Edisto Beach Fossils - Winter 2013

Once we knew what to look for, every day became an adventure - coordinating beach walks with low tide whenever possible... 

Below are some of the results spanning a few week period in January/February 2013.

Ruler displays inches, and click on an image below to enlarge.

All found on the beach surface or in low water at Jeremy Inlet

2013-011: Bone, species unknown (possibly Camel or Mastodon)

The above bone discovered in 6" of water at the Inlet

2013-003: Possible Petrified Wood or Tusk Ivory

2013-018: Bone, Mammalian vertebra, species unknown

2013-013: Bone, vertebra, marine (unknown species)

2017-101: Turtle Shell, width ~3"

2013-014: Bone, Mammalian astragalus (ankle), species unknown

2013-010: Tooth, (presumed) Equus, incisor

2013-016: Tooth, presumed Horse or Bison (unfossilized)

2013-015: Tooth in jawbone, shark (species unknown)

2013-019: Bone, whale

2013-006: Shell, (presumed) turtle

2013-005: Shell, turtle

2013-008: Shell, turtle

2013-012: Bone, Mammalian, species unknown

2013-007: Shell, turtle

2013-009: Shell, turtle

2013-001: Coal, although not from Edisto Island, found on Hatteras Island, beach Outer Banks, NC.  Presumably from unknown steam age wreck offshore.

2013-002: Coal, although not from Edisto Island, found on Hatteras Island, beach Outer Banks, NC.  Presumably from unknown steam age wreck offshore.

2013-017: Bone, Mammalian, species unknown