Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Aladdin and his Magic Lamp - Weathervane Wednesday

 Today's weathervanes were photographed at Disneyland, Paris, France.


In Disneyland Paris, next to the Sleeping beauty castle, and above the entrance to Adventureland there are many weathervanes that tell the story of "Aladdin and his Magic Lamp".  We had to walk around this version of the storybook Arabic town to capture all of them as they spun in the wind.  We found six weathervanes- Aladdin on the magic carpet, a horse, a musician standing on a sword, a Phoenix, a camel over a crescent moon, and the genie emerging from the magical lamp.  Did we miss one?

All these weathervanes were two dimensional, with no cardinal points. The were all installed over various towers and domes above the twisting streets of Agrabah and it's marketplace. There was a passageway inside one building "Le Passage Enchante d'Aladdin", with whimsical dioramas behind windows that told the story from the Disney version of this tale.    











For the truly curious:

The official Disneyland Paris website in English: https://www.disneylandparis.com/en-usd/   


Click this link to see over 500 weathervanes from all over the world in my "Weathervane Wednesday" posts:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday  

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Aladdin and his Magic Lamp - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 31, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/05/aladdin-and-his-magic-lamp-weathervane.html: accessed [access date]). 

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Pirates of the Carribean - Weathervane Wednesday

 Today's weathervane was photographed at Disneyland, Paris, France.


The wind didn't cooperate for this photo, but this is a two dimensional silhouette of a pirate weathervane located above the Pirates of the Carribean ride at Disneyland Paris.  The pirate is looking through a spyglass, and wears a bandana on his head. He stands above the waves, and over a large cupola. 

This ride is much darker than the same ride in the US parks, and includes bigger, wetter water drops!  I don't remember a weathervane above the ride in Florida (did I miss one?).  There were many, many more weathervanes at the Paris park than at the US parks.  One fun extra at this ride in Paris - a waterside restaurant inside the ride!  We had dinner at this restaurant, now renamed "Captain Jack's" after the character in the film inspired by this amusement park ride.  



Our "crew" at Captain Jack's table


For the truly curious:

The official Disneyland Paris website in English:  https://www.disneylandparis.com/en-usd/  


To see and read about over 500 other weathervanes from around the world, click here:

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Pirates of the Carribean - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 24, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/05/pirates-of-carribean-weathervane.html: accessed [access date]). 

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Two toads at Toad Hall, Disneyland Paris - Weathervane Wednesday

 Today's weathervanes were photographed over the Toad Hall Restaurant in the Fantasyland section of Disneyland, Paris, France.



One of my favorite books as a child was Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908.  Disney created an animated film in 1949 about some of the stories in this book, and of course, there is a ride in California's Disneyland called "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" based on one of those stories.  At the Disneyland Park in Paris, France we found a restaurant called "Toad Hall" after Mr. Toad's residence in the story book.  This little restaurant serves fish and chips right in middle of Fantasyland.  Strangely, there is no "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" at all in Disneyland Paris.  

Above the restaurant are two fun weathervanes of Mr. Toad. In one he is riding his motor car, and the other has Mr. Toad riding a unicycle.  Mr. Toad was obsessed with motor cars in the book and movie, and got into lots of adventures (and lots of trouble) with his automobile. These weathervanes are simple two dimensional silhouettes, but they are very recognizable above the low rooflines of the restaurant. 

Toad Hall Restaurant, Disneyland, Paris

For the truly curious:

The official Disneyland Paris website in English:   https://www.disneylandparis.com/en-usd/   

Click here to see over 500 more Weathervane Wednesday posts!

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday 


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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Two toads at Toad Hall, Disneyland Paris - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 17, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/05/two-toads-at-toad-hall-disneyland-paris.html: accessed [access date]). 

Wednesday, May 10, 2023

Tinkerbelle at the Disneyland Paris Hotel - Weathervane Wednesday

Today's weathervane was photographed above the Disneyland Hotel in Disneyland, Paris, France.


 



The Rojos had a three generation family vacation to Disneyland Paris recently.  We had a wonderful time in this park, which is much smaller than the DisneyWorld resort in Florida.  I loved that the entire park is walkable, including walking from your hotel to both of the park entrances.  While walking we were able to explore and appreciate many gardens, displays, artwork, new foods, people watching, and (you guessed it already!) weathervanes! 

This whimsical little Tinkerbell is atop the Disneyland Hotel, which straddles the entrance to the Magic Kingdom park.  In the rush to get through security, show passes and tickets, many people probably don't even notice this little weathervane.  She is two dimensional, gilded, and caught our eye in the morning sun as we approached from the Disney Village.  We couldn't tell what the tiny figure on the vane was until we were right next to the park entrance. I was amazed at the detail when I was able to blow up the image at home on the computer monitor. 

The Disneyland Hotel is currently under renovations until 2024.  It is a pink victorian style building with many turrets and an interesting roofline that mirrors the Sleeping Beauty Castle at the other end of Main Street.  

This Disney park had lots of weathervanes!  Stay tuned and I'll post more in the coming weeks for more Weathervane Wednesdays.

For the truly curious:

The official Disneyland Paris website in English:    https://www.disneylandparis.com/en-usd/  

The Disneyland Hotel in Paris:  https://www.disneylandparis.com/en-usd/hotels/disneyland-hotel/?hotel=DNYH   

Click here to see over 500 more weathervane posts!

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday     

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tinkerbelle at the Disneyland Paris Hotel - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 10, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/05/tinkerbelle-at-disneyland-paris-hotel.html: accessed [access date]). 

Tuesday, May 2, 2023

Cinderella Amelia (Lyons) Newcomb (1820 - 1910)

 


Cinderella Amelia Lyons is a half sister to my 3rd great grandmother, Isabella Lyons Bill (1806 - 1872).  Her name intrigued me, so I decided to investigate her life.  Down the rabbit hole!

I had seen the name Cinderella before on a real person.  See this blog post HERE.  This is the only time I have found a Cinderella in my own family tree. The two examples of the name Cinderella I had seen were from the early 1800s.  So I checked the 1850 Federal Census to see how many women and girls had this fairy tale name!  According to Ancestry.com there were there are over 330,000 examples of this name in the 1850 census.  Wow!  And that wouldn't even include Cinderella Lyons, who was born and married in New Brunswick, Canada. 

My 4th great grandfather, Thomas Ratchford Lyons, the son of David Lyons and Elizabeth Ratchford, was born on 3 March 1780 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia.  He married Ann Skinner, the daughter of Charles Skinner and Sarah Osborn, on 30 September 1802 in Cornwallis.  Ann was born 9 May 1786 in Cornwallis, and died 19 October 1815 in Cornwallis.  Later, Thomas remarried to Anne Griffin, the daughter of James Chipman Griffin and Sarah Harris, on 21 May 1818 in Sackville, Nova Scotia.  

Thomas had five children with each wife, Ann and Anne, six daughters and four sons.  Of course, the name Cinderella jumped out at me as being very interesting!  I was able to trace her life under her married name.

Cinderella Amelia Lyons was born on 19 November 1820 in Sackville, and married William Freeman Newcomb on 11 December 1845.  William was born on 18 March 1813 in Cornwallis, but the marriage document listed his residence as Roxbury (now part of Boston, Massachusetts), so he must have immigrated to the United States before the wedding.  Cinderella and William also had five children, and their birth records list their birthplaces as Roxbury, Massachusetts; Cornwallis, Nova Scotia; Lewiston, New York; New York; and Massachusetts. 

William died 9 June 1857 on Rainsford Island, Boston Harbor, and was listed as being buried there, too.  This bit of information sent me down another rabbit hole, since I was not familiar with Rainsford Island.  The vital records listed him as dying of apoplexy [probably a stroke], a carpenter, born in Nova Scotia, with no parents listed.  After some research I learned that there was a small pox and quarantine hospital on Rainsford Island, which was also known as Hospital Island, Pest House Island, and Quarantine Island.  He was only 44 years old, so perhaps William had been struck down by a contagious disease? There was no further information on the death record. There are no gravestones on Rainsford Island today, nor any standing buildings.  It is a protected part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park, being off limits from April to September due to bird nesting, and no transportation to the island. According to Find A Grave, it is estimated that there are thousands of burials on this island, with only about 1, 599 names identified between 1854 to 1896.  About 350 bodies were removed in 1947 and reburied on Long Island.  

Cinderella lived a long life after her husband died.  She didn't pass away until 15 January 1910 in Boston. I found one obituary for her in far away New Mexico, in the Santa Fe New Mexican, 21 January 1910 ""Death of Mrs. C. A. Newcomb - Mrs. Cinderella Amelia Newcomb, mother of Judge William H. Newcomb, and Mrs. H. H. Betts of Silver City, died last week at Boston, Massachusetts, in her ninetieth year."  Despite being a widow with five children, and her husband being only a carpenter, her children did well in life.  Two lived in Massachusetts, one married the judge and removed to Silver City, New Mexico, and two unmarried daughters removed to Los Angeles and were buried at the prestigious Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. 

Cinderella is buried at the Mount Hope Cemetery in Boston.  I hope to find and photograph her tombstone when the weather improves. 

For the truly curious:

Tombstone Tuesday - Alice and Cinderella, 2012:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/tombstone-tuesday-alice-and-cinderella.html  

Surname Saturday - Lyons, 2013:

     https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/08/surname-saturday-lyons-loyalists-from.html  

A book about Rainsford Island, free and readable on Internet Archive "Rainsford Island: A Boston Harbor Case Study in Public Neglect and Private Activism" by William A. McEvoy and Robin Hazard Ray, 2019:    https://archive.org/details/rainsfordislandb00mcev_0 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Cinderella Amelia (Lyons) Newcomb (1820 - 1910)", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 2, 2023, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/05/cinderella-amelia-lyons-newcomb-1820.html: accessed [access date]).