The New Baltimore Welcome Center for Weathervane Wednesday

This weathervane was photographed at a rest area on the New York Thru Way

In September we traveled down south to see the Shenendoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway.  On the way home we traveled through New York state on the Thruway and the Berkshire Connector.  The NYSTA (New York State Thruway Authority) calls the rest areas here "travel plazas".   There are 27 travel plazas.  A redesign project was started in 2021, and it is expected to be completed in 2025.  This weathervane was spotted at the service plaza in New Baltimore, and it is called "The Capital Region Welcome Center.  There is an identical weathervane on the roof of the Whitney Point service center and at the Long Island Welcome center.  

This weathervane features a silhouette of New York state.  You can see the weathervane on the apex of the roof as you enter the building.  The silhouette includes the outline of the entire state including Long Island.  If this weathervane exists at other service plazas or Welcome Centers, please let me know!  

For the truly curious:

Click here to see over 525 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, "The New Baltimore Welcome Center for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 20, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-new-baltimore-welcome-center-for.html: accessed [access date]). 

A Fancy Cow Barn for Weathervane Wednesday

 

Today's featured weathervane was photographed at Winterthur, in Delaware.  This museum, garden, and library is home to a large collection of early American decorative arts.  It was also the estate of Henry Francis du Pont (1880 - 1969), a gilded age millionaire.  The original estate was used for farming, and this cow barn is part of that legacy.  This dairy barn was built between 1915 and 1917, and there were many other barns on the property.  H. F. du Pont raised a herd of 450 award winning Holstein cows here until his death in 1969, when per his instructions, the herd was sold at auction. 

There are three identical weathervanes above this huge dairy barn. They are all scrollwork arrows, and the one on the far right appears to be a bit bent.  You can see these weathervanes from the tram tour of the estate grounds, but to really appreciate them you will have to hike up the big hill to the barn. 

For the truly curious:

The Winterthur website:  https://www.winterthur.org/   

The Winterthur Dairy Barn video on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUHhPa4NUZo  

Click here to see over 525 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, "A Fancy Cow Barn for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 13, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/11/a-fancy-cow-barn-for-weathervane.html: accessed [access date]).  

Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's house, for Weathervane Wednesday

 

Most people are not aware that Thomas Jefferson's house in Charlottesville, Virginia has a weathervane.  It is mounted to the portico over the back door of the mansion.  This is not the view made famous by the US nickel coin, which has a dome on the west side of the house.  This east entrance is now the first thing visitors to Monticello see.  

Jefferson was an inventor and he loved scientific instruments. The weathervane was installed in 1807.  Below this weathervane he installed a compass rose on the ceiling of the portico.  You have to look up quick when you are being ushered into the mansion on a tour!  This compass rose was recently restored and regilded by conservators.  

Thomas Jefferson loved to record weather twice a day when he was at Monticello.  He recorded the weather, temperatures, and wind direction. This weathervane is a very simple iron and metal banner, with no cardinal points because of the compass rose below the roof on the porch ceiling. Jefferson didn't even have to go outside to tell which way the wind was blowing!  The east entrance was a hall of "curiosities" holding many scientific instruments, maps, artifacts, and taxidermy from the Lewis and Clark expedition and other parts of North America.  

This device used iron balls to
tell the days of the week

For the truly curious:

The Monticello website:  https://www.monticello.org/   

A short video on the restoration of the compass rose that works in conjunction with the weathervane:

https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/weathervane/  

Click here to see over 550 other weathervanes featured on this blog:

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

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's house, for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 6, 2024, (https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/11/monticello-thomas-jeffersons-house-for.html: accessed [access date]).