Thursday, April 22, 2010

Boat In The Moat....

In the early 70's, back when realtors were selling  property without disclosure of anything negative about the property, Solomon bought his acres and had no idea what he bought was a Swamp! Driving to the castle and it's land, we pass through acres and acres of pastures with only a few trees. At the end of the road, there is a beautiful creek and many oaks and pines and palms, an oasis.
All was not as it seemed when he bought the property. The realtor neglected to tell him the swmap fills up with water during the rainy season and hurricanes. He built the museum first and put it at ground leverl. Rains came and water went up the walls 2 feet. When he built the living quarters, he went up 4 feet and when Solomon built this Boat In the Moat, he built on dry land on pilings. there is no water in the moat except during the rainy season..

If you enlarge the photo you can see the canons sticking out the side ports. All the windows in the returant are stained glass, he used only recycled materials and just as he did the castle, everything was done by hand. he is an artist and can not quit creating.

the resturant serves home cooked hot meals, or choice of sandwiches. The inside of the boat is beautiful, all wood and just like a real boat would be. We chose to eat under the trees, if you look at the front of the boat, you can see some of the people under the trees. We walked up the gangway and through the boat and out the other side. see side bar for gangway photos

The two ladies in the middle are my friends Barbara and Lola. See the tree limbs over head? the whole deck is shaded by two monstrous trees. Breezes from the creek and cool temps made for wonderful dining.

This is a close up of all the ressurection ferns growing on every limb. Ressurection fern dies in a few days if it does not rain. we were lucky because it had rained two days before. the dead ferns ressurect and live a few days, then appear to die until the next rain.

     to see my post on ressurection ferns and see what it looks like dead, click here

12 comments:

Catherine said...

Incredible achievement for one man! It's all beautiful.

Sunny said...

That is a really cool restaurant. How creative!
Sunny :)

MedaM said...

This is really beautiful post, interesting and impressive story, lovely boat and wonderful place for dining, relaxing and enjoying.
I also enjoyed your previous post and admiring an amazing castle. I am impressed that all was made by hand. What a hardworking and creative man! Thanks for sharing!

DawnTreader said...

You do find the most interesting places to take photos of!

Dawning Inspiration said...

You keep us learning - how cool!

Anonymous said...

I like that boat. Solomon is so imaginative. Great photos :o)

Together We Save said...

Wow - that is so amazing!!

Ginny Hartzler said...

The boat picture is almost an optical illusion. It is so deep that it looks like it's reflecting in water, but I think that's the whole boat. The tree limbs are amazing. I noticed that gangplank thingy on your sidebar before I was even was halfway through reading, and I thought to myself "For sure she didn't walk across that thingy, it looks like a swinging bridge!" The heat must have made you momentarily wacky.

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

This Ozark farm chick is just wowed!!! This is about the coolest thing I've ever seen. Two of my grandsons would love to come aboard a a pirate. They take their pirateness very seriously. I'm so happy I dropped by.

From the happy hills and hollers of the Missouri Ponderosa!!!

George said...

This is absolutely fascinating!! Thanks for taking us along with you, but I would really like to go there in person.

SquirrelQueen said...

Solomon is an amazing and talented man. He took a swamp and turned it into a livable paradise. I really like that those tree limbs covered with resurrection ferns. This looks like a wonderful place to spend the day.

Nezzy (Cow Patty Surprise) said...

Howdy girl, I just wanted to thank ya'll for poppin' in with your sweet comment. Please visit often, the door of the Ponderosa is always open.

Ya'll have a fantastic Friday!!!