Friday, November 15, 2019, Mississippi Capitol, Jackson, MS

Time for some sightseeing. Just driving out of LeFleur's Bluff State Park in Jackson, MS, provided beautiful views of Mayes Lakes and the cypress trees.

The Capitol was almost the tallest building in Jackson so it was easily visible no matter where you were.

The eagle is solid copper covered in gold leaf. It is 8 feet high with a wingspan of 15 feet.

I find it amazing that this Capitol was built in only 28 months between 1901 and 1903

at a cost of $1,093,641, funds awarded to the State of Mississippi from a lawsuit against the Illinois Central Railroad for back taxes. (1980s reno cost $19 million.)

The globe with a basket weave motif in the middle of the picture is approximately 10 feet across.

After the dome tour in the Kansas Capitol, I was interested in the architecture above the inner dome. There was no dome tour here - reaching the top of the outer dome required crawling through some outdoor hatches and several long ladders - I'd pass even if it were allowed.

Having been built just after the invention of the new-fangled light bulb they chose to include as many as they could. They did not, however, have a good plan for replacing bulbs without erecting a lot of scaffolding so we saw a lot of missing lights. I thought the bare bulbs everywhere detracted from the overall beauty of the building.

Yes, the bare bulbs are original and at the time a new technology. 750 bulbs are used in the Rotunda alone. There are 4,750 throughout the building.

David thought the bulbs brought images of penny arcades of the 30s (now that is all I see!), but in 1901 it was cutting edge.

The elevator was restored to its original elegance and still had an operator sitting at the controls inside.

I love my new sweater, Katie, thank you!

The flourish on the Corinthian columns was a bit over the top (no pun intended) and I missed having a handrail on most of the stairs but they really wanted to make their capitol a showplace.

The architecture is Beaux Arts style (defined as scholarly, self-confident, grand and lush), popular from the 1890s to the 1920s.

The heavy brass fixtures with globes were much more what you would expect to see in a well-appointed capitol building.