Outdoor Fountains

Published on Sep 8, 2008 in Featured Travel Stories

Who says art can’t be fun? Or wet, for that matter? All across the United States, you can enjoy whimsical, historic, and magnificent outdoor fountains and water features beyond the confines of conventional museums. Pay your last respects to the carefree days of summer by visiting some of the most prominent and impressive works of water art along America’s Byways.

Visit Longwood Gardens along the Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway in Delaware to see more fountains than any other garden in the United States. At the five-acre Main Fountain Garden, fountain water shows play every day from April to October and re-circulate 10,000 gallons of water during each minute of their five-minute displays. The Open Air Theatre Fountain Garden’s 750 jets come alive in choreographed patterns set to music every day from May to November, with holiday shows set to festive music throughout the Christmas season. The Italian Water Garden, an idyllic paradise of pruned little-leaf lindens, clipped ivy, and green lawns encompassing clear blue-tiled pools, a water staircase, and 600 jets of water, runs continuously from April through October.

Along the shoreline of Lake Erie in northern New York and Pennsylvania runs the Great Lakes Seaway Trail. Here you’ll find the quaint borough of North East, Pennsylvania, with its own little slice of history in the form of a fountain. The Lady in the Park fountain, featuring the four-foot statue of a woman known as either "Humboldt’s Nymph" or the "Maid of the Mist," has graced North East's Gibson Park since it arrived by mail order in 1889. The statue, a replica of an ancient headless statue owned by Prussian diplomat Wilhelm von Humboldt, has survived losing her head, left arm, both feet, and being shattered into 300 pieces, each time lovingly put back together by the North East Street Department. In October 2005, however, the enduring statue was removed from its pedestal and sent to Oberlin, Ohio, for a complete restoration. Now the zinc statue is displayed indoors by the local North East Historical Society, while a much more durable cast iron copy stands in her place atop the fountain.

Journey west to the Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail in Ohio, and find a lovely little fountain in Lorain’s Lakeview Park. Built as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project and dedicated in 1936, this picturesque fountain changes its spray formations on a six-minute repetitive cycle. In the evenings, a computerized system of lights turns the water spray various surreal shades of blue, red, yellow, and orange. Further west along the Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail, the historic Boy with the Boot Fountain has been the town centerpiece of Sandusky, Ohio, since the 1930s. Given to the city by Voltaire Scott, the Boy with the Boot statue graced a park in Sandusky from 1895 until 1924, when a tornado demolished the park. In the 1930s, the statue found its new home atop a fountain in front of the county courthouse. When the Boy with the Boot was vandalized in 1991, the original statue was placed in the atrium of the city building, while a bronze replica still stands atop the fountain today.

Woodward Avenue in Detroit, Michigan, is positively overflowing with fountains. From the space-age shower of the Horace E. Dodge Fountain on Hart Plaza to the Thomas Alva Edison and Russell A. Alger Memorial fountains in Grand Circus Park, you'll find plenty of places to enjoy a cool mist in the middle of this bustling city. Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts, where water flows down the entrance steps in a continuous river, or the fountain at Campus Martius Park, which features 100 dancing jets of water in choreographed light and music displays. Although not outdoors, the fountain in the atrium of Compuware World Headquarters at Campus Martius is also worth a stop. Designed to “create a link between nature and the computer age,” this building's atrium features a 25-foot waterfall and surrounding bamboo forest. Water softly rains down from rainbow-colored translucent triangles, pattering a digitally programmed, syncopated rhythm onto a smooth granite surface 14 stories below.

Travel to Cranbrook House and Gardens, a few miles north on the byway, and stroll among 40 acres of inspiring gardens and exquisite fountains. Pause to reflect at the thought-provoking Orpheus Fountain or the nearby Triton pools. The Orpheus Fountain, designed by Swedish sculptor Carl Milles, is a replica of a fountain he designed in Stockholm. One of Cranbrook’s most famous pieces, the fountain is comprised of eight bronze figures representing the souls of the dead awakened by the divine music of the legendary Greek poet and musician, Orpheus. One of the souls is the deaf composer Beethoven, who raises his fists in frustration that he cannot hear the beautiful music.

To see another historic fountain, travel to southern Indiana along the Ohio River Scenic Byway, where the ornate Broadway Fountain is located on Broadway Street in historic Madison. This fountain, one of only four of this style remaining in the world, was presented to the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition by the Republic of France in 1876. In 1886, the fountain was bought by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and given to the city of Madison, and in 1976 the iron fountain was recast in bronze to celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial. Several city events, such as Music in the Park, are held throughout the year around this fountain.

“America’s Main Street,” Historic Route 66, begins in the fast-paced metropolis of Chicago, Ilinois. At Columbus Drive and Congress Parkway in Grant Park, you’ll find one of the largest fountains in the world, a grand masterpiece measuring 280 feet in diameter. Its Georgia pink marble basins hold up to 1.5 million gallons of re-circulated water. Commissioned by philanthropist Kate Buckingham in memory of her brother Clarence, the Buckingham Fountain represents Lake Michigan and features four seahorses, one for each of the four states that touch the lake: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. From April to October since 1927, the fountain has enthralled visitors with its 20-minute water displays, in which the center jet shoots water 150 feet in the air. At dusk, soft lights designed to resemble moonlight illuminate the fountain from under its shimmering waters, and music and lights accompany the water display.

Southwest of Chicago in Chicago Heights, the historic Arche Fountain marks the “crossroads of the nation” at the intersection of the Lincoln Highway and the west branch of the old Dixie Highway in Illinois. This small fountain features a bust of Abraham Lincoln and is located at a wayside travelers’ rest. It still offers a shady place for travelers to relax and enjoy the restored fountain, which is open year-round. While traveling further along the Lincoln Highway, stop in the city of Aurora and jump into the new interactive fountain at the recently restored McCarty Park. Here, your kids can run around the flat concrete fountain, dodging 28 unpredictable jets of water. Also in the city of Aurora, stop and marvel at the “swimming stones.” This kinetic sculpture, dubbed Isaac² by artist Christian Tobin, features four 12-foot obelisks, the top sections of which are always rocking back and forth under the competing forces of running water and gravity.

The famed Spoonbridge and Cherry sculpture in downtown Minneapolis, MN along the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway brings an element of whimsy to the Sculpture Garden in Loring Park. But this humorously giant sculpture of a spoon holding a cherry is more than a novelty item brought to life, it’s also a fountain! In the summer months, water flows over the 1,200-pound fruit sculpture and a fine mist emanates from its stem. Also in Loring Park, the large, yet seemingly delicate orb of the Berger Fountain sprays water in every direction like a giant dandelion gone to seed.

The city of Trinidad, Colorado, along the Santa Fe Trail also boasts a fun water feature for kids. On a hot day, watch them play in sprays of water in Cimino Downtown Park, located along Trinidad’s River Walk, while you absorb the serene natural environment of the Purgatoire River. Learn about the history of the Santa Fe Trail, its people, flora, and fauna, from the interpretive signs along the path as you stroll along the tranquil riverside walkway.

In the colorfully named town of Truth or Consequences along the Geronimo Trail in New Mexico is Las Palomas Plaza, a sculpture designed by Shel Neymark as a public gathering place for meditation and relaxation. Natural mineral water streamlets run from two ceramic “mountains” at the entrance, looping around and enclosing the tile plaza. Sit on a bench and dip your feet in the warm rejuvenating mineral water that occurs naturally here and has attracted Native American and European travelers for centuries. Engraved on each of the eight benches is a different cultural aspect of Truth or Consequences, such as cattle representing the ranching industry, or designs from Native American pottery.

One of the grandest and most famous of fountains in the United States lies right in the middle of the Nevada desert on a glittering oasis of neon lights -- the Las Vegas Strip. Travelers from all over the world come to see the extravagant fountain displays of the Bellagio, an elegant casino and hotel built to look like a certain village in Italy which is located on a hillside overlooking a lake. Every half hour during the day and every quarter hour at night, the Bellagio’s “lake“ comes to life in an intricately choreographed display of light and water set to opera, Broadway show tunes, or popular music. Watch the 1,000-foot row of fountains shoot up to 240 feet in the air from the street. You don’t have to pay a dime to see the show – it’s free!

From the grand displays of the Bellagio, Buckingham, and Longwood Gardens fountains to the local respites of Las Palomas Plaza and McCarty Park, travel America’s Byways to see amazing works of outdoor art across the United States, all featuring the inspiring, mesmerizing effects of running water.

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