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Charly Mann in the Greatest Show On Earth
Old or young we all enjoy the circus. One hundred years ago circus wagons drawn by teams of horses were a yearly sight on Franklin Street, signaling that the circus was coming to Chapel Hill. Fifty years later, William Meade Prince and Carl Boettcher created the Circus Parade carvings that were originally placed in the Circus Room snack bar on the UNC campus to commemorate this event. These exquisite carvings now adorn a hallway in the alumni center on the north side of Kenan Stadium.
Closeup of Charly Mann in Circus Parade Animals Under the Big Top. See the full version of this work of art.
One of my earliest memories was being in the Circus Room and imagining how it would be to be the first person to spot the circus wagons heading into Chapel Hill. I would see myself running up and down Franklin Street crying out, "The circus is coming to town again!" Then I would shout "Tigers, Clowns, and Elephants" as the parade drew closer.
Detail of the white tiger from painting inspired by William Meade Prince's Circus Parade.
What excited me the most after looking at the carvings was the idea of the circus being set up the next day and going by to see all the animals. "Wouldn't it be fun to ride on an elephant?" I thought.
The original wood carving of this elephant is in the UNC Alumni Center on Stadium Drive.
This year I took my daughter to see the Circus Parade carvings and she created this painting as she imagined William Meade Prince would have painted the animals with me today as the ringmaster.
To see the full version of this painting, which is 42" by 24", see the following article: Chapel Hill's Newest Work Of Art
Closeups of giraffe and seal from Circus Parade Animals Under the Big Top, by Kathryn Mann.
To see some of the original carvings from this painting and more information on the Circus Parade history, see The Circus Room and The Circus Parade
Comments:
A friend from 6th Grade
3:02 PM Fri 11/27/2009
Charly, I notice a Dr Pepper in your hand. Was that your favorite drink in your Circus Room Days or now?
Dan Campbell
9:47 AM Fri 11/27/2009
I really like this painting. It greatly enhances the wood carvings I remember by Boettcher than once hung at the Carolina Inn, and which you say now are at the Alumni Center.
Chris Bream
2:08 PM Thu 11/26/2009
Happy Thanksgiving Chapel Hill Memories. Your website takes me back to my favorite spot on earth.Thanks
Karen Clark
10:34 PM Wed 11/25/2009
Are you going to donate this to UNC? I think it is fabulous.
Andy Haight
8:06 PM Wed 11/25/2009
This is a lovely painting. I remember seeing these carvings at the Alumni Center a few years ago, and I am glad to discover their history.
Check out our other website:
Investment strategies and advice about Apple Inc. and related technology companies by Charly Mann. www.appleinvesting.com
Investment strategies and advice about Apple Inc. and related technology companies by Charly Mann. www.appleinvesting.com
Chapel Hill is located on a hill whose only distinguishing feature in the 18th century was a small chapel on top called New Hope Chapel. This church was built in 1752 and is currently the location of The Carolina Inn. The town was founded in 1819, and chartered in 1851.
What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. or the crisp October nights. No, our love for this place is based upon the fact that it is as it was meant to be, The University of the People.
-- Charles Kuralt
Dark Side of the Hill -- Pink Floyd, the creators of the most popular album in history, Dark Side of the Moon, took the second half of their name from Floyd Council, a Chapel Hill native, and great blues singer and guitarist. He once belonged to a group called "The Chapel Hillbillies".
Check out Charly Mann's other website:
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
Oklahoma Birds and Butterflies
http://oklahomabirdsandbutterflies.com
There would probably be no Chapel Hill if the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees in 1793 had not chosen land across from New Hope Chapel for the location of the university. By 1800 there were about 100 people living in thirty houses surrounding the campus.
The University North Carolina's first student was Hinton James, who enrolled in February, 1795. There is now a dormitory on the campus named in his honor.
The University of North Carolina was closed from 1870 to 1875 because of lack of state funding.
William Ackland left his art collection and $1.25 million to Duke University in 1940 on the condition that he would be buried in the art museum that the University was to build with his bequest. Duke rejected this condition even though members of the Duke Family are buried in Duke Chapel. What followed was a long and acrimonious legal battle between Ackland relatives who now wanted the inheritance, Rollins College, and the University of North Carolina, each attempting to receive the funds. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court, and in 1949 UNC was awarded the money for the museum. Ackland is buried near the museum's entrance. When the museum first opened, in the early sixties, there were rumors that his remains were leaking out of the mausoleum.
The official name of the Arboretum on the University of North Carolina campus is the Coker Arboretum. It is named after Dr. William Cocker, the University's first botany professor. It occupies a little more than five acres. It was founded in 1903.
Chapel Hill's main street has always been called Franklin Street. It was named after Benjamin Franklin in the early 1790s.
Chapel Hill High School and Chapel Hill Junior High were on Franklin Street in the same location as University Square until the mid 1960s.
The Colonial Drug Store at 450 West Franklin Street was owned and operated by John Carswell. It was famous for a fresh-squeezed carbonated orange beverage called a "Big O". In the early 1970s, I managed the Record and Tape Center next door, and must have had over 100 of those drinks. The Colonial Drug Store closed in 1996.
Sutton's Drugstore, which opened in 1923, has one of the last soda fountains in the South. It is one of the few businesses remaining on Franklin Street that was in operation when I was growing up in the 1950s.
Future President Gerald Ford lived in Chapel Hill twice. First when he was 24, in 1938, he took a law couse in summer school at UNC. He lived in the Carr Building, which was a law school dormitory. At the same time, Richard Nixon, the man he served under as Vice President, was attending law school at Duke. In 1942, Ford returned to Chapel Hill to attend the U.S. Navy's Pre-Flight School training program. He lived in a rental house on Hidden Hills Drive.
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It is great to see what you look like Charly. I have been enjoying your website for many months. Is your daughter going to take over the site when you retire?