House Dust and Wanderlust: connecting the dots {may 2, 2022}

Goodale Park is the oldest park in Columbus and among the oldest in the United States. It is located between Columbus' busy Short North Arts District and the picturesque Victorian Village. Lincoln Goodale came with the first settlers to the Northwest Territory. He was the area's first physician and later became a prominent businessman, promoting Columbus by developing railroads. He was also a hotel owner, army surgeon, elected official, and an honorary pallbearer for Abraham Lincoln 1. A bronze statue of Dr. Goodale was placed in the park in 1888 and it is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

When T and I strolled through Goodale Park, we entered through a gateway from 2. Sells Plaza. We roamed along the walkways through the park, passing sculpted gardens that will soon be in bloom, a gazebo, basketball and tennis courts, a playground, and a fountain. We walked through Victorian Village and admired all the beautifully restored and maintained homes. One home really stood out and after a little research, we discovered that 3. the house belonged to Peter Sells of the Sells Brothers Circus. Back in the day, the Sells Brothers Circus ranked up there with the Barnum and Bailey and Ringling Brothers circuses.

Back to the park from Victorian Village. We heard the water from the fountain spraying into the pond. 4. The fountain rises from the pond like a four-tiered cake and two elephants sit atop this cake pedestal, shooting water from their trunks. This whimsical design gives a nod to the circus history of the day.

Walking back to the parking lot, we pass a memorial to 5. Charles Benton Flagg, the first Supreme Secretary of the Order of the United Commercial Travelers, a fraternal benefit society. Across the street from this memorial is the 6. Pizzuti Art Collection. This building originally was the headquarters for The Order of the United Commercial Travelers. It's cool to see how dots of Columbus' past connect in this in this 32-acre oasis.

And the past connects with the present...at least my present. Back in 2013 on a trip to New York, I went to an art talk with Alexandre Arrechea, a Cuban sculptor. His sculptures of iconic NYC buildings lined the green spaces in the middle of Park Avenue. 7. One of the sculptures was of the Chrysler Building and here was a scaled down replica of that piece of art sitting in the courtyard at the Pizzuti Collection.

I drew a little map to visualize all these pieces. Disclaimer: Cartography is not my strong point.