Audio
Ellsworth Rock Gardens
Transcript
Welcome to the Ellsworth Rock gardens podcast. Ellsworth is one of 15 Visitor Destinations within Voyageurs National Park.
Imagine standing below a granite outcrop that rises sixty feet high. Scattered throughout the outcrop are trees, shrubs, weeds, and a variety of rock. There is not much to look at unless you are a person who sees beauty in the unexpected. Today, we can only imagine what Jack Ellsworth must have been thinking when he came to Kabetogama Lake in 1944. Perhaps a vision that included gardens everywhere and sculptures interspersed throughout. We cannot be too far off in our thoughts as this is what stands before you as you gaze up the granite outcrop. Over the next 20 years, Jack painted an amazing picture of beauty using the landscape as his canvas. He carefully crafted 60 uniquely terraced flowerbeds along with over 200 sculptures. Between the 1940s to the 1960s, on any given day, visitors to Kabetogama Lake would see the gardens off in the distance. The beautiful rock formations and vast amounts of bright orange tiger lilies drew visitors into its spectacle. Jack would often sit back in his chair and let visitors, to the lake, walk throughout the gardens. Elsie stayed out of view, mostly in the cabin they called home. Today there is little known about Jack and his wife Elsie. They lived most of their life in Chicago, Illinois where Jack worked as a carpenter and architect; they had no children, and few relatives. Jack tried his hand at fishing the lakes but found that he didn’t care for it, so gardening became his passion. He spent more than 14,000 recorded hours constructing and beautifying the gardens.
We will be taking a virtual tour of the landscape so be careful not to slip on the wet rocks, remember not to lean on the sculptures for support, as they may break, or twist an ankle as the hike is steep.
Our tour starts at the sign post which is a reconstruction of Jack’s original post. Visitors who came during the construction of the gardens would have docked near the sign post and viewed Jack sitting in a chair at the base of the outcrop. One can traverse this landscape by following the painted arrows, still visible today, through the gardens. As you view the gardens from the sign post, one can see why this area is known as the postcard view. If you were too look up to the very top of the gardens there lies one of two teepees Jack constructed.
The terraces laid out before you are called dry stacked, which is a technique that does not use mortar. Have you ever put together a jigsaw puzzle – the kind where the sky is all one color and you can only match up the pieces by their size and shape? Dry stacked technique is similar to the jigsaw puzzle. The only way the rocks were held together is by placing them precisely so that they formed interconnected walls. Once completed with the dry stacking, Jack crushed gneiss containing quartz into small pieces and laid it on top to resemble frosting on a cake.
For the majority of the sculptures you see Jack used only “the principle of the wheel, the inclined plane, and the lever to move all the rock.” Imagine lifting these rocks, some which may have weighted thousands of pounds, partially up the cliff, by hand, and alone. It would not have been an easy process.
Now you have climbed up the rocky outcrop and are standing at the top looking back toward the lake almost all of the trees you see would have been cut down to enhance the beauty of Kabetogama Lake.
One of the amazing things about the gardens is the mystical village that stands at the top of the gardens. Jack blended his vision of the rock garden with the natural beauty of the area.
It is time to walk down to the bottom of the gardens but along the way you can find more mystical creatures in Jack’s sculptures.
Not only were some of Jack’s creations whimsical but some were practical such as this stone bridge. If you follow its path, it will lead you to one of his prized discoveries. One day as Jack was clearing more land for his gardens he happened upon a strange rock sitting on top of granite bedrock and he was certain it was a meteorite. This rock grew to be famous over the years as the Ellsworth meteorite and was one of the most frequently photographed areas of the gardens. The United States Geological Survey organization eventually tested the rock and it turned out to be a glacial erratic, a rock left by glaciers when they began to melt.
Once you have reached the bottom and other side of the garden you can find remnants of where the Ellsworth home once stood. In 1978, the National Park Service purchased this property and began restoration of the gardens in 2001. However, the house had fallen into such disrepair that it had to be torn down. In its place is a picnic shelter that follows the outline of the old foundation. It has been described as “a piece of city in the wilderness” with its beautiful cabinets and the original fireplace which still stands.
During the time Jack and Elsie were at the gardens, more than 5,000 visitors came to the garden during the summers to view the spectacular and beautiful gardens. Jack Ellsworth managed to blend the beauty of the landscape with the beauty of civilization to create a garden that was truly uniquely his own. Today the gardens are eligible to be on the National Register of Historic Places. Come be inspired by the beauty of the unexpected.
Description
The Ellsworth Rock Gardens are located on Kabetogama Lake in Voyageurs National Park. What's the story behind the dozens of rock sculptures arranged on granite terraces overlooking Kabetogama Lake? Find out here!
Duration
6 minutes, 4 seconds
Credit
NPS
Date Created
04/16/2010
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