Your guide to culture on the cheap
With gasoline prices hovering around $3 a gallon, record wheat prices sending the price of bread through the ceiling and inflation rising at its highest clip in years, Nebraskans are feeling the economic pinch. And when time comes to start squeezing the household budget, some of the first cuts often come in spending for arts and cultural events.
But even if you don’t have $40 or $50 to spend on a ticket to a pricey event, or even $20 for a trip for two to the movies, there’s no reason to give up on arts and culture. There are plenty of low-cost opportunities in and near Lincoln.
To help find them, here’s a Sunday A.M. guide to arts and culture on the cheap.
Birks: $100. Parking: 4 quarters. Taking a trip through Sheldon: Priceless!
An acclaimed collection of American art is on view in an internationally recognized building designed by one of the most famous architects of the 20th century. On the grounds around the building is one of the top sculpture collections on any university campus in the country.
That’s the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, one of the Nebraska’s cultural gems.
Admission to Sheldon always has been free, making it one of the best places to get some culture on the cheap.
In fact, visual art is the most widely accessible “free” artform/cultural offering in the city, with multiple galleries and museums, none of which charge admission.
Sheldon, located at 12th and R streets on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, features touring exhibitions, shows organized by Sheldon staff and permanent collection galleries that feature some iconic pieces of American art as well as a strong sampling of top contemporary art.
Guides to the outdoor sculpture garden, which covers much of the UNL campus, are available inside Sheldon. That artwork includes internationally noted pieces such as Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s “Torn Notebook” at 12th and Q streets and “Greenpoint” by Richard Serra, just north of Love Library.
Also offering free admission are the Great Plains Art Museum, which features regional and western art, and the Lentz Center for Asian Culture, UNL’s Asian art museum. They’re both located in Hewit Place at 12th and Q streets.
Late next month, the International Quilt Study Center and Museum will be open at 33rd and R streets. It will display work by some of the top art quilt makers in the world along with showcasing its internationally recognized quilt collection.
The free art philosophy isn’t just in Lincoln.
Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has free admission to its permanent collection galleries, which includes most of the spaces inside the spectacular new Bloch Building. There is an admission charge for touring exhibitions. The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, also in Kansas City, is also free.
Des Moines Art Center offers free admission for both its permanent collection and touring exhibitions. It has two branches, the large museum and a downtown space that features special exhibitions.
Of major regional museums, only Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum continues to charge admission. But it’s free on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon.
You can see much more art in local galleries, where there’s never an admission charge. A list of the galleries and their exhibitions can be found each Sunday in Sunday A.M. and online at www.journalstar.com.
On the first Friday of each month, the galleries band together to host an art walk, which features drinks and snacks at most locations. Most of the time the drinks are sodas or boxed wine and the snacks run along the crackers and cheese line. So don’t count on making a meal of things — unless you hit every gallery in town.
You can even start collecting art on the cheap, thanks to the Art-o-mat.
Currently installed at the Ross Media Arts Center at 13th and R streets, this converted cigarette machine dispenses small but legitimate pieces of art for $5 — just pull the lever and get your prize. Among the artists who sell work in the Art-o-mat machines is Omaha’s Scott Blake, who makes “bar code art.”
Let’s not forget all the art festivals in and near Lincoln. One of the biggest is the Lincoln Arts Festival, now entering its eighth year. The free event, scheduled this year for Sept. 27-28, attracted more than 15,000 people in 2007.
— L. Kent Wolgamott
Oh, oh, oh ... listen to the music (for free!)
You won’t see Bruce Springsteen or YoYo Ma performing any free concerts in Lincoln anytime soon.
But the city does boast several free performing arts series and events featuring local and national talent, especially during the summer.
Here’s a sampling of some of them:
Free at 6: The Lied Center for Performing Arts launched the series in 2004 to recognize and celebrate the rich range of artistic talent in the community.
Free at 6 usually features five concerts between September and May. The 45-minute programs are held at 6 p.m. — hence the name — on various days of week.
Jazz in June: Now entering its 17th season, the jazz series organized by the Nebraska Art Association features local, regional and national talent.
Concerts are held outside the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays in June. Garden walks and a Farmers Market coincide with it.
Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra Fourth of July Concert: The professional orchestra performs before and during the city’s annual fireworks display at Oak Lake. Music ranges from Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” to Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.”
Lincoln Municipal Band’s Summer Concert Series: The band’s concert series dates back to 1907, when concerts were held at State Fair Park before moving in 1911 to Antelope Park. The band plays at 7 p.m. Sunday nights in July and August in the Shildneck Bandshell, presenting themed concerts with guest soloists.
Downtown Performance Concert Series: Entering its 24th season, the series presents local artists, ranging from singer-songwriters to jugglers, in hourlong lunch-time performances. Concerts are at noon on Wednesdays from May 14 to Sept. 24 in the Lincoln Community Foundation Gardens, 1415 N St.
First Friday Concert Series: Saint Paul United Methodist Church, 1144 M St., invites music lovers to spend the first Friday of each month, October through April, at its traditional lunch-time music series. A majority of the artists perform on the church’s organ. Lunch is available for a nominal price.
SouthPointe Pavilions Concert Series: The mall’s popular series features a variety of jazz, rock and folk artists performing two-hour concerts (generally from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.) outdoors in the courtyard on Fridays. This year’s series kicks off on May 30.
For those willing to spend a few bucks to fill their gas tanks, Omaha also has several free performing arts events. The following are three of the city’s most popular ones:
Shakespeare on the Green: The Nebraska Shakespeare Festival draws thousands to its summer outdoor shows in Elmwood Park. This year’s festival will be June 19 to July 6, featuring the Bard’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and “King Lear.”
Playing With Fire: The musical festival features a variety of artists, including Johnny Winter and the Fabulous Thunderbirds last year. Typically, concerts are on the third Saturday evening of each month between May and September at the Lewis & Clark Landing in downtown Omaha.
Jazz on the Green: The concert series brings the best in jazz to the metro, from mainstream and fusion to swing and big band. Concerts are at 7 p.m. Thursdays in July and August on the grounds of Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge St.
— Jeff Korbelik
Buy java, get culture
Coffeehouses around the city feature local and national artists who perform for nothing more than the cost of a cup of joe.
Crescent Moon Coffee, 816 P St.
Monday: Featured poetry reading, 7-8 p.m.; open mike, 8-10 p.m.
Wednesday: Tony Church performs classical guitar music on his 12-string guitar, 8-10 p.m.
Thursday: A featured songwriter, 7-8 p.m.; open mike, 8-10 p.m.
Friday: Jazz, 7-10 p.m.
Saturday: A featured acoustic act, 8-10 p.m.
Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 South St.
Wednesday: Open mike, 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: Local and national acts, 8 p.m.
Sunday: Local and national acts, 7 p.m.
Mo Java, 2649 N. 48th St.
Friday: Open mike, 8-10 p.m.
Jones Coffee, 727 S. 11th St.
Tuesday: Open mike for poets and musicians, 8 p.m.
— Liz Stinson
Complimentary films
Finding cheap movies is easier said than done. But because Lincoln is a university community, there are always a few opportunities for free film.
Most of those take place at the Ross Media Arts Center at 13th and R streets.
During the spring and fall semesters, University of Nebraska-Lincoln film studies classes screen movies at the Ross. Those screenings are free and open to the public, space permitting. The movies are part of the class curriculum and generally are not recent and sometimes weren’t popular films. But you can catch some good pictures and an occasional classic.
Schedules of films and showtimes are available at the Ross.
Each summer, the Ross presents a free outdoor film series presenting movies taken from its Jensen cinema collection. Those pictures are screened outside Kimball Hall at 12th and R streets. Seating is on the lawn near Kimball and the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
The Nebraska State Historical Society presents a winter/spring film series in the auditorium of its building at 15th and P streets. The screenings take place at 2 p.m. on Sundays beginning in January and running through March. Schedules are available at the historical society museum.
— L. Kent Wolgamott
Fancy-free at the library
Lincoln’s libraries are a cultural bargain.
Zero cost.
Free.
Your library card is your ticket to everything from books (obviously) to magazines in an array of languages to downloadable jazz and even DVDs.
Let’s start with the books. Every month, about 250 new titles come to the Lincoln libraries, according to Julie Beno, head of the reference department.
From fiction to non-fiction, they are the same ones which grace best-seller lists and reflect all kinds of viewpoints and topics.
If the libraries don’t have the particular book you’re looking for, they will try to get it from the Inter-Library Loan Service.
If you like to browse through magazines, the library carries lots of highbrow titles.
* Art and sculpture: Architectural Digest, Art in America
* Literary: Prairie Schooner, New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, American Poetry Review
* General: Cresset (Spirituality), China Today, In Britain, Metropolitan Home, American Scholar, Antiques, Wired, Harpers
For the music-minded, the Polley Music Library at Bennett Martin Library, 14th and N streets, has thousands of music books, scores and compact discs.
Here are some of the choices:
* Current and historical books on music
* Music for all levels of performers
* Sheet music back to mid-19th century
* Unique resources: digitized Nebraska music and historical programs from Lincoln back to the 1880s
The Heritage Room, filled with classics by Nebraska authors, can be found at Bennett Martin. It’s open from noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
There you’ll find manuscripts of books, such as Ivy Ruckman’s “Night of the Twisters;” memoirs and first editions of Nebraska authors including Mari Sandoz and Willa Cather.
The third Thursday of each month, the Ames Reading series and lunch is held at Bennett Martin and features Nebraska authors.
Although they aren’t competition for video rental stores, the library does carry DVDs which are “book- related,” Beno said.
And the libraries have just placed their first order for:
* Foreign films (films that have won Oscars)
* Academy award winners, American Film Institute top 100 movies, and more films that are book-related
* Emmy Award TV series not currently in production
* Anime movies (geared towards older high school and adults)
If you want to listen to books on your MP3 player or computer, try downloading audio books.
For those who want to stretch their minds even more, consider online databases (free with a library card — access at http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/). That includes Morningstar, Kiplinger Business Forecast, Classical Music Library, Rosetta Stone (learn foreign languages at home), magazine indexes Ebsco and Wilson Web — full text, World Book online, in Spanish or English.
The hours of Bennett Martin and Anderson, Eiseley, Walt, Gere and South branches are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1:30-5:30 p.m. Sundays.
— Kathryn Cates Moore
Stop and smell the roses (no charge!)
Henry David Thoreau had Walden Pond. Lincoln has public gardens in which to contemplate, recharge and be inspired by the horticultural efforts found there.
In Lincoln, 13 sites are affiliates of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum. All are filled with a variety of flowers, shrubs and trees, and a few have some cultural overtones. Among them:
* UNL Botanical Garden, City and East campuses — Special plant collections, the sculpture garden, formal gardens and an arboretum are built into this educational landscape. Be sure to note the Osage Orange, southwest of Andrews Hall, which has a connection to Lewis and Clark, and the apple tree south of Brace and Behlen halls which, of course, remind us of Newton’s theory of gravity.
* Wyuka Cemetery, 3600 O St. — 180 acres of trees, lawns and gardens. Dozens of historical figures are buried there.
* Nebraska State Capitol — Ernst Herminghaus, a well-known landscape architect, was commissioned in 1932 to create a landscape to complement the building’s architecture.
* Nebraska Wesleyan University’s Alice Abel Arboretum, 50th Street between St. Paul and Baldwin avenues. Set among the stately campus buildings is a collection of old-fashioned roses and outdoor sculpture.
— Kathryn Cates Moore
‘Lantern in her Hand’ author’s home open for tours
Bess Streeter Aldrich was a top-selling author in her time, painting a picture of prairie homesteading in her novels which include “A Lantern In Her Hand,” and “Spring Came On Forever.”
Aldrich took pen to paper just 20 minutes east of 84th and O streets, in Elmwood.
Her home is open to visitors. For just $3, you can tour the four-bedroom home, built in 1922. It is open during the winter on Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
But the home offers more than just vintage furniture. Tour guides weave her stories into the narrative, and you can even sit at her original writing desk for inspiration.
Add to that a private tour of the Bess Streeter Aldrich museum, a few blocks away, and you can get a sense of how literature took shape in this small town, according to Teresa Lorensen, executive director of the house and museum.
— Kathryn Cates Moore
Gratis historical gems
Take some time to soak up the historic culture of the state.
Nebraska’s Capitol is an architectural gem filled with beautiful mosaics, carvings and statuary.
Other museums in our own backyard have free or minimal admission. They include:
* Museum of Nebraska History, 15th and P streets.
* Morrill Hall, University of Nebraska State Museum, 14th and U streets, with dinosaur fossils and natural history exhibits.
* Fairview Museum, 4900 Sumner St., the home of William Jennings Bryan.
* Thomas P. Kennard House, 1627 H St., with furniture and other items from the 1870s.
Special-interest museums include American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 631 D St.; Frank H. Woods Telephone Pioneer Museum, 2047 M St.; Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test & Power Museum, 35th and Fair streets; National Museum of Roller Skating, 4730 South St., Suite 2; Gladys Lux Historical Gallery at University Place Art Gallery, 2601 N. 48th St., home to 1,600 dolls; and Lincoln Area Model Railroad Club and Museum at State Fair Park (open by appointment only).
But even if you don’t have $40 or $50 to spend on a ticket to a pricey event, or even $20 for a trip for two to the movies, there’s no reason to give up on arts and culture. There are plenty of low-cost opportunities in and near Lincoln.
To help find them, here’s a Sunday A.M. guide to arts and culture on the cheap.
Birks: $100. Parking: 4 quarters. Taking a trip through Sheldon: Priceless!
An acclaimed collection of American art is on view in an internationally recognized building designed by one of the most famous architects of the 20th century. On the grounds around the building is one of the top sculpture collections on any university campus in the country.
That’s the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, one of the Nebraska’s cultural gems.
Admission to Sheldon always has been free, making it one of the best places to get some culture on the cheap.
In fact, visual art is the most widely accessible “free” artform/cultural offering in the city, with multiple galleries and museums, none of which charge admission.
Sheldon, located at 12th and R streets on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, features touring exhibitions, shows organized by Sheldon staff and permanent collection galleries that feature some iconic pieces of American art as well as a strong sampling of top contemporary art.
Guides to the outdoor sculpture garden, which covers much of the UNL campus, are available inside Sheldon. That artwork includes internationally noted pieces such as Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen’s “Torn Notebook” at 12th and Q streets and “Greenpoint” by Richard Serra, just north of Love Library.
Also offering free admission are the Great Plains Art Museum, which features regional and western art, and the Lentz Center for Asian Culture, UNL’s Asian art museum. They’re both located in Hewit Place at 12th and Q streets.
Late next month, the International Quilt Study Center and Museum will be open at 33rd and R streets. It will display work by some of the top art quilt makers in the world along with showcasing its internationally recognized quilt collection.
The free art philosophy isn’t just in Lincoln.
Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has free admission to its permanent collection galleries, which includes most of the spaces inside the spectacular new Bloch Building. There is an admission charge for touring exhibitions. The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, also in Kansas City, is also free.
Des Moines Art Center offers free admission for both its permanent collection and touring exhibitions. It has two branches, the large museum and a downtown space that features special exhibitions.
Of major regional museums, only Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum continues to charge admission. But it’s free on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon.
You can see much more art in local galleries, where there’s never an admission charge. A list of the galleries and their exhibitions can be found each Sunday in Sunday A.M. and online at www.journalstar.com.
On the first Friday of each month, the galleries band together to host an art walk, which features drinks and snacks at most locations. Most of the time the drinks are sodas or boxed wine and the snacks run along the crackers and cheese line. So don’t count on making a meal of things — unless you hit every gallery in town.
You can even start collecting art on the cheap, thanks to the Art-o-mat.
Currently installed at the Ross Media Arts Center at 13th and R streets, this converted cigarette machine dispenses small but legitimate pieces of art for $5 — just pull the lever and get your prize. Among the artists who sell work in the Art-o-mat machines is Omaha’s Scott Blake, who makes “bar code art.”
Let’s not forget all the art festivals in and near Lincoln. One of the biggest is the Lincoln Arts Festival, now entering its eighth year. The free event, scheduled this year for Sept. 27-28, attracted more than 15,000 people in 2007.
— L. Kent Wolgamott
Oh, oh, oh ... listen to the music (for free!)
You won’t see Bruce Springsteen or YoYo Ma performing any free concerts in Lincoln anytime soon.
But the city does boast several free performing arts series and events featuring local and national talent, especially during the summer.
Here’s a sampling of some of them:
Free at 6: The Lied Center for Performing Arts launched the series in 2004 to recognize and celebrate the rich range of artistic talent in the community.
Free at 6 usually features five concerts between September and May. The 45-minute programs are held at 6 p.m. — hence the name — on various days of week.
Jazz in June: Now entering its 17th season, the jazz series organized by the Nebraska Art Association features local, regional and national talent.
Concerts are held outside the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery at 7 p.m. on Tuesdays in June. Garden walks and a Farmers Market coincide with it.
Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra Fourth of July Concert: The professional orchestra performs before and during the city’s annual fireworks display at Oak Lake. Music ranges from Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” to Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.”
Lincoln Municipal Band’s Summer Concert Series: The band’s concert series dates back to 1907, when concerts were held at State Fair Park before moving in 1911 to Antelope Park. The band plays at 7 p.m. Sunday nights in July and August in the Shildneck Bandshell, presenting themed concerts with guest soloists.
Downtown Performance Concert Series: Entering its 24th season, the series presents local artists, ranging from singer-songwriters to jugglers, in hourlong lunch-time performances. Concerts are at noon on Wednesdays from May 14 to Sept. 24 in the Lincoln Community Foundation Gardens, 1415 N St.
First Friday Concert Series: Saint Paul United Methodist Church, 1144 M St., invites music lovers to spend the first Friday of each month, October through April, at its traditional lunch-time music series. A majority of the artists perform on the church’s organ. Lunch is available for a nominal price.
SouthPointe Pavilions Concert Series: The mall’s popular series features a variety of jazz, rock and folk artists performing two-hour concerts (generally from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.) outdoors in the courtyard on Fridays. This year’s series kicks off on May 30.
For those willing to spend a few bucks to fill their gas tanks, Omaha also has several free performing arts events. The following are three of the city’s most popular ones:
Shakespeare on the Green: The Nebraska Shakespeare Festival draws thousands to its summer outdoor shows in Elmwood Park. This year’s festival will be June 19 to July 6, featuring the Bard’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and “King Lear.”
Playing With Fire: The musical festival features a variety of artists, including Johnny Winter and the Fabulous Thunderbirds last year. Typically, concerts are on the third Saturday evening of each month between May and September at the Lewis & Clark Landing in downtown Omaha.
Jazz on the Green: The concert series brings the best in jazz to the metro, from mainstream and fusion to swing and big band. Concerts are at 7 p.m. Thursdays in July and August on the grounds of Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge St.
— Jeff Korbelik
Buy java, get culture
Coffeehouses around the city feature local and national artists who perform for nothing more than the cost of a cup of joe.
Crescent Moon Coffee, 816 P St.
Monday: Featured poetry reading, 7-8 p.m.; open mike, 8-10 p.m.
Wednesday: Tony Church performs classical guitar music on his 12-string guitar, 8-10 p.m.
Thursday: A featured songwriter, 7-8 p.m.; open mike, 8-10 p.m.
Friday: Jazz, 7-10 p.m.
Saturday: A featured acoustic act, 8-10 p.m.
Meadowlark Coffee & Espresso, 1624 South St.
Wednesday: Open mike, 8 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: Local and national acts, 8 p.m.
Sunday: Local and national acts, 7 p.m.
Mo Java, 2649 N. 48th St.
Friday: Open mike, 8-10 p.m.
Jones Coffee, 727 S. 11th St.
Tuesday: Open mike for poets and musicians, 8 p.m.
— Liz Stinson
Complimentary films
Finding cheap movies is easier said than done. But because Lincoln is a university community, there are always a few opportunities for free film.
Most of those take place at the Ross Media Arts Center at 13th and R streets.
During the spring and fall semesters, University of Nebraska-Lincoln film studies classes screen movies at the Ross. Those screenings are free and open to the public, space permitting. The movies are part of the class curriculum and generally are not recent and sometimes weren’t popular films. But you can catch some good pictures and an occasional classic.
Schedules of films and showtimes are available at the Ross.
Each summer, the Ross presents a free outdoor film series presenting movies taken from its Jensen cinema collection. Those pictures are screened outside Kimball Hall at 12th and R streets. Seating is on the lawn near Kimball and the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery.
The Nebraska State Historical Society presents a winter/spring film series in the auditorium of its building at 15th and P streets. The screenings take place at 2 p.m. on Sundays beginning in January and running through March. Schedules are available at the historical society museum.
— L. Kent Wolgamott
Fancy-free at the library
Lincoln’s libraries are a cultural bargain.
Zero cost.
Free.
Your library card is your ticket to everything from books (obviously) to magazines in an array of languages to downloadable jazz and even DVDs.
Let’s start with the books. Every month, about 250 new titles come to the Lincoln libraries, according to Julie Beno, head of the reference department.
From fiction to non-fiction, they are the same ones which grace best-seller lists and reflect all kinds of viewpoints and topics.
If the libraries don’t have the particular book you’re looking for, they will try to get it from the Inter-Library Loan Service.
If you like to browse through magazines, the library carries lots of highbrow titles.
* Art and sculpture: Architectural Digest, Art in America
* Literary: Prairie Schooner, New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, American Poetry Review
* General: Cresset (Spirituality), China Today, In Britain, Metropolitan Home, American Scholar, Antiques, Wired, Harpers
For the music-minded, the Polley Music Library at Bennett Martin Library, 14th and N streets, has thousands of music books, scores and compact discs.
Here are some of the choices:
* Current and historical books on music
* Music for all levels of performers
* Sheet music back to mid-19th century
* Unique resources: digitized Nebraska music and historical programs from Lincoln back to the 1880s
The Heritage Room, filled with classics by Nebraska authors, can be found at Bennett Martin. It’s open from noon to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday.
There you’ll find manuscripts of books, such as Ivy Ruckman’s “Night of the Twisters;” memoirs and first editions of Nebraska authors including Mari Sandoz and Willa Cather.
The third Thursday of each month, the Ames Reading series and lunch is held at Bennett Martin and features Nebraska authors.
Although they aren’t competition for video rental stores, the library does carry DVDs which are “book- related,” Beno said.
And the libraries have just placed their first order for:
* Foreign films (films that have won Oscars)
* Academy award winners, American Film Institute top 100 movies, and more films that are book-related
* Emmy Award TV series not currently in production
* Anime movies (geared towards older high school and adults)
If you want to listen to books on your MP3 player or computer, try downloading audio books.
For those who want to stretch their minds even more, consider online databases (free with a library card — access at http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/). That includes Morningstar, Kiplinger Business Forecast, Classical Music Library, Rosetta Stone (learn foreign languages at home), magazine indexes Ebsco and Wilson Web — full text, World Book online, in Spanish or English.
The hours of Bennett Martin and Anderson, Eiseley, Walt, Gere and South branches are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1:30-5:30 p.m. Sundays.
— Kathryn Cates Moore
Stop and smell the roses (no charge!)
Henry David Thoreau had Walden Pond. Lincoln has public gardens in which to contemplate, recharge and be inspired by the horticultural efforts found there.
In Lincoln, 13 sites are affiliates of the Nebraska Statewide Arboretum. All are filled with a variety of flowers, shrubs and trees, and a few have some cultural overtones. Among them:
* UNL Botanical Garden, City and East campuses — Special plant collections, the sculpture garden, formal gardens and an arboretum are built into this educational landscape. Be sure to note the Osage Orange, southwest of Andrews Hall, which has a connection to Lewis and Clark, and the apple tree south of Brace and Behlen halls which, of course, remind us of Newton’s theory of gravity.
* Wyuka Cemetery, 3600 O St. — 180 acres of trees, lawns and gardens. Dozens of historical figures are buried there.
* Nebraska State Capitol — Ernst Herminghaus, a well-known landscape architect, was commissioned in 1932 to create a landscape to complement the building’s architecture.
* Nebraska Wesleyan University’s Alice Abel Arboretum, 50th Street between St. Paul and Baldwin avenues. Set among the stately campus buildings is a collection of old-fashioned roses and outdoor sculpture.
— Kathryn Cates Moore
‘Lantern in her Hand’ author’s home open for tours
Bess Streeter Aldrich was a top-selling author in her time, painting a picture of prairie homesteading in her novels which include “A Lantern In Her Hand,” and “Spring Came On Forever.”
Aldrich took pen to paper just 20 minutes east of 84th and O streets, in Elmwood.
Her home is open to visitors. For just $3, you can tour the four-bedroom home, built in 1922. It is open during the winter on Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
But the home offers more than just vintage furniture. Tour guides weave her stories into the narrative, and you can even sit at her original writing desk for inspiration.
Add to that a private tour of the Bess Streeter Aldrich museum, a few blocks away, and you can get a sense of how literature took shape in this small town, according to Teresa Lorensen, executive director of the house and museum.
— Kathryn Cates Moore
Gratis historical gems
Take some time to soak up the historic culture of the state.
Nebraska’s Capitol is an architectural gem filled with beautiful mosaics, carvings and statuary.
Other museums in our own backyard have free or minimal admission. They include:
* Museum of Nebraska History, 15th and P streets.
* Morrill Hall, University of Nebraska State Museum, 14th and U streets, with dinosaur fossils and natural history exhibits.
* Fairview Museum, 4900 Sumner St., the home of William Jennings Bryan.
* Thomas P. Kennard House, 1627 H St., with furniture and other items from the 1870s.
Special-interest museums include American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, 631 D St.; Frank H. Woods Telephone Pioneer Museum, 2047 M St.; Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test & Power Museum, 35th and Fair streets; National Museum of Roller Skating, 4730 South St., Suite 2; Gladys Lux Historical Gallery at University Place Art Gallery, 2601 N. 48th St., home to 1,600 dolls; and Lincoln Area Model Railroad Club and Museum at State Fair Park (open by appointment only).
Copyright © 2002-2008 Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.