THERE WAS ONCE A HOUSE ON THE COAST...

...a Christmas Holiday post of sorts...

There once was a house on the coast

"Look what I built here", he'd boast

It burned down and then

He built it again

But once more it went up in a roast.

--Composed by someone who's obviously mentally deranged...

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The year was 1907. A Lumber-bigwig, Louis J. Simpson, began building a big house on the Southern Oregon Coast long, long ago. It was a Christmas present for his wife. Some present! The mansion was located on a bluff approximately 75 feet above the ocean. In its place now is the Shore Acres State Park Visitors' center, and that's the place I went today. He had some pretty deep pockets, did Mr. Simpson, for the mansion included a 26'x52' swimming pool, a greenhouse, tennis courts off to the left of the mansion and numerous other amenities.

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The mansion burned down in July 1921. His wife died in April of 1921. No one knows if the house was torched, or consumed in a fire set by Nature. Strange how those sort of things work out. Perhaps Mr. Simpson couldn't bear to be in the mansion where his wife had lived anymore? Or was it all some bizarre Act Of Nature? We'll never know. It's almost 90 years since the place burned down. Mr. Simpson was a real trooper, however; in 1927, he built a second mansion on the same site; by that time he'd gotten married again and had moved his new wife in.

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Then, in 1942, the U.S. Army closed the road accessing this part of the coast, at which time, the Simpsons moved just up the coast, close to where I now live; in the same district, in fact. Meanwhile, the 'second mansion' became a barracks and an officer's club, now that the Army had the run of the property. In 1948, after suffering tons of wear and tear from rowdy soldiers, along with the beating coastal houses take from the weather, the mansion was 'razed'; it needed too many repairs. The concrete that was poured for the Shore Acres Tennis Courts is still there, tho. The courts are right next to the cliff's edge, and erosion is already beginning to creep underneath the northwest corner of the slab. Imagine my surprise when I first saw the little wooden sign that said "Site of Shore Acres Tennis Courts" back in 2002, when I first came to this part of the Coast; I had no idea of the area's history back then.

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Time marches ever onward, both ominously and fatalistically, with just a small touch of "Cosmic irony" tossed in for flavor. Consider the following: Mr. Simpson's first wife died three months before the demise of the 'first mansion'; she passed away in April, 1921. And, get this: the 'second mansion' was razed in December 1948, and Mr. Simpson died one month later, in January, 1949. And, he hadn't lived on the mansion site for the previous 6 YEARS. Hmmm...I wonder if that second mansion also 'burned down'? Suffice it to say that all of this reminds me of the title of a Bob Dylan song: "Simple Twist Of Fate".

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Upper Left, the First Simpson Mansion, located about as close to the coast as is possible, c.1910. The color phot0 was taken by me, looking northward; I was standing just left of where the mansion perched so many years ago.
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So, what does any of this have to do with Christmas? Well, Shore Acres State Park (accessible only by a twisty, undulating, narrow two-lane road) is where the yearly Christmas Lights Display takes place. So you think you've seen a lot of Christmas lights so far this year? Hah. How about a quarter-million lights? That's what is done here, and the rest of this posting will be Christmas-lights-oriented, in spite of the fact that I'm an old Grumpy Grinch...some of the photos are quite dark, so if you can't make out the details, click on each photo; they'll get really big, really fast...
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Framed in Christmas lights, the original Gardener's house c.1910 (upper left), and a picture of it sporting a couple thousand Christmas lights. Gardener's house? I told ya Mr. Simpson was loaded. In the old picture are the gardens which basically surrounded the Gardener's house. Inside that house, volunteers served up hot apple cider or cold fruit punch; it was a cold night, so you can guess what I took...
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Before we traipse around in the Garden, though, here a couple of shots from inside the gardener's house; it's very quaint, and it's easy to imagine what an old-fashioned Christmas 'felt' like long ago. Upper Left, the fireplace, and Upper Right, a sitting room/bedroom, the window of which looks out over the Christmas lights below. I took my time walking through this ages-old structure, which was built before transistor radios, eight track tapes, World War II and The Great Depression...well, the 'first' Great Depression...not the one the country's currently in...

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Above left, the view across the Lighted Gardens looking westward towards the Pacific Ocean. Above right, some of the 250,000 lights placed here by dedicated, selfless (and possibly a bit crazy) volunteers. The lights are all taken down soon after New Years' Day, and planning for the next Christmas Lights Display begins before January comes to an end. Told ya the volunteers are prob'ly a bit crazy...

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Unlike Biblical times, I did not turn into a pillar of salt when I looked back ("Lot's Wife", I believe was who that happened to). Anyway, upper left, looking back at the Gardener's house...that 'thing' on top of the house is a Neon Pelican. At right, three more pelicans. This, like other displays here, features "moving creatures"; elsewhere in the Lighted Gardens are 'moving' seals and dolphins. Hmm. "Neon Pelicans"...sounds like a great name for a rock band.

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Finally, at left, here's tonight's sunset, looking southwest from where the Simpson Mansion stood. The skies were fairly clear over the coast this evening, and things were cooling off really fast. If I had the time and energy, every post would be as detailed and as picturesque as this one. I don't 'toot my horn' very much; I am but a humble blog-servant after all, but I'm really proud of this post, and I guess this is my Weird and Wacky way of saying "Merry Christmas" to Everyone Out There.

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BEFORE ENDING THIS POST, SOMETHING VERY IMPORTANT:

New Years' Eve is coming up; I've heard it referred to as "Amateur Night", in which people who never carouse and get alcoholically wild do just that. Don't drive impaired, ever, but especially, don't drive impaired on New Years' Eve. I remember driving home drunk, and sometimes stoned, but I was lucky; some nights I couldn't see past the hood of my car as it crept homeward...and how I never got a "DUI", I'll never know. As a working musician who's played a lot of New Years' Eve gigs, take my word for it; there are more crazy drivers out there than usual on that night. "Amateur Night" indeed. I have NEVER driven drunk on a New Years' Eve. And it's been over 15 years since I've drunk at all. Oh, the tales I could tell...

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The first "DUI" takes thousands of dollars, years of time, and endless major court-related hassles to get past. So I was stupid but lucky. I didn't get caught or kill anyone with my car. On New Years' Eve, there'll be more cops out, 'cos there'll be more revelers out. More cops to write tickets, and more drunk drivers to either get arrested, or kill innocent people, like You. And Me. Maybe the reason I've survived this long is to tell everyone, " Don't Drive Drunk on New Years' Eve. Or any other time." You're basically tossing the dice drinking and driving, and usually, the dice are weighted against you. So please take care. Please?