Cornstalk Fence in Alabama

I talked briefly about the Magnolia Hotel the other day - here in my sunset on Gulf Shores post. I wanted to show more pictures of the exterior of the hotel though, so today's the day. Actually, at this time of day, it's more like tonight's the night.

A little Rod Stewart music please... Tonight's the night. It's gonna be alright. Well, let me get back to my story of the Magnolia Hotel.

The Magnolia Hotel was built in 1908 by John B. Foley, but the sign out front today was probably commissioned around 2005 when the latest restoration of the hotel was finished and the doors reopened. According to the website, the last time prior to 2005 that the hotel hosted a guest was in the 70's. The town of Foley, AL is sure fortunate to have this beautiful building restored and added back into the hustle and bustle of the small town.


This is the view of the front of the hotel. The sleeping lions and the oval grates are detailed below.


This is one of the gates to the yard of the Magnolia Hotel. The initials in the iron work, JMS and MYS, are the initials for the folks who purchased the hotel after WWII, John and Marjorie Snook. The glass in the front door is from John Snooks grandfather's home in Ohio.



These air vents (I'm assuming they are called air vents) surrounded the bottom part of the house. Aren't they gorgeous? The detail is incredible. It's things like this that just make my heart beat faster. You just can't go buy these at Home Depot!


I love the look of these lions. Here's a close-up of one of them. Those giant paws look like hands and in a way, kind of creep me out! I really do love the lions but they are so odd. The deep set eyes, the finger-like paws, the curly mane and the wrinkly skin around the eyes. It's all so interesting.

You can click to enlarge this photo.

My Mother was just in New Orleans and took some photos of the cornstalk fence that she saw there. I was so thrilled to actually see photos of it. Then a few days later we are walking by this hotel and there before my eyes is a cornstalk fence. I've done a little bit of searching (a very little) and I can't find if this is a new fence/reproduction or one about the time of the New Orleans fence. I looked on the website for this particular hotel and I didn't see any mention of the age of the fence.

This fence had strange tree like structures for the posts, with the pine cone on the top. None of these things seem to go together and yet it is so very interesting when viewed at once.

I don't immediately think pine cone when I think of cornstalks, but it does all seem to work.

Here is an extreme close up. I guess you couldn't really be sure that this was a cornstalk if you couldn't see some corn, so in another departure from real nature, you can see partially shucked corn on the stalk.



This is the bottom part of the cornstalk fence. It depicts several kinds of squash. How cool is that! This fence is just one surprise after another.

This is a truly lovely place and I'm so happy that it's been restored and is now, once again, a lovely place to stay. The Magnolia Court restaurant, as I mentioned the other day, is lovely and had a wonderful menu. I enjoyed every bite of food I had there and am still thinking about that salad dressing! :)

Here's the info on the hotel.

The Hotel Magnolia and Magnolia Court Restaurant
119 North McKenzie Street Foley, AL 36535
Hotel: (251) 943-5297 Restaurant: (251) 970-5400
http://thehotelmagnolia.com

By the way - I have made it back home to Jacksonville. I got home today around dinner time. Nice drive, a few sprinkles of rain but nothing for more than a mile. It was a nice trip and my cat and husband are very happy to have me back home!

Have a great day,
Kristin