Filoli
Page Under Construction: Will feature the Filoli Mansion and Gardens below San Francisco as the "Best of Holland". The mansion was built by William Bourn, head of the 'Water Control Board' or 'Waterschap' for San Francisco. Filoli overlooks the artificial lake that supplies San Francisco's water. The water comes via a more than hundred-mile-long aqueduct from a valley adjacent to Yosemite in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
|
|
A Royal Venture |
|
|
|
Estate Icons |
|
|
The book 'Watership Down', by Richard Adams, is about an ideal place
similar to Camelot. The story is based on the author's WWII experience
at Oosterbeek (East-Stream) in Holland. In addition to the numerous formal gardens at Filoli, the entire valley becomes a garden each spring. The wild California Poppy is California's Offical Flower.
|
William Bourn's water company didn't supply 100% of the water for San Francisco. When Golden Gate park was being built, water from the water company would have been too expensive to irrigate the huge park. A cheaper solution was to build two huge windmills (the largest windmills on earth) at the world at the north and south ends of the park. The windmills pumped enough ground-water to irrigate the park.
Over time, the windmills were replaced by electric pumps and the windmills fell into disrepair. Major restoration of the Southern Windmill is underway and will be completed shortly.
|
|
Windmill Restoration Project-Worlds Largest Windmill |
|
|
|
Car-free Sunday |
|
| The
mansion and surrounding valley is a haven for bicyclers, skaters, and artists (things at which the Dutch excel). It is also the venue
of the Calidocious® Inc. annual meeting.
On the road outside Filoli, one Sunday each month is declared to be a 'Car Free Sunday'. The road then becomes one of the best places to bicycle, or rollerblade, in the United States.
|
The precise wording of the Bourn creedo is "FIght for a just cause, LOve your neighbor, LIve a good life". Calidocious® Inc.'s corporate philosophy is very similar. However, Calidocious® Inc. adds a burgundian touch and changes "LIve a good life" to "LIve the good life".
|
|
Dutch Treats |
|
|
|
FIght for onE jusT cauSe! |
|
| The word for bicyle in Dutch is 'Fiets'. 'Fiets!' is a fitting acronym for William Bourn's first precept.
|
In addition to being home to amateur artists, Filioli has served as the setting for numerous movies.
|
|
Home to World Class Art-Filmed at Filoli |
|
|
|
FiLoLi Fashion |
|
|
|
The end of the aqueduct is marked by a water temple.
|
|
Filoli temple in honor of Waterschap (Water Control) |
|
|
|
|