SARASOTA, FL - THE RINGLING

Thursday, January 15th, 2015

Day 164
Miles Traveled: 0
Total Miles Traveled: 2562



  No trip to Sarasota, FL would be complete without a visit to The Ringling.  John Ringling, of the famous Ringling Brother's Circus, left behind a large art museum and a large and very elaborate home.  He and his wife, Mable (originally from Ohio), did not have any children.  Mable passed in 1929.  This was a devastating year for John Ringling.  Not only did he lose his wife, but, he also lost all his fortune due to The Great Depression.  He had some debt at that time and after several years the court ordered Mr. Ringling to sell the home and grounds to pay off his debtors.  Five days before the estate was to be put up for sale, John died.  As per his will, the house and grounds were left to the State of Florida.  The state has kept up the estate and maintains a Ringling Museum campus.  Within, one will find the Bayfront Gardens, the Circus Museum, the Ca' d'Zan mansion, and The Museum of Art.
To learn more about TheRingling go to: http://www.ringling.org/      

  We started our visit with a tour of Ca' d'Zan, which in Venetian dialect means the House of John.  This was the winter residence of John and Mable Ringling.  John believed Sarasota would become a world-class tourist destination and decided to build his new winter home in the area.  Construction of the Venetian Gothic style home started in 1924 and was completed in 1926 at a cost of $1.5 million, or approximately $20.9 million in today's dollars.  They hosted many guests and large parties at Ca' d'Zan.  The furnishings inside were very lush and elaborate.  Most all the ceilings had detailed paintings, most floors were marble, and most windows were stained glass. 

aerial view of Ca' d'Zan (taken from website)

front entrance of Ca' d'Zan

The Court Room (living room)

  We moved on to The Tibbals Learning Center.  This houses the "Howard Bros. Circus Model" which is the world's largest miniature circus.  Howard Tibbal has taken over 50 years to create this exceptional miniature circus model.  The detail of each and every piece was astonishing to us.  Along the way were informative plaques educating the visitor about the workings of a circus, from the weeks before arrival until the last tent moving to the next location.  It was amazing to learn how efficient the circus was run to be able to set up in several hours, entertain an entire community, tear down, and be on their way to the next location by the end of the day.

The Fairway

Main tent - one ring

Main tent - center ring

Main tent - third ring

Meal tent for the circus workers - notice the detail - small pieces of food and silverware

  We moved onto the Original Circus Museum which houses some of the original wagons, outfits, and equipment used.  Of interest was the railroad car " The Wisconsin".  This was the first private railroad car of John and Mable Ringling.  The car was named "The Wisconsin" to honor the state where they initially had lived and the circus was quartered.  It is 70 feet long and 10 feet high.  Within are 3 staterooms, a dining room, an observation room, a kitchen, and one crew quarters.

"The Wisconsin"

  We also saw several circus wagons, a band wagon, and The Zacchini Repeating Firing Cannon (used for the human cannonball).  The Firing Cannon was Dan's favorite.  (This is Dan and wouldn't it be fun to drive one of these around?)  The band wagon led the parade that occurred before the start of the circus and was usually very ornate.  The one on display was called "The Five Graces and was used from 1898-1902 by Barnum and Bailey's European tour,  It weighs over eight tons and was pulled by a team of forty horses.

"The Five Graces" Band Wagon

The Zacchini Repeating Firing Cannon

  We ended our tour with a walk of the grounds and the gardens.  There are several on the campus.   One that was particularly nice was just outside the Museum of Art.  We did not have time to venture into this museum.  

Courtyard garden outside the Museum of Art

  Sometimes good things must come to an end.  The tented circus era came to a close on July 16th, 1956 in Pittsburg, PA.  That evening an audience of 10,000 people saw the last performance of the Ringling Show under canvas.  It is a little ironic that this same location is where our dream began.  We had decided if we could survive the cruise to Pittsburg, then we would start our Great Loop adventure.  And so it began.