The
Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre has a decorative cheetah weathervane on its thatched roof! I think this may be the first purely ornamental weathervane I have seen in South Africa. (I have seen a few on lighthouses but they are - I am sure - working weathervanes connected to wind instruments inside.)
I love weathervanes. Although weathervanes originated in Europe, it is an accepted fact that this form of folk art reached its greatest development in America. They are particularly popular in New England and the mid-Atlantic states which comprise the original 13 American colonies.
Back in the USA, we had a sailboat weather vane on top of a cupola at our beach house and
an antique steam train weather vane on display inside our
train-depot-turned-family home in Fanwood.
I love them so much in fact that I had a letterpress silhouette of this antique sea serpent weathervane made to use on my stationery at our beach house. I bought the actual sheet metal weathervane in Connecticut but I do not know its original provenance. Are there sea serpents in Connecticut?
The weather vanes I admire most are the ones that have a sense of place. Farm animals in Vermont. Whales and ships in Nantucket. Weather cocks on the tops of churches in France. (In the ninth century A.D., the pope reportedly decreed that every church
in Europe should show a cock on its dome or steeple, as a reminder of
Jesus' prophecy that the cock would not crow the morning after the Last
Supper, until the disciple Peter had denounced Him three times (Luke
22:34). Because of this story, "weather cocks" have topped church
steeples for centuries, both in Europe and in America too.)
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| farm animals at the Shelburne Museum in Vermont |
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| a witch in Salem, MA |
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| a grasshopper atop Faneuil Hall, Boston, MA |
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| The Royal Exchange, London |
Why a grasshopper for Faneuil Hall? Probably based on the one topping the Royal Exchange in London.
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| a sperm whale weather vane in Nantucket, Massachusetts |
Sometimes they act as an address, like ...
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| atop the Governor's Residence in Williamsburg, VA |
... or at ...
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| Sissinghurst in Kent built by the Mann Cornwallis family (MC) |
The biggest and most-varied collection of weathervanes I've photographed has got to be on L'Ile-de-Re in France.
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| a culotted donkey (to keep the flies away) and an island girl wearing a quichnotte |
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| a gull |
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| a mermaid with a parasol |
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| a salt raker |
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| a sailing ship and lighthouse |
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| sea horse |
I will have to keep my eye out for more interesting weathervanes on my travels around South Africa!
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