The Beguiling Bluebell ...

“I do not think I have ever seen anything more beautiful than the bluebell I have been looking at. I know the beauty of our Lord by it.”

     ~ Gerard Manley Hopkins

     ~ English poet & Jesuit priest

       ~ 1844 ~ 1889

 

A beguiling bluebell softly blooms near the banks of the Swabia Creek at Lock Ridge Park and Furnace Museum, Alburtis, Pennsylvania on a beautiful mid-April afternoon when temperatures soared into the 80s and the chorus of spring peepers floated through the air.

The blooming of the multitude of Lock Ridge bluebells ~ also called grape hyacinth ~ is a clarion call of spring in the Lehigh Valley, drawing many people to photograph and glimpse their beauty in the span of the few weeks they bloom.

 

Lock Ridge is uniquely beautiful when the bluebells are in bloom. Bluebells are actually muscari, or grape hyacinth, a plant that produces spikes of blue flowers that resemble bunches of grapes in the spring.

 

The 59-acre park was opened in August 1976.

 

Lock Ridge Park is a park built around an historic iron ore blast furnace just outside Alburtis. The park preserves portions of the former Lock Ridge Iron Works, which dates back to 1868 and operated as an iron mill until 1921.

 

Acquired by Lehigh County in 1972, the Lock Ridge Furnace Museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981 and is operated by the Lehigh County Historical Society.

Watercolor Bluebells ...

“Art is man’s nature; nature is God’s art.”

             ~ Philip James Bailey

                   ~ English poet

                               ~1816 ~ 1902

Beguiling bluebells bloom softly in early April as they dance in the afternoon sun near the banks of the Swabia Creek at Lock Ridge Park and Furnace Museum, Alburtis, Pennsylvania in this painterly image I captured on a beautiful spring day.

The blooming of the multitude of Lock Ridge bluebells – also called grape hyacinth – is a clarion call of spring in the Lehigh Valley, drawing many people to photograph and glimpse their beauty in the span of the few weeks they bloom.

 

Lock Ridge Park is a park built around an historic iron ore blast furnace just outside Alburtis, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley. The park preserves portions of the former Lock Ridge Iron Works, which dates back to 1868. The 59-acre park was opened in August 1976.

 

Softly Bloom The Bluebells ...

“The bluebell is the sweetest flower

That waves in summer air

Its blossoms have the mightiest power

To soothe my spirits care.”

     ~ “The Bluebell”

       ~ Emily Bronte

        ~ 1818-1848

        ~ published 1846

Sunlight dances across the beguiling bluebells blooming softly in early April near the banks of the Swabia Creek at Lock Ridge Park and Furnace Museum, Alburtis, Pennsylvania in this shot I captured on a beautiful spring afternoon.

The blooming of the multitude of Lock Ridge bluebells – also called grape hyacinth – is a clarion call of spring in the Lehigh Valley, drawing many people to photograph and glimpse their beauty in the span of the few weeks they bloom.

 

Lock Ridge Park is a park built around an historic iron ore blast furnace just outside Alburtis, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley. The park preserves portions of the former Lock Ridge Iron Works, which dates back to 1868. The 59-acre park was opened in August 1976.