Tulip Mania

T is for Tulip Mania.  Originally cultivated in the Ottoman Empire, tulips were imported into Holland in the sixteenth century. As the Dutch Golden Age grew, so did this colorful flower. Tulips became popular in paintings and festivals. In the mid-seventeenth century, tulips were so popular that they created the first economic bubble, known as "Tulip Mania".

Everyone began to deal in bulbs, essentially speculating on the tulip market, which was believed to have no limits. The true bulb buyers began to fill up inventories for the growing season, depleting the supply further and increasing scarcity and demand. Soon, prices were rising so fast and high that people were trading their land, life savings, and anything else they could liquidate to get more tulip bulbs. Somehow, the tulips enjoyed a twenty-fold increase in value - in one month!

Needless to say, the prices were not an accurate reflection of the value of a tulip bulb. As it happens in many speculative bubbles, some prudent people decided to sell and reap their profits. A domino effect of progressively lower and lower prices took place as everyone tried to sell while not many were buying. The price began to dive, causing people to panic and sell regardless of losses.

Dealers refused to honor contracts and people began to realize they traded their homes for a tulip bulb; panic was prevalent throughout the land. The government attempted to step in and halt the crash by offering to honor contracts at 10% of the face value, but then the market plunged even lower.  No one emerged unscathed from the crash. Even the people who had locked in their profit by getting out early suffered under the depression that followed.

From 1634 to 1637, an index of Dutch tulip prices soared from approximately one guilder per bulb to a lofty sixty guilders per bulb. By the peak of tulip mania in February of 1637, a single tulip bulb was worth about ten times a craftsman’s annual income. 

Today, Holland is still known for its tulips and other flowers, often being affectionately called the "flower shop of the world." Tulips are cultivated in great fields of beautiful color, and tulip festivals abound throughout the country in the spring.  The Dutch people took their love of tulips abroad when they settled, and tulips and tulip festivals are now found in New York and Holland, Michigan, where the connection to their Dutch roots is very strong.

The photos in this blog were taken at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Each spring when the tulips are in bloom, the gardens are covered with over 150,000 tulips that  line the walkways of Arkansas' premier botanical garden.

The peak tulip viewing times at the gardens are March 15 through April 1. Garvan Woodland Gardens are beautiful any time of the year, but I think that the tulip season is the best.  We make sure to visit the gardens during tulip time each year.

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Queen Wilhelmina

Queen Wilhelmina was queen of the Netherlands for 58 years, from 1890 to 1948. Because she was only 10 years old in 1890, her mother, Queen Emma, was the regent until Wilhelmina's 18th birthday in 1898.

She guided the Netherlands through World War I and was able to stay neutral.  She was always wary of a German attack, especially in the beginning. However, the chief violation of Dutch sovereignty was the Allied blockade. After the war, the popularity of the young Queen helped restore confidence in the government. Wilhelmina brought about a mass show of support by riding with her daughter through the crowds in an open carriage.

During World War II, the Germans invaded the Netherlands. Queen Wilhelmina and her family fled to Britain, planning to return as soon as possible.  She took charge of the Dutch government in exile, setting up a chain of command and immediately communicating a message to her people. Following the end of World War II, Queen Wilhelmina traveled through the countryside to motivate people, sometimes using a bicycle instead of a car.

 
In 1947, bad health caused her to considered abdication but her daughter Juliana pressed her to stay on for the stability of the nation, urging her to complete 60 years on the throne. Wilhelmina tried to comply, but exhaustion forced her to relinquish her monarchial duties to her daughter on May 12, 1948.  On September 4, 1948, she abdicated in favor of her daughter Juliana.  Throughout he reign, Queen Wilhelmina remained popular with her people.

Just a few miles from my hometown of Mena on the top of Rich Mountain is Queen Wilhelmina State Park.  The state park is located on the sight of the Wilhelmina Inn that was opened in 1898.  Because many of the investors were Dutch, the luxury hotel was named for the newly crowned Queen Wilhelmina.   A suite of rooms was located in the southeast corner of the second floor and named for Wilhelmina in the hope she would visit. Soon, Wilhelmina Inn became known as the "Castle in the Sky."  The mountaintop Inn with its breathtaking scenery, fine accommodations and exquisite service, only lasted a few years.  The inn closed in 1910.

The site was abandoned and the inn fell into disrepair.  In 1957 plans were made for a new state park on the site where Wilhelmina Inn had been.  Plans were made to construct a new lodge on the site of the original inn.  The new inn opened it doors on June 22, 1963.  The new building, which was not as grand as the original hotel, contained 17 guest rooms and a restaurant.  Occupying the same site as the first inn, the second structure was built with some of the rockwork still remaining from its predecessor.  Operated for 10 years by the State of Arkansas as an Arkansas State Parks lodge, the facility was a popular travel attraction until, on the evening of November 10, 1973, a fire that began in the kitchen area destroyed it.

To carry on the lodging tradition atop Rich Mountain, Arkansas State Parks replaced the inn with a $3 million lodge that opened in 1975. Today, this lodge is the crowning attraction of Queen Wilhelmina State Park. The lodge is currently closed while undergoing a major renovation.  It will reopen later this year.

Queen Wilhelmina State Park is one of our favorite places to visit. The views from the top of Rich Mountain are spectacular. Here are some photos I have taken at Queen Wilhelmina over the years.












One of our family's favorite things to do at Queen Wilhelmina State Park is to ride the miniature train. We have been riding the train for almost 30 years. Here is a picture taken in 1981 with my mother, my wife, and my daughter riding the train.


QUEEN WILHELMINA MINIATURE TRAIN 1981

This picture was taken in 2008 while my wife and I were riding the train with my daughter and our grand daughters


QUEEN WILHELMINA MINIATURE TRAIN 2008

With a spectacular mountaintop setting and breathtaking panoramic scenery, Queen Wilhelmina State Park is great place to visit.

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