SCENIC TULSA: SWAN LAKE
There are several notable things about Swan Lake. For one thing, it's not a lake. It's an artificial pond constructed in the early 1900s by Samuel Orcutt on land he acquired by way of an Indian allotment. Orcutt Lake, as it was then known, was to be the centerpiece of a commercial amusement park. There were, of course, boat rentals for swain and sweetheart. Orcutt added a swimming pool, a movie theater, and a dance pavillion. In 1911 Tulsa's first roller coaster was constructed there. The City of Tulsa bought the park in 1917, and that was when some unsung (by me) genius changed the name from Orcutt to Swan Lake.
THE TURTLES OF SWAN LAKE
Swan Lake is a pond, and a rather murky one at that. It is cram-full of turtles, and really should be called Turtle Pond. The amusement park out in the countryside is long gone, and Turtle Pond/Swan Lake is surrounded by rather tony houses in the center of "Midtown," an older middle class/upper middle class area close to downtown. It is a short walk from Utica Square, Tulsa's oldest retail mall, and just across the street from the ever-metastisizing St. John's Hospital. When I first came to Tulsa, I lived in the rundown but cheap Utica Square Apartments (since demolished). On a warm summer's evening I would stroll over to Turtle Pond/Swan Lake, and circumnavigate it using the tidy well kept sidewalk and pedestrian bridge. The residents of the Swan Lake were and are very proud of their little body of water.
 
I would admire the turtles sunning themselves on the WPA fountain, admire the occasional heron, or passage water fowl (saw many different species), but what I really came for was the dusk to dark performances of the swifts and the bats, doing Immelman turns low over the water. I do love how they can skim the surface of the water.
Another notable thing about Swan Lake, is that, currently, it has no swans. Live ones, I mean, not bronze. There used to be a breeding pair of Trumpeter Swans, but when the pond was partially drained, and given a bit of a face lift recently, they were removed and have not been returned. Turtle Pond/Swan Lake has got Mallards, various half-breeds, and ducks of passage, as I mentioned, but no swans.
This rather odd sculpture was donated by the artist after showing at a Chicago Exposition in the 1920s. I know of Leda and the Swan, but not Larry and the Swan. I know of no mythical narrative built around a young man caressing and lifting an admonishing finger at the same time. Feel free to create your own.
1:47:18 AM 
|
|
