Outdoor Wednesday: Evening Walking Tour

Hello again! It's nearly time again for Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer!

A few weeks back I posted some pictures from my neighborhood (click HERE). This week I did another 'walking tour', this time in the evening. Erik went with me and helped me pick out things to photograph.

I started out taking pictures of my new hostas just planted this weekend. I'm trying to fill in this area where the A/C exchangers are located. This side of the house is the only place where it's shady and there's not much yard here, because of our driveway. These are my two new hostas, they are called "Patriot" and "Twilight".

These are three others that I plated two years ago. The names are "So Sweet", "Frances Williams" and "Gold Standard".

We walked up the street and turned the corner so I could walk past this aqua blue 1883 Queen Anne. It's maintained pretty well, but unfortunately it's a multi-family residence. I believe it has been divided into two or possibly three residences. I like to look at the porch railings since I'm always looking for ideas of what to replace ours with.

Everyone's  spirea are blooming right now. These are often called "Bridal Bouquet" or "Bridalwreath". The genus name is Vanhoutte Spirea (spirea x vanhouttei).

This cute little house sits on a dead end street. I always admire the charming landscaping and the striking red door.

We left the residential neighborhoods and walked towards the river. There is a small little park here called Veteran's Park.

This is the Fox River. It's pretty narrow right here by Veteran's Park. It runs right through the center of town.

Can you tell I'm sort of obsessed with spirea?? I've always loved them.

There are numerous dwarf lilacs planted alongside the river; they are at the height of their bloom time right now and walking along the river the air is heady with their fragrance.

Moving away from the river into the historic downtown, we walk by the Sloan House, one of the oldest houses in town that is still standing. It was built in 1841 by a lawyer named William P. Sloan.

Looking down one of the streets into downtown. One of the buildings on the right is a chocolatier and candy shop called "Allo Chocolat". Yummy!

This Greek Classic Revival style building used to be the Post Office. I wish the post office was still in this building, but it has long since been moved to another location (sadly,the building the post office occupies is stark, boxy-modern with virtually no parking and truculent and un-helpful employees.) This building is now called simply The Rotunda. It is used for weddings, corporate parties and other events now.

I love all the beautiful detailing, especially on the Doric columns and the Greek key pattern in the coffered ceiling. It was built in 1913 of Bedford Limestone.

On the way back home, we cut across Cutler Park. In the distance is the public library which is part of the park.The first white settler of Waukesha (which was then called Prairieville) was Morris D. Cutler. This large piece of land, which is now a park, was his original land claim and homestead when he settled here in 1834. A newer home was built on a different piece of property when he married in 1845. Later, he gave this property to the city to establish a park.

The park has a number of cannons and cannonballs from the Civil War period. There is also a large statue in the center of the park of Morris Cutler. The park also has three ancient Native-American effigy burial mounds   near the Les Paul Bandshell. This park, only a couple of blocks from our house, has many outdoor events in the summer, including art fairs and jazz music on Wednesday nights.

Thanks for stopping by!
I hoped you enjoyed your evening walk with me!