#detroitlib

Happy Valentine’s Day, @detroitlib! You continue to be among our top fans and we wanted to celebrate that library love in this special valentine for you. :) We hope this relationship continues throughout the next “chapters.” ;)

American Venice was the name of a 1920s real estate development in the then-bucolic village of Lindenhurst, New York on the south shore of Long Island.

“An ornate gazebo sat on an island in the middle of a laguna at the north end of a canal framed by striped mooring poles and gondolas imported from Italy. From their perch of towering columns, statues of winged lions invited passersby to come closer and explore, to saunter over arched Venetian bridges and past Italian-style villas.  This was once the scene not in Venice, Italy, but in American Venice, a unique community created in the 1920s in Copiague, just off the Great South Bay.“ (1)  [Note: it’s just east of Copiague, in Lindenhurst.]

In 1930 the development went bankrupt, although the neighborhood retained the name of Venetian Shores.  From Montauk Highway, the main road that passes Venetian Shores, there would be no trace of the existence of American Venice if not for two statues of winged lions on columns which still stand sentinel almost a century later.

Thanks to a Caturday post at @detroitlib i have a new appreciation for these lions, having learned of their significance to city of Venice, Italy and its association with Saint Mark (Mark the Evangelist) of biblical renown. 

“Mark the Evangelist, the author of the second gospel is symbolized by a lion – a figure of courage and monarchy.  Some Christian legends refer to Saint Mark as "Saint Mark The Lionhearted". These legends say that he was thrown to the lions and the animals refused to attack or eat him. Instead the lions slept at his feet while he petted them. When the Romans saw this, they released him, impressed by this sight.”  The city of Venice is reputed to be the location of his relics. (2)

Which brings us to the lions in the photos above.  During my current visit to Long Island I passed through Lindenhurst, bemoaning the disappearance of its theater (now a CVS) and bowling alley (now an auto parts store).  I was wondering what would disappear next as I neared the village line, spotting the Venetian Shores lions...I knew I had to photograph them while I still could.

Below my three photos of the lions (alas, into the sun) are images of three American Venice postcards from the Village of Lindenhurst website which says little else about the area except that there’s a park there now.  The park is somewhere behind the unsightly Venice boatyard (two bottom photos) which now contains the lions.

This Valentine’s for You ~

 . . . @detroitlib!! 

Cover for Wee Dorothy’s True Valentine published in Boston by Joseph Knight Company in 1896 from our Historical Curriculum Collection.

We HEART you; you HEART us. Won’t you be our Valentine, @detroitlib?