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Who owns Belle Isle moonshine?
Vincent Riggi – Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer – Belle Isle Moonshine | LinkedIn.
What proof is Belle Isle moonshine?
Belle Isle Craft Spirits Premium Moonshine 100 Proof 750 ML | Wine Online Delivery.
Who owns Belle Isle now?
MANAGEMENT – Belle Isle has a rich history that includes many changes in ownership and management over the last several hundred years. Throughout, the island was recognized as a unique natural site—one to be treasured by generations. Today, the park continues to be owned by the City of Detroit and is managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) under a 30-year lease as part of the City’s financial restructuring.
How much would it cost to buy Belle Isle?
Belle Isle: Developer wants to buy island from Detroit and start ‘a remarkable new nation’ By Published: 15:38 BST, 26 January 2013 | Updated: 17:46 BST, 26 January 2013 A developer wants the city of Detroit to sell an island that is now a city park to a group of buyers looking to transform it into the newest U.S. commonwealth.
Rodney Lockwood, a developer from Bingham Farms, a village of 1,100 people about a half-hour from Detroit, is pushing for the city to sell the 982-acre Belle Isle for $1 billion to a group of investors who ‘believe in individual freedom, liberty and free markets,’ according to a website set up by proponents of the concept,, During the next three decades, the buyers would establish a ‘remarkable new nation’ of 35,000 people using private money, transforming the island into a quasi-autonomous state with its own government, currency and system of taxation. There would be no personal or corporate income tax in this business-friendly utopia.
This is what Belle Isle could look like in 30 years, if a group of investors purchases it for $1 billion and realizes their vision of turning the island in the Detroit River into a new U.S. commonwealth
Developer Rodney Lockwood says the economic effects of his plans for Belle Isle, the largest island city park in the United States, could restore Detroit to its glory days Most people would buy citizenship to Belle Isle at a cost of $300,000. Twenty percent of the population would be exempt from paying the fee, allowing for some socioeconomic diversity.
The Douglas MacArthur Bridge connects Detroit to Belle Isle, which developers want to buy and turn into a new city-state.
Developer Rodney Lockwood authored a book about his plans for the island titled ‘Belle Isle: Detroit’s Game Changer’ The construction jobs produced by the massive undertaking and its other economic benefits would restore Detroit ‘to its former glory,’ backers claim.
Belle Isle, a Detroit park, could become a U.S. commonwealth where the citizens all have good credit and no criminal history, if a group of investors is allowed to buy it Last fall, Detroit Mayor David Bing and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder reportedly struck a deal handing over the operation and management of Belle Isle to the state.
- City Council members were unhappy with the deal, which would have granted a 30-year lease of the island to the Department of Natural Resources, saying it lacked specifics and wouldn’t provide jobs and contracts to the people of Detroit.
- The agreement called for the state to fund renovations and operations of Belle Isle instead of paying rent which the brokers of the deal said would save the city $6 million a year.
The state wants the City Council to revisit the issue in 2013. : Belle Isle: Developer wants to buy island from Detroit and start ‘a remarkable new nation’
Can anyone go to Belle Isle?
GETTING TO THE PARK – Hours : 5am – 10pm, Daily Fee: Vehicles entering the island require a recreation passport ($12 annual pass for Michigan residents grants access to all MI State Parks.) Passengers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders do not require a passport.
Public Transit: The #12 Conant Bus line stops right in front of the Aquarium/Conservatory complex. Location: The bridge to enter Belle Isle Park is located at the intersection of Jefferson Ave and East Grand Blvd. The Park’s administration office is located at 99 Pleasure Drive, Detroit, MI 48207. Click HERE to download a park map.
Click HERE to download a self-guided tour map.
Why is it called Belle Isle?
History – “Pig Island” (Île aux Cochons) on a French map of 1796 The island was settled by French colonists in the 18th century, who named it Île aux Cochons (Hog Island). They allowed their livestock free range on the island. Following his victory in the War of 1812, American General Alexander Macomb, Jr.
was assigned to this region and owned the island as his estate. He was later appointed as Commanding General of the US Army. A monument to him was erected in the Washington Boulevard Historic District in downtown Detroit. On July 4, 1845, a historic picnic party was held on the island; attendees decided to change its name to “Belle Isle” in honor of Miss Isabelle Cass, daughter of Governor (General) Lewis Cass,
The name Belle Isle (an archaic spelling of Belle Île ) means “beautiful island” in French, The city planned to develop the island as a park, and hired prominent American urban park designer Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1880s to design it. He is known for his design of Central Park in New York City. Interior waterways in the park shown in a c.1880 image, soon after the park’s creation The old Belle Isle Casino, designed by Mason & Rice and built in 1884. It was demolished and replaced in 1908. One night in 1908, Byron Carter of Cartercar stopped to help a stranded motorist on Belle Isle. When he cranked her Cadillac, it kicked back and broke his jaw.
Complications from the injury resulted in his contracting pneumonia and he died. Henry Leland, founder of Cadillac Motors, said that “The Cadillac car will kill no more men if we can help it”. He hired Charles Kettering, who established Delco and developed the electric self-starter. This soon became standard on all automobiles.
Architect Cass Gilbert designed Belle Isle’s James Scott Memorial Fountain, completed in 1925. Gilbert’s other works include the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC. William Livingstone Memorial Light, the only marble lighthouse in the United States, is located on the east end of the island, and features sumptuous materials and architecture.
- It was named for the president of the Lakes Carriers Association, who advocated safety and navigational improvements in Great Lakes shipping.
- During World War II, the US military used the island park for training.
- They also staged a re-enactment of the invasion of a Pacific island invasion by the Navy and Marine Corps.
The island was temporarily renamed Bella Jima, and Detroiters witnessed an island invasion without the bloodshed. This event was conducted after the successful US invasion of Iwo Jima, The 1943 Detroit race riot began at Belle Isle, and spread to other areas of Detroit.34 people were killed and 433 were injured.
- At one time, the island housed a canoe concession, which provided rental canoes and stored private ones.
- Canoe riders often stopped at the nearby Remick Band Shell, which hosted regular concerts from 1950 to 1980.
- The band shell replaced an earlier facility and provided more amenities for performers and audience members.
It was constructed at a cost of $150,000 and was named for resident Jerome H. Remick, who owned the world’s largest music publishing house at the time. The Detroit Boat Club operated rented facilities on the island from 1902 until 1996. The marina and building are currently closed, and only rowing activities are still conducted at that location.
The Belle Isle Golf Course opened in 1922. The Detroit Yacht Club building dates to 1923 and still houses an active private sailing club; it also offers swimming and other country club amenities. The Activities Building was the site of a restaurant. The Flynn Pavilion (1949) was designed by Eero Saarinen and used for ice skating rental.
A ferry service to the island existed from 1840 to 1957, although the bridge was completed to the island in 1923. Riding stables were housed in an 1863 market building that was relocated from Detroit to the island in the 1890s. The building was disassembled and stored by Greenfield Village in the 2000s. Many fallow deer including the “white” variety were formerly widespread on the island From the 1890s, the island was home to a large herd of European fallow deer, But this isolated population fell prey to disease at the close of the 20th century as a result of cyclic inbreeding.
In 2004, the last of the 300 animals were captured and moved to the Detroit Zoo and nature center, located on Belle Isle. The children’s zoo on the island and the aquarium closed due to budget constraints. The Belle Isle Aquarium reopened on August 18, 2012, and is now run by the Belle Isle Conservancy.
It originally opened on August 18, 1904, and was the oldest continually operating public aquarium in North America when it closed on April 3, 2005. The aquarium was operated by the Detroit Zoological Society prior to the 2005 closure. It is open to the public from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm every Saturday and Sunday, free of charge.
The 10,000 sq ft (930 m 2 ) historic building features a single large gallery with an arched ceiling covered in green glass tile to evoke an underwater feeling. Additional recreational options in the early 21st century include a nature center, wheelchair accessible nature trail, fishing piers, playgrounds, picnic shelters, and handball, tennis and basketball courts, baseball fields, and cricket pitch.
After years of economic problems, in 2013, the city of Detroit declared bankruptcy. A State Emergency Manager was appointed by the state government to oversee the city’s finances. As part of the process, the state proposed taking over Belle Isle and converting it into a state park.
- Michigan Governor Rick Snyder signed a lease on October 1, 2013, to lease the park from the city for 30 years; while the city council rejected that offer in mid-October, the Michigan Emergency Loan Board opted for the state’s proposal on November 12, 2013.
- It set a 90-day transition period beginning on December 1, 2013, to turn the park operations over to the state.
As part of the deal, the state promised to make up to $20 million in improvements to the park over the next three years. Belle Isle formally became a state park on February 10, 2014. Users of the state park entering by car or motorcycle must either pay the standard state park user entrance fee or have a Michigan Recreational Passport sticker on the license plate of their vehicles.
There is no charge for those who enter the park on foot or by bicycle. Belle Isle was the top-visited state park in Michigan in 2016, receiving more than 4 million visitors. Since the state took control in 2014, it has invested $32 million in renovation and improvements in the park. The park is one of the termini for the cross-state Iron Belle Trail, which consists of separate hiking and biking trails.
On August 31, 2020, Belle Isle hosted a city-wide memorial to commemorate 1,500 victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mayor Mike Duggan declared the day as Detroit Memorial Day to honor the victims of the disease.
Is Belle Isle privately owned?
Owned by the city of Detroit, Belle Isle is managed as a state park by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources through a 30-year lease initiated in 2013; it was previously a city park.
Who created Belle Isle?
Detroit’s Belle Isle was designed by the noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, most famous for Central Park and the grounds of the 1897 world’s fair in Chicago. Unless of course it wasn’t. Local historian and Belle Isle enthusiast Joel Stone created a minor scandal last year when he wrote an article in The Free Press titled, “Everything You Know About the Birth of Belle Isle is a Lie-Well, Almost.” In it, Stone says that the island park owes far more to local designers, activists, and politicians over Olmsted.
- Among the bombshells he drops in the piece is Olmsted’s response when asked about Belle Isle: “I know nothing of this place.” Undoubtedly, this statement expressed his disaffection with his work and not a failure of memory.
- Stone gives more credit for Belle Isle’s makeup to such people as parks commissioner Edward Heckel, who oversaw the expansion of the island’s geographical footprint and the installation of the Scott Fountain, island superintendent William Ferguson, who helped create its lagoons and gardens, and Detroit News editor Michael Dee.
For most of us, questions of authorship won’t effect our next barbecue on the island. That many of the public restrooms seem to be both clean and open for use thanks to the Department of Natural Resources is of more immediate importance. However, the reaction that Stone’s article caused within a small set of historically-minded island enthusiasts is notable and could affect the way we see and use the park at a critical moment in the island’s history. Boating on the Grand Canal in the early 1900s Belle Isle was socially, ecologically, and geographically significant long before it became a park. We don’t have much information on how it was used by Native Americans, but Chief Pontiac did conquer the island during the siege of Detroit.
French settlers used it as a commons where they kept pigs safe from wolves, giving it the name Ile aux Cochons or “hog island.” For years people have felt the island to be special place. One memoir from the 18th century says, “It has the finest timber in the world and prairies without end.” The island was inhabited – albeit sparsely – throughout the nineteenth century, and has always been a popular setting for picnics.
The City of Detroit finally acquired the island in 1879 and contracted Frederick Law Olmsted to design and develop it as a public park. From the beginning, Olmsted showed more investment in the park than many Detroiters. He waved his normal visitation fee for cities, agreeing to charge only expenses.
- To show their gratitude, Detroit’s Common Council subsequently denied his invoice for $70.25.
- When local officials challenged the feasibility of docking ferries on the western end of the island, Olmsted chartered a boat himself and landed it there.
- After completing his plan for the park and publishing it at his own expense, Olmsted, frustrated with the bureaucratic wrangling over the park, resigned from the project.
This was not the first time Olmsted left a project. Sometimes he still managed to wield impressive influence over designs he abandoned. Belle Isle, however, is notable for how little of his plan was implemented and, even more so, how much of it has been contradicted by subsequent developments.
The plan itself is remarkably simple: “The Key to all Improvements of Belle Isle must be found in the Character of the Existing Wood,” he writes in the policy paper, ” The Park for Detroit,” To this end, he planned to leave most of the woodland on the island untouched, instead focusing on infrastructure, like his never completed 600 ft.
sheltered ferry dock at the western end of the island. A wide Central Avenue would connect this area to the wooded east of the island with “parade grounds,” now the athletic fields, to the south. Olmsted believed firmly in the value of nature, especially as a counterpoint to life in the city.
The park should as far as possible, complement the town,” he writes in “Public Parks and the Enlargement of Towns.” “Openness is the one thing you cannot get in buildings. Picturesqueness you can get. Let your buildings be as picturesque as your artists can make them. This is the beauty of a town. Consequently, the beauty of the park should be the other.
It should be the beauty of the fields, the meadow, the prairie, of the green pastures and the still waters. What we want to gain is tranquility and rest to the mind.” Olmsted forgotten Today, Belle Isle is peppered with structures that have little to do with Olmsted’s vision. The Belle Isle Park Driving Range parking lot Then there are other uses that are totally inimical to the values Olmsted championed, but which many visitors enjoy. The Detroit Grand Prix, an annual summer car race that overtakes the island, comes to mind.
Without a set of principles, a park could be used for almost anything, thus risking its very park-ness. That’s how libertarian developers advocate turning the park into a futuristic city state, among other things. “One thing about Belle Isle that is particularly true is that lots of institutions ended up there,” says Ethan Carr, head of the National Association of Olmsted Parks.
“It became almost like a fairground for the city of Detroit.” Currently, the island houses a number of such institutions, some of them exclusionary in nature, including the Yacht Club, Coast Guard station, nature center, and golf course. Some of these are well-loved and help bring people to the park.
But as Elizabeth Rogers from The Central Park Conservancy points out, it’s much easier to put something in a park than to remove it. “The first thing people need to remember is that the real purpose of large public parks is accessibility,” Carr says. “If you believe that, then things like having car races or charging entrance fees is contrary to that purpose.
The public park is itself the institution.” Why Olmsted still matters Because of all the non-Olmsted sanctioned additions, one can rightly wonder if he even deserves the distinction of Belle Isle’s designer. Carr believes he does, as Olmsted’s mark on the island has as much to do with the values embedded in it, and of the larger historical moment, as it does with the design itself.
- As much as he believed in cities, Olmsted saw how stifling they could be and envisioned the need for green-space as critical for both mental and physical release.
- We want, especially,” he writes, “the greatest possible contrast with the restraining and confining conditions of the town, those conditions which compel us to walk circumspectly, watchfully, jealously, which compel us to look closely upon others without sympathy.
Practically what we most want is a simple and open space of greensward, with sufficient play of surface and a sufficient number of trees about it to supply a variety of light and shade.”” We are living under very special circumstances with Department of Natural Resources (DNR) leasing and managing the island.
It is still a City Park owned by the City of Detroit, but the DNR’s lease of the island means that it is effectively being managed as a State Park, which is recreation passports are required of visitors. A spokesperson for the DNR says they are currently working with Detroit Department of Transportation to restore bus service to the island.
This wouldn’t be an issue if Belle Isle were not an island, an irregularity that has long complicated access to the space. Landscape designer Erin Kelly says that Belle Isle was one of the few places where a person can really get close to the water, which is strange considering how much Detroit’s identity – indeed, it’s very name – relates to the river. Nature trail in Belle Isle The special ecology of Belle Isle should also be observed. A number of rare plant species make their home there. Various animals, including the endangered blandings turtle, bald eagles, and common terns, have made a return. Perhaps this is the area where Olmsted’s influence can be most useful in charting the course for the island’s future.
- Stone agrees on this point: “Central to Olmsted’s plan was simplicity and indigenous nature,” he says.
- Native plantings and a simpler infrastructure are elements of Olmsted’s plan that could be leveraged in the future, to the island’s advantage.” But the woodlands on the island’s east end can hardly be left as is.
A certain sense of wildness is desirable, but much of the park is inaccessible in its present condition. Unfortunately, landscaping, new plantings, and changes to the hydrology to help manage flooding, would require significant financial investment. People can easily grasp and appreciate investment in a wonderful building like The Aquarium, but money spent on the landscape is harder to notice because, if done correctly, it’s so natural as to appear invisible.
For Olmsted and others, this neglected landscape is the park’s true value. The DNR says they will release a master plan in the fall detailing a trail system and new plantings on the east end of the island. They’re also working with The Friends of The Detroit River on “blue trails” – protected waterways open to canoeing, kayaking, wildlife viewing, and other low-impact uses – in the Blue Heron Lagoon and Lake Okonoka for boaters and kayakers.
All this is good news. Lori Feret, one of the thousands of island volunteers from the Belle Isle Conservancy, Friends of Belle Isle, and other organizations, says, “The thing that I find really super about that end of the island is you would never know you were in a big city.
You run into people, but not a ton. It’s so quiet. You have to stop and tell yourself, ‘I’m in the middle of Detroit’! It’s great.” This magical condition of being in a great American city while simultaneously feeling yourself to be somewhere far away is something that Olmsted grasped all those years ago.
And it’s one reason to give his plan another look today.
Who owns Belle Isle Windermere?
Belle Isle (privately owned) –
Largest island on the lake, lies across Bowness Bay in the centre of Windermere One mile long. Used to be known as the Great Island. It is rumoured that the Roman commander at Ambleside, four miles away, built a villa here as a pleasure house. During the Civil War it was a Royalist stronghold of the local Philipson family. The unusual circular house was started in 1774. Wordsworth was deeply unimpressed, describing the house as looking like a tea canister in a shop window. Seven years later the island was bought on behalf of the heiress Isabella Curwen by her cousin John Christian, who later became her husband. Formerly known as Long Holme, the island was renamed by John Christian in honour of his new wife. The island is privately owned, so please do not attempt to land on it.
Who owns Belle Isle Richmond?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Belle Isle | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
U.S. Historic district | |
People on the rocks of Belle Isle | |
Show map of Virginia Show map of the United States Show all | |
Location | James R. at US 1/301, Richmond, Virginia |
---|---|
Coordinates | 37°31′45″N 77°27′09″W / 37.52916°N 77.45254°W Coordinates : 37°31′45″N 77°27′09″W / 37.52916°N 77.45254°W |
Area | 54 acres (22 ha) |
Architectural style | Industrial Archeology |
NRHP reference No. | 95000246 |
Added to NRHP | March 17, 1995 |
Belle Isle is a small 54-acre (22 ha) island in the city of Richmond, Virginia, Belle Island lies within the James River, and being owned by the city it serves as a city park. It is accessible to pedestrian and bicycle traffic via a suspension footbridge that runs under the Robert E.
- Lee Memorial Bridge from the northern shore or via a wooden bridge from the southern shore.
- Except when the water level of the James is high, it is also reachable by foot from the southern shore via easy boulder-hopping.
- From Belle Isle, one can see Hollywood Cemetery, the old Tredegar Iron Works, and Richmond City’s skyline,
Belle Isle has many bike trails around the island, and has a small cliff used for rock climbing instruction.