What is the Singing Tower?
On top of a lofty hill, near Lake Wales, Florida, in a park and bird sanctuary, stands a beautiful tower 205 feet high, a shaft of color rising above the green of the surrounding forest. It is built of Florida stone and pink Georgia marble.
Round the tower at the top is a marble band on which are carved flamingos, cranes and other birds native to Florida. The grillwork at the windows represents animals and plants of Florida. The brass door tells the story of the world’s creation as it is reported in the Bible. Surrounding the tower is a moat, crossed by marble drawbridges and lengthening in front into a mirror-like pool.
In the tower are seventy-one beautifully toned bells forming one of the largest carilIons (sets of chimes) in the world. Four times a week the carillon-master gives public recitals and visitors come from all over the state to listen to these magnificent concerts.
The Singing Tower and the bird sanctuary in which it stands were presented to the people of the United States on February r, 1929, by Edward W. Bok, a philanthropist who started life as a poor immigrant boy from the Netherlands and rose to great wealth in America. Mr. Bok died in 1930, and lies buried in a crypt at the base of the tower.
