Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

           After returning home for a short reprieve, I found myself on the road again in the beginning of September. The summer sun remained unrelenting as the Pennsylvania Turnpike greeted me with the sentimental highway hum of tires on pavement. It was the day after Labor Day, and school buses were bringing eager kids back to school. The world was settling back into the working part of the year, and I was back on the road. It couldn’t have been better, and it wasn’t long before Harrisburg appeared on the horizon.  

            Arriving in Harrisburg shortly before noon, I exited the highway and entered the city on a street that seemed to be in the center of town. People were walking about with the hustle and bustle of a weekday morning. A clean-cut woman with wild, frizzy hair sat outside a Mexican restaurant hastily inhaling a taco while simultaneously talking on her phone. Walking past her, a tall man with a huge coffee and an impressive mustache lead his grinning dog down the street toward the corner. The traffic light ahead of me turned red, and as I braked, my gaze landed on a suited man carrying a briefcase who hurried across the street in front of me, barking into his phone in a big-city fashion. When the light turned green, I turned the corner to see the Capitol appear in front of me. It was massive, erected at the end of the street on which I was now driving.

I parked nearby and walked up to the edifice. The architecture of the building spoke of grandeur. A tall golden statue, Commonwealth, stood 14 ½ feet tall atop a tremendous green dome that soared above the rest of the building. The American Flag flew majestically in front of it, uninhibited and prevalent in its display. Below our star spangled banner were four pairs of astounding columns that support the impressive weight of the roof. Beneath the bases of the columns was the second floor balcony, and beneath that was entry level.  It was 272 feet tall and all of that height sat far above street level, with countless stairs leading up to it. Despite a light breeze, the heat and humidity was definitely noticeable. The granite façade of the building reflected the mid-day sun so intensely that I had to avert my eyes as I climbed, and I was panting by the time I reached the summit. As soon as I stepped in through the enormous entryway, the rotunda expanded before my eyes.

The awe I was experiencing must have been apparent, because the woman at the visitor’s information desk directly to the right of the front doors smiled. “I like seeing people’s faces when they first walk in,” she told me with a twinkle in her eye. She informed me that the next tour was starting by the Grand Staircase in a few minutes, so I walked around the rotunda and soaked in the artwork in the mean time.

The interior of the dome was painted and decorated with gold leaf designs. Four walls met at the rotunda, and upon each of them a representative mural was painted. This was a style and design feature that is common in many state Capitols. Each of these figures was labeled with one of the words ‘Art’, ‘Science’, ‘Law’, and ‘Religion.’ Just above the figures, a famous quote from William Penn runs along the walls of the rotunda. It read, “There may be room there for such a holy experiment, for the nations want a precedent. And my God will make it the seed of a nation. That an example may be set up to the nations. That we may do the thing that is truly wise and just.”

The floor of the rotunda was hand-made Moravian tile created by Henry Mercer. His work is not what most people would think of when they hear, ‘tile.’ Really, they are pictures. He laid out detailed depictions of American life in a mosaic, arranged into a final product measuring roughly twelve inches square. These compilations were spaced out evenly across the rotunda floor, and, as I learned later on, they must be maintained regularly to prevent the wear and tear from so many thousands of feet over so many decades.

Over the next few minutes, a number of other visitors began to gather in the rotunda in anticipation of seeing the rest of the rooms. It wasn’t long before a woman with brown hair and a beaming smile came over and gathered us all on the stairs to begin the tour. Starting with the features of the rotunda, our guide enthusiastically informed us that some of the rotunda’s design features, such as the Grand Staircase and the four-story gallery, are modeled after the Paris Opera House. She went on to mention that Edwin Austin Abbey, who was one of many artists commissioned to paint inside the Capitol building, painted the four murals on each of the walls just below the dome. It was in this very rotunda that Theodore Roosevelt dedicated the building in 1906, declaring, "It's the handsomest building I ever saw."

Our docent led the group upstairs to the Senate Chamber. Violet Oakley painted the murals adorning the handsome walls. Originally, Edwin Austin Abbey was contracted to do both the Senate and the Supreme Court Chambers, but he died suddenly on August 1, 1911. Oakley, who was painting the Governor’s Reception Room at the time, was asked to paint the Chambers in lieu of Abbey. Among the murals were depictions of George Washington at the Constitutional Convention, and Lincoln at Gettysburg in 1863. Those two paintings were arranged on either side of the President of the Senate’s chair. The largest mural is of Unity, a figure dressed in blue.

Violet Oakley, in addition to being one of the most respected artists of her time, was a good friend of my great-great-grandmother. Although she was a very talented woman, she apparently did not have much of a sense of humor. She never married, and there was some speculation that she might have been gay, but due to the cultural stigmas during her lifetime, she would have never admitted it. Many of her paintings spoke of a deep passion and reverence for our founding fathers and the principles on which this country was formed. It is clear to me after looking at her work that she was moved by the history of our nation to an unprecedented degree.

Moving on to the Supreme Court Chamber, our tour group was given another view of Violet Oakley’s work. The Supreme Court Chamber was decorated on every wall by murals. My favorite example of her vision and skill was displayed above the entrance to the Courtroom. It was a painting that incorporated letters within it to spell out the words ‘Love,’ ‘Law,’ and ‘Wisdom.’ Angels were holding on to all of the letters, signaling their importance. The background of the image was vivid patterns of a wide variety of colors. It was an ingenious piece of work, and inspirational to look at.

The next and final stop in our tour was in the House Chamber. Similar in style to the Senate Chamber, it had intricate gold-leaf designs adorning the ceiling and walls. A beautiful mural depicting the different stages of day and night covered the center of the ceiling. It was the perfect focal point for the overall design, bringing together all other aspects of decoration in the room.

After the tour, I went in search of the Governor’s Reception room. I saw a young man and woman, who were walking rapidly down the hall and talking animatedly, and asked them for guidance. They said it was kind of difficult to explain from where I was, so instead they took me a back way through a few rooms that are not typically open to public tours. We crossed the main floor of the House Chamber, giving me a rare look at the circular mural in the center of the ceiling. It was only from this vantage point that I was able to truly appreciate the mural from a clearer perspective, and it made me feel like I was a much more important visitor than I was. After a few minutes, we arrived at the Governor’s Reception Room. Feeling I thanked the pair graciously, and they departed just as quickly as they had appeared.

Eager to see more of Violet Oakley’s work, I entered the Governor’s Reception Room. Many of the murals depicted William Penn’s vision and different events that led to the creation of what is now Pennsylvania. She painted Penn as a leader that could be replaced with no other. Each of her works were painted with such meticulous care, one could not help but feel the same appreciation for his contribution to this country that she clearly did.

William Penn was a Quaker who believed that everyone had to seek God in his or her own way. He was given the opportunity to implement these beliefs when King Charles II gave him a large piece of land in the New World to satisfy a debt the King owed to Penn’s father. Once he moved to the New World and established the Province of Pennsylvania, Penn sought out religious groups that were persecuted in Europe and invited them to live in his colony. Although all the other colonies had established an official church, Penn allowed people to practice religion as they pleased. Penn was extremely tolerant and progressive for his time, but that did not mean that the entire spectrum of religions was given equal rights. Only Christians were permitted to vote, but people of all religions were allowed to live and work in Pennsylvania. Due to the openness with which Penn governed, Pennsylvania quickly became the most diverse colony in the New World.

Penn also believed strongly in representative government. When he arrived in Pennsylvania in 1681 he created the General Assembly, which was an elected body of 36 men with the power to accept or reject laws. In 1696, the Assembly demanded the power to make laws themselves, and although Penn was reluctant, his belief in a representative government prevailed. This system inspired the founding fathers of our nation and influenced the United States Constitution.

After visiting the Governor’s Reception Room, I left the Capitol in search of lunch and found it not far away. It was a typical American restaurant with a large bar and a football game playing on the television. I got a table near the front of the place, thankful to be back in the air conditioning. It was the afternoon lull, around 3, and no one else was in there.

As I appeased my growling stomach, I thought about everything that I learned. The Capitol in Harrisburg has been hailed as the most beautiful State House in the country, with commissioned work from some of the most prominent artists at the time. Violet Oakley was a female pioneer in this respect, as it was very rare for a woman to be given a task of such prevalence. Through her art and depictions of historical events, one can see the deeply rooted admiration that she held for William Penn, the history of Pennsylvania, and the heritage of the United States. After my experiences in Harrisburg, I realized for the first time that not only did Pennsylvania play a crucial part in the development of the country, but also it arguably played the most important role out of all the colonies. The formation of Pennsylvania and its government directly influenced the founding fathers when they created the Constitution, and was the most progressive and diverse colony in the New World. Pennsylvania led the colonies and the rest of the nation to its future of tolerance and acceptance. Knowing how Pennsylvania has played an integral part in the construction of our nation, it seemed only fitting that the people within the Capitol, and those that helped create the Capitol, would be honored to work for the Keystone State. Even in it’s nickname, Pennsylvania shows that it claims an essential part of our nation’s history.

          The following morning, I rejoined the hum of the interstate, and headed for Charleston.



Don't forget to like and share my Facebook page!!