Above: Henry Plant Museum Exterior. Credit: George Cott
Hello, friends! My name is Cosmo and I am a Good Dog who loves museums. How could you not love museums? They are full of my favorite things:
Today I’d like to tell you about my most favorite museum, the Henry Plant Museum in Tampa, Florida. I’ve visited there several times, and have even helped them make a couple short movies!
When you first arrive, humans tend to be awed by the building itself, but I was a little more focused on “Au Coup de Fusil,” a sculpture of two hunting dogs that sits on the front lawn. It was created by Eglantine Lemaitre and is the first piece of public art in the City of Tampa! Anyway, back to the building. There’s really nothing else like it in Tampa (or anywhere else I’ve been). It looks like a castle or palace built of lovely red bricks with shiny minarets and domes on top. The building opened in 1891 as the Tampa Bay Hotel, a winter resort for tourists from the north. The Hotel had 511 rooms, parlors, ballrooms and a grand dining room, so you can imagine just how huge it is. It faces beautiful Plant Park, bordered by the Hillsborough River. I really love walking through the park after visiting the Museum. Henry Plant, for whom the Museum is named, had a transportation empire of railroads, steamships, and hotels, and was super important in the development of the Florida tourist industry. You’ll learn a bunch more about him inside the Museum!
Once you get inside the Museum, you can buy your tickets at the front desk ($12 adults, $10 seniors, $7 youth) and if you’re lucky, you’ll get a head scratch along with your admission sticker. It’s nice and cool and a little dark inside because the Museum uses replicas of the original lighting from the 1890s. Most of the lightbulbs are bare, just as they would have been back then, and it was one of the first buildings in Florida to be fully electrified. Your admission includes an audio tour that you can listen to on your cell phone. It is full of great information that really brings the past to life.
Exploring the Museum is the best part. Rooms are set up as vignettes of life at the Tampa Bay Hotel and the more you look, the more fun things you’ll find. You’ll definitely want to check out the Writing and Reading Room – the most authentic room in the whole Museum (don’t miss the two portraits of dogs wearing clothes), the parlor suite (the bed and couches look super comfortable but I’m a Good Dog who knows better than to get on the furniture), and the Sports and Amusements Room (I’m not sure about the bobcat, but please say ‘hi’ for me). Other exhibit focus on Henry Plant, the Spanish-American War, and Oh yeah, be sure to see the rotating exhibit space. It changes every year. My favorite was “Dogs in Art”, but the exhibit in there always does a great job diving deep into a new theme or episode in the Tampa Bay Hotel’s history. This year you can see “Stop the Presses! Fake News and the War of 1898” – an exhibit all about yellow journalism and the journalists who stayed at the Hotel before the Spanish-American War.
There’s a lot more to the Museum than just the exhibits. I’ve gone to several of the programs and always have a great time. I give two paws up to the Victorian Christmas Stroll and Picnic in the Park. At the Victorian Christmas Stroll you can see 100 Christmas trees, more lights and decorations than I can count, listen to live music, visit during evening hours, and get cider and cookies on the veranda! Picnic in the Park is super fun with all the live entertainment, free popcorn, field games (I’m the best at croquet) and best of all, a Dog Parade. You can also see Upstairs Downstairs live theater every Sunday at 2pm and meet some of the people who lived and worked the Tampa Bay Hotel.
I should probably tell you that dogs (even Very Good Dogs) aren’t usually allowed in the Museum unless they are Service Dogs. But that’s okay, because our humans can visit and tell us all about it.
This really is my favorite museum. I helped them make a Dog’s Eye View tour a few years ago for their Dogs in Art exhibit. It was so successful that I was invited back to make a Re-Opening-After-COVID-Closure video and a Victorian Christmas Stroll video. Every time I visit I notice something new and different. I love learning about the people who lived a long time ago and how their lives were different from (or similar to) today.
What’s your favorite Museum? Where should I visit next?
Love, Cosmo
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Cosmo is a 13 year old Labrador mix. He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida with his parents and is very talented at begging for treats, taking walks, and dressing up like his favorite museum objects. His hobbies include napping, playing with toys, eating carrots, staying underfoot while dinner is being cooked, and protecting the house while mom and dad are at work. Cosmo’s love for museums comes from his mom, who is a museum professional and helps him with his twitter account @FromCosmo.