Magnolias and Monument at Goodwin Park

I was scouting photo locations today on my lunch break when I drove past Goodwin Park on Islington Street and noticed how beautiful the magnolias there are.  They're in full bloom.  Mission success: I found my spot.

The ground there is littered with fallen petals.  A stiff breeze could strip the trees in the next few days.  The time to see them is now.

According to SeacoastNH.Com, the monument in the scene was made by Monumental Bronze Company and dedicated on 4 July 1888.  It's called "Soldiers & Sailors Monument."

For decades after the the Great Rebellion (the "Civil War"), a national industry in war monuments was established, including monuments to treason disguised as honor in the southern states.  Whenever you drive around our local village, town and city centers and parks, pay attention to the war monuments.  You'll probably notice that a lot of them are identical.  The Sailors and Soldiers Monument, like so many, is an off-the-rack monument.  It wasn't custom-built.  (The monument to controversial Union General Fitz John Porter in Haven Park is a custom monument paid for by Porter himself.  He had a reputation to salvage.  An interesting account of that can be read in Wikipedia.)

One of my goals in photographing Portsmouth is to discover natural views heretofore unremarked and captured in local photography.  The photo in this post isn't intended to be an example of what I mean.  An earlier post I made of a view on Banfield Road is.  I have one lined up for a landscape dawn shot when the sky is full of clouds on fire against a field of blue.  (That's a matter of timing and determination.  It's so hard to get up that early, especially when I'm not sure that it's going to pay off.)  The scene I have in mind is a vista within Portsmouth city limits that looks like you're lost in nature with no building in sight.  All appropriate suggestions for other likely spots are welcome.