Locked In Love

(Hmmmm…when I phrase the title like that it sounds like a trap.) Well – I’m making a play on this concept. Today I visited Leeds Historical Park in the city of Leeds, AL. It’s a very pleasant drive and it was such a pretty day to visit a park. I took several pictures (all the ones you see here and more…).

One thing caught my attention and I had to make an issue of it. I stepped onto a bridge, which seems to be one of several central features of the park, and hanging all along the chain-link sides of the railing were padlocks. Almost all of them had a date and people’s names on them, so I assumed each one was placed there by a couple who had visited the bridge.

I posted on my facebook page about it, as I have never seen a tradition like this anywhere, and at the time was unaware that Paris had a famous bridge with a bunch of locks on it as well, but that one became weakened and is no longer standing. My friend, who is a phenomenal researcher, posted an article about lock bridges (which you can read here). It explains the tradition’s origins. Summarized, it originated in Hungary but became famous in Paris. Apparently there is a legend that tells of a woman who lost her lover in WWI and she placed a lock at each bridge where the couple had met in the past in order to symbolize her unbreakable love. A sweet but very sad story.

This park had a lot of cool tidbits of history sprinkled thought it – such as monuments and plaques featuring recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor and people who had contributed to the city and the park, etc. It’s a lovely place and I imagine I will visit again and read more about the history of the city and people who lived there. For now I will leave you with some of the better photos of the day and bid you “good night”.

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