I took this picture about 17 years ago; it was a film shot. Just came across it.
It's called, the "Temple of Love," by locals, or the "Temple of Vesta," and it's located at Mt. Storm Park; the structure is all that's left of the estate of former Clifton mayor, Robert Bowler. Pretty cool: Bowler hosted a number of prominent guests at his estate including Edward, Prince of Wales, later King of England, and Charles Dickens. In 1845, Bowler hired Adolph Straucha, a well-known landscape architect from Vienna, Austria, to design the Temple. Bowler's land once included a mansion, a wine cellar, 17 greenhouses, a waterfall, and a lake with black swans. In 1911, the Temple was included in the park land. Rad.
It is believed that the first structure honoring Vesta dated back to the 3rd century BCE. Apparently, it was a simple, circular hut celebrating "the home."
The local rumor around Mt. Storm was that if you met someone within this structure, the person was your soul mate, and the two of you would marry and be together forever.
I used to frequently visit this park...but I stuck to the lookout and the rolling hills. I sat on the Temple steps a few times. It is a magnificent piece of land.
C.A. MacConnell
