Orchids in Gilded Age New York:By Erica Hannickel

摘要

WHEN I BEGAN a search for evidence of the first large, public orchid show in America, I thought I would find the usual suspects of the 19th century plant world — which is to say grizzled, one-armed Amazonian explorers and overextended, anxiety-riddenplant sellers. I crossed my fingers for a few inventive floral designers, and I knew I would encounter some inquiring, bug-eyed scientists. I had high hopes for haughty high-class ladies to emerge from the archives; those overdressed Victorian floraphiles with money to burn. And I did find all these personalities and more. What surprised me instead was where the first orchid show took place: not a botanical garden, not a civic center, not a college campus, not a seller's greenhouse. It turns out that the first orchid show was staged in one of the most notorious neighborhoods in all of Gilded Age America — New York City's rough-and-ready Tenderloin District. Today the spot straddles Chelsea and the Flariron District. The original site to host the United States' largest orchid show was the Eden Musee, a lofty name for a sketchy dime museum, a magpie's nest of frightening oddities.