The two RV Gypsies at
Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park
October 13, 2014

Vollis Simpson made metal scraps into magnificent things that twirled and jangled and clattered when he set them out on his land, and he did so long before anyone started calling them whirligigs or him an artist. He died at his home in Lucama, N.C. He was 94.

By the end of his life Mr. Simpson had become an art star. His 55-foot-tall, 45-foot-wide “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” is on permanent display at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, and his works are part of several other collections, including the American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan. In Wilson, N.C., about 10 miles from Lucama, that city plans to open the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park this fall to display many of the artist’s most ambitious works.

But on this date, the two RV Gypsies visited the original site that was advertised in brochures they found. Sadly, the whirligigs were in bad need of repair.

A whirligig is an object that spins or whirls, or has at least one member that spins or whirls. Whirligigs are also known as pinwheels, buzzers, comic weather vanes, gee-haws, spinners, whirlygigs, whirlijigs, whirlijig, whirlybird, or plain whirly. Whirligigs are most commonly powered by the wind but can be hand, friction, or motor powered. They can be used as a kinetic garden ornament. They can be designed to transmit sound and vibration into the ground to repel burrowing rodents in yards, gardens, and backyards. Types of whirligigs: button, friction and string whirligigs, wind-driven whirligigs.

More Whirligigs that are in good condition can be seen in the sub-menus below: Wilson Rose Garden, Wilson Botanical Garden and downtown Wilson. Be sure to take the time to enjoy them.