You’ve likely smiled at eddies many times as you passed them in someone’s yard, not knowing you were admiring a 10,000-year-old folk art form.

Hook the weather vanes to the windmills and you get eddies, an ancient device whose sole purpose is to delight onlookers.

Although once very popular, pinwheels have declined in popularity, except for the young at heart. Some local fans keep historical devices alive.

Every climate dependent civilization for agriculture or navigation invented the simple pointer that indicates the direction of the wind. Representations are in Samaria, Egypt and China. We continue to trust them.

Windmills (inclined blades attached to a shaft) spinning wheels that grind grain, pump water, or generate electricity are almost as old as weather vanes. The genius who merged weather vanes and windmills has long been forgotten, but not his legacy.

Medieval European tapestries show children playing with small eddies of a toy horse at one end of a pole and 4-bladed propellers at the other end.

This was a time of chivalry and knights on horseback brandishing spears and swords to rescue maidens in distress. The 1440 edition of the Oxford English Dictionary defined “whyrlegyge” as “any spinning toy”.

In the late 1700s of colonial America, human figures waving their arms, holding swords, shovels, pitchforks, and other implements, were popular.

When George Washington returned home to Mt. Vernon after the Revolutionary War, he brought his whilagigs for Martha’s grandchildren.

Washington Irving, in his 1820 “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, wrote of “a little wooden warrior who, armed with a sword in each hand, fought valiantly against the wind on top of the barn.”

In the late 1800s, popular eddies showed Indians paddling canoes, birds with flapping wings, men sawing wood, and women scrubbing clothes in a tub.

The first settlers on the south shore of the Peace River in Charlotte Harbor were Fred and Anna Howard in 1875. The following year they were joined by Fred’s brother, Jarvis, and his family.

Jarvis kept a journal and recounted their first Christmas together in 1876. Among the gifts exchanged was a “whirlpool” from Fred and Anna for the Jarvis family. The size and design of the contraption was not stated.

Eddies experienced a revival during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Working men or women could make eddies out of scrap wood and sell them from their front yards for a dollar. This would feed a family of four for one day. (He.)

Interestingly, the eddies sold well. They were relatively cheap and cheered up when times were dark.

One of the favorite toys during the depression was the spinning wheel, a basic whirligig. The dime stores sold them for ten cents, of course. They were built from a square of colorful celluloid, the first plastic, the tips of which were split, bent, and nailed to a stick. You created wind to spin the whirlpool by running or holding it out of a car window.

A beautiful three-tiered whirlpool, with multi-colored, counter-rotating paddles adorned a patio across the street from the Punta Gorda Isles Yacht Club.

The most spectacular whirlpool in southwest Florida is about ten feet high at Punta Gorda. Stroll happily at the western end of Olympia Avenue, near the Visual Arts Center and Fishermen’s Village.

Its vertical and horizontal blades of polished and crimson stainless steel were created, and are maintained, by Stephen Schwarz, a fellow at the Center for Visual Arts. He has several more works of art in his house.

Traditional eddies are made by hobbyists like Gerry Philbrick from the Punta Gorda Islands. He likes traditional designs, like flying cardinals and little men who chop wood with energy in the breeze.

Many history and art museums have collections of whirlpools. Private artisans create whirlwind “gardens” for fun and profit. Roadside craft vendors offer a wide variety of eddies for sale.

The best seller on these parts is Chris “Kringle” Williams, the “toy maker” at Fort Ogden on SR 17 between Punta Gorda and Arcadia. His “Santa Claus workshop” is set back from the road but easily visible. He and his wife Delores preside over a showroom of thousands of handmade novelties in a historic general store building.

Artisans, or artisans, will find an Anders Lunde book interesting and instructive. “Whirligigs Design & Construction” (Chilton Book Company, Radnor, Pa.) Can be ordered at any bookstore.

Lunde is credited with having revived the whirlpool a quarter of a century ago. Renowned wood painter and sculptor, Lunde won first prize in a sculpture at the 1981 Durham, North Carolina Art Guild Fair Exhibition. He received two awards for his whirlwinds at the North Carolina Crafts Fair 1983.

His book contains easy-to-follow instructions and patterns for building swirls, from pinwheels to elaborate groupings of various animated figures.

CAUTION: Exposure to eddies could penetrate you.

August 17, 2000