James Scott Memorial Fountain — Attraction in Detroit

Controversial. A beautiful fountain with a dubious past. The man for whom the fountain is named was a lazy, eccentric socialite and from all accounts a sociopath. He was also described as a “vindictive, scurrilous misanthrope” with a legion of enemies. He left his fortune to the city on one condition: that a statue be erected in his honor. After contentious debate the city built the fountain and statue you see today. Statue?You say? What statue? Seated behind the fountain and generally unnoticed is the statue of James Scott. Ignore the statue visit the fountain. I think my favorite thing was the spraying water so gloriously restored...

Apparently Mr. Scott was wasn’t the kindest of men. In Wikipedia it describes a fight over whether or not to accept his money and built the required statute to him after the way he lived his life. This just served to increase the amount of money available for the fountain built in 1925 as it was before the Great Depression and the stock market was booming. Beautiful fountain. Not running when I was there but the statues were easier to see anyway. I love the turtles and frogs. If you have a state park pass on your license plate you don’t have to pay to enter Belle Isle. It’s worth the trip for this...

There is some much park and beauty to enjoy here. The Fountain was so clean and the marble as well as attention to detail is beyond belief. They also host different events here from time to time and on this visit was a market and many vendors as well as food trucks. A sight you must pass by to enjoy. You have picnic areas, an conservancy, aquarium, museum, baseball field area, fishing pier and so much more… Oh and fun fact, the views also include looking over to Canada from this location...