Kingwood Center Gardens in Mansfield, Ohio

On Thursday, Keith and Ruth Ann treated us to a visit at Kingwood Center in Mansfield, Ohio, to see the gardens and home there.

Map of the gardens

Keith and Ruth Ann in front of the mum-tree outside the visitor center

Our picture in front of the mum-tree

Fall decorations on display

They were having a pumpkin carving at the gardens on Friday, and many of the fruits of the labor of carving were on display -- so creative! You may be able to see an arched-back cat on the left pumpkin with a spider on the round hole, and a rat looking out the rat hole on the "house" on the right.

View across the gardens and lake to the entry center with decorated pumpkins all along the way.

This one had lightweight "bats" stuck to the pumpkin that were fluttering in the breeze.

Then we went into Mr King's home...

 

Dining room

Butler's pantry

Kitchen area with refrigerator and prep space...

...another view of the kitchen

Hallway at main staircase

Library

Second section of library -- he had a card catalog and the books all appeared to be cataloged (Library of Congress, not Dewey Decimal!)

Evidently Mr King made his money from inventing / improving power pole insulators, especially for high voltage. Carl said he must have overpriced them to have enough money to build this mansion!

Ballroom on the ground floor

Outside of the house - quite impressive!

Ruth Ann took this nice picture of us walking in the gardens

The trees had their beautiful colors on display!

A *huge* tree on the grounds... can you see me impersonating a tree hugger?

See how big the tree is compared to me hugging it?

Some of the folks carving pumpkins

Some of the completed carved pumpkins

We also went in the green houses...

One of the interesting displays was one of carnivorous plants...

The one with the pink flowers above is the Pitcher Plant

This is a Sundew

And this is a Venus Fly Trap

More decorated pumpkins lining the pool

A carved pumpkin fish is appropriate to be displayed in the pool!

The front of the visitor center / gift shop / meeting room building.

We had a great visit at Kingwood Center!