Postcards From the Lake: Road Trip to a Castle!

I promise the next post will be about art camp (unless it's a book wrap up!) But I thought I'd wrap up earlier events first. You may remember that my friend Suzanne came to the cottage for a visit in late July. Most of the time we hung around home, talking, puzzling, farm marketing. 

 

But on one beautiful day we opted for a road trip to Castle Farms in Charlevoix, Michigan. It was a castle, yes, but a relatively modern one.

I hope you're ready for a photo-heavy post because there was much to photograph. All aboard!

 

The castle was originally built by Arthur Loeb, president of the Sears Roebuck Company in Chicago. Built as a summer estate for his family in 1918 and called Loeb Farms, it served as a model dairy farm. It's said his inspirations were the castles and stone barns of Normandy in France. It was at the farm that he had Holstein-Fresian cows that were housed and milked in stone barns  adjacent to the castle.

 

(If the name Loeb sounds familiar, it may be because Arthur's son, Richard, was convicted in one of the most notorious murder cases in the 20th century called the Leopold and Loeb case. In 1924, Richard and a friend kidnapped and killed a 14-year-old boy, hoping to demonstrate such intellect as to commit the perfect crime. It was this case that inspired the Alfred Hitchcock film "Rope" starring James Stewart. No mention is made of Richard or the film at Castle Farms.

 

In 1962, the castle was sold to John Van Haver and he opened it to tours. It had a cafe, art gallery and working artist studio on site. I desperately begged my mom to take me to Castle Van Haver because it was a castle, after all, and I was very into all things Camelot at the time. I was 13 and remember only that I wanted to go, we did go, and there were a lot of ruins. Perhaps it was still a work in progress.

Sold again, it became a rock concert venue and those concerts crossed all musical genres from pop, easy sounds and rock.

 

Most recently, the property was purchased by Linda Mueller, restored to its original blueprints and gardens added. It is known as a popular wedding and special events site in Northern Michigan. 

 

If you expect to see elaborate drawing rooms and bedrooms, you will be disappointed. Many areas have been converted into large rooms suitable for a wedding reception.  But what you will see are some fascinating collections and historic artifacts -- and of course, those wonderful gardens.

 

I've always been rather pleased about my British royalty collection -- tea towels, china figurines, tins and such, going back to Edward VII. Well, seeing the packed display cases at Castle Farms certainly put me in my place! Their collection goes back to William III (and of course there is mention of the Tudors, but none of those items are original to the time.) It even included one of the Christmas tins that Princess Mary gave to the soldiers fighting in World War I with cigarettes or chocolates.

 

 I was glad Suzanne was as interested in this as I was because we spent a lot of time on those cases!  

 

There were plenty of figurines and such, but apart from the WWI tin, this was my other favorite piece.

 

Then it was off to explore other areas of the castle and other collections. That included three or more cabinets of wedding cake toppers and cases similar to the British royals but of the various European royal houses. I can't remember where Suzanne took this photo, but wow!

 

As I mentioned, you won't find period bedrooms or sitting rooms here but Suzanne did manage to find a rather elegant spot upon which to rest!

 

Not being one to pass up a photo op, I did the same!

 

The real attraction is outside, with the gardens, model railroad and out buildings. The model railroad is fun, with its track running around and area that includes a slide to delight the kids.

 

In the old farm office there are remnants from the period the castle was built in 1918. The dress on the mannequin on the right was a maid's outfit.

The old blacksmith's shop is now a mini-museum, housing artifacts from the first World War and things that could be bought during that period from the Sears catalogue. 

 

I liked this display of old cameras, but some, obviously are not of that period! I don't know if Fisher Price had been established back then!

 

There was a good deal of WWI memorabilia as well as items the catalogue offered related to this period.

 

There were lots of other fun things, too. Shoes, dishes, pots and pans -- you could get them all from the Sears catalogue.

 

Finally, there are several gardens. I liked the Alphabet Garden, which was quite clever. 

 

It also housed a labyrinth or maze. I think it was a maze because i never got to the center -- I just got out!

  

This was a more formal garden. I liked the oversized chess pieces.

I wonder if anyone ever moves them around? They were very neat during our visit.

 

And, as one approaches the fountain in the photo above, they were flanked by stone statues of four women, displays of deep pink flowers at their feet. 

 

And then there was this walkway.

 

It leads to "Norm," the castle mascot.

 

And quite the impressive fellow he is!

 

It was a fun day, filled with modern history, great gardens and much fun for two long-time friends, both of whom have seen "real" castles but finding this one to be most enjoyable nonetheless.

 

You can tell by the smiles.

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