You know how when you go on vacation, you try to see all the special things in an area? And when you live somewhere, you often don’t go out of your way to visit landmarks? Last Sunday afternoon we visited a Wichita landmark that we’ve driven by for as long as we’ve been in this area. In our defense, the Campbell Castle isn’t normally open to the public, but I’ve always wanted to see the inside. Daughter Heidi found out it was going to be open for a Sunday Funday and we bought tickets. LeRoy tagged along, primarily as photographer since it was mostly a women’s event. The Castle is really worth seeing and unlike anything being built today. The stone above the arched opening identifies the date as 1888.
Through the covered arch, the driveway leads to the carriage house in the back. I think I’d be satisfied with that!
Inside, vendors had set up makeup, dip mixes, clothing and every jewelry or fashion item you could want. Just the woodwork was enough to impress me! Each staircase was a little different and even the lamp on the opposite side of the stairs was different from this little man.
The stained glass windows were lovely, but you could tell they were in need of repair. The Castle is for sale and has been for quite some time. A friend once told us that the average person couldn’t pay the utilities on his 28,000 sq. ft. house and I imagine the same is probably true of the Campbell Castle. Upkeep would be a small fortune.
The Castle has been open as a bed and breakfast and I wish we could have dug deep enough to spend a weekend there. Each of the many bedrooms is unique and so are the bathrooms!
Furnishings are a fit for the majesty of the building, too. This clock is somewhat bigger than the grandfather clocks my dad made for me and each of my sisters. Mine and my mother’s now reside with our children. I’m sure they’re glad they didn’t have to find a place for one of this size, although it’s probably worth many times as much!
We’ve been a part of a web group called Boondockers Welcome for several years now. The premise is that we have space for someone traveling through the area and they have need of a place to park for a day or two, so we fill that need. We haven’t had very many takers, but this past week we were set to have two, one Monday and one Tuesday. The weather and mechanical problems kept the first ones from coming but on Tuesday evening, we had a couple of full timers from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, a first for us. They were on their way to their winter home in south Texas and we had a nice visit.
I’ve been fighting a cold or sinus infection this week. Sure hope that’s over next week!
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