Gypsies At Heart: Garden of Eden

Monday, April 23, 2012

Garden of Eden

The Garden of Eden was the main reason we came to Lucas. Just looking at the pictures of the place on the internet made us want to take a look at the place. The Garden of Eden was the project of Samuel Perry Dinsmoor. Sometimes I think that there is a fine line between genius and absurdity and this place is just on that line.

When Dinsmoor was 62 years old, he built this home using limestone logs. Then he used 113 tons of cement to build 40 foot tall trees that would become his sculpture garden. He hung the sculptures from the trees. He didn't quit working on the project until 1929 when he went blind. He started it in 1907.

Mr. Dinsmoor used to keep wild animals in the cages above. He started out by trying to get people to pay to see the wild animals and eventually just kept them as pets. I can't remember all of them that he had but I found some articles that said he had bobcats for sure and I think I remember our guide saying that he had a lion.

Mr. Dinsmoor's first wife died in 1917. Our guide told us that he wanted to bury her in his mausoleum, however, the city would not allow it. So, she was buried in the cemetery but during the night Mr. Dinsmoor and a group of his friends, dug her up and put her in his mausoleum where he poured her into a cement casket and she remains there today. His coffin is actually on top of hers. After his first wife died, he hired a young Czech woman as his housekeeper. They eventually married when she was 20 and he was 81. They are the couple pictured above. He had two children with her before he died.

The games tables above and below were made by Dinsmoor and are on display in the home.

Our Tour Guide told us about a lot of Mr. Dinsmoor's passions and ideas. He was very into politics and his sculptures on the north side of his property are based on that theme. The one above shows Labor on the cross and bankers, lawyers, doctors and preachers were the main reasons for the plight of the working man. The way things are today, I might agree with him in some respects. He was ahead of his time in believing that women should have the right to vote and for that I can respect him!

This sculpture used to be on top of his mausoleum but he decided it was too heavy and now it sits outside of it.

Dinsmoore's mausoleum sits on the back corner of the lot. His first wife is buried there and so is he. He left strict instructions on how he wanted to be buried including wanting to be mummified. He also left instructions for the mortician on how to accomplish it. He is buried in a coffin with a glass top and as part of the tour we were taken in to view Dinsmoor's remains in his concrete coffin sealed behind a glass wall. I was kind of afraid to look at it since he has been dead for decades but whatever instructions he gave to the mortician seemed to work. He is just beginning to deteriorate and his beard is still in tact.

On the west side of his property, Mr. Dinsmoor depicted his personal understanding of the Bible.The scene above is that of Cain and Abel. Below is the snake in the Garden of Eden.