Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens

We decided to go see another concert at Cuyahoga Valley National Park tonight.  Since Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens were near the park, we thought it would be a great day to visit them.  It took a little longer than we thought to drive over, but we still had enough time to tour the manor house and gardens.

The Former Carriage House

The former Carriage House is now the Visitors' Center and Gift Shop for Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens.  It is an impressive structure all by itself!

Former Carriage House - Now Visitor Center/Gift Shop

Map of the Estate

Above is a map of the estate.  We'll be getting a bit of exercise today!

Manor House

It is hard to give a real impression of how large this manor house is in pictures because you cannot get the whole house in a picture no matter where you stand.  The house is not just a rectangle as it seems to appear from the front.  It has 64,500 square feet and includes 65 rooms with 23 fireplaces and 23 bathrooms!

Manor House

The house is the former estate of Franklin (F.A.) Seiberling.  F. A. and his brother, C. W. Seiberling co-founded The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.  In 1916 it was the world's largest tire manufacturer and had turned Akron, Ohio into the "rubber capital of the world".   The F.A. Seiberling family lived in the Manor House from 1915 to 1955 when it was donated to a non-profit organization so that all of us could come visit! 

Below is the entrance to the home and that was the end of our pictures because they were not allowed inside.  We could have taken a guided tour of the manor which we would have loved but we were afraid we would be late for the concert because of the size of the gardens and we wanted to see them too.  So, we chose to take the self-guided tour and it still took us over an hour to tour the inside of the Manor.  It reminded us very much of Tudor Castles that we've toured in Europe.  It was pretty dark in places because the furnishings and decor was all done in Tudor Revival.  There were lots of rooms with tons of windows - in fact, walls of them and those were brighter but the decor still kept it looking like you were living in a castle.  It didn't look too comfortable but it did look grand!

The estate is called Stan Hywet which is Old English for stone quarry.  There is a stone quarry on the property and it is the most prominent natural feature.

Front Door to Manor House

Patio Off The Manor House

Back of the Manor House

Beautiful Fountain at Back of Manor House

See another addition off to the side

This is why you can't get a picture of the whole place - there are additions that slant off to the side like the one above!  From the back yard of the Manor House, we walked down to the West Overlook.  It overlooks Pleasure Drive where carriages would drop off guests.  There is also a walkway off this terrace to the Japanese Gardens. 

West Overlook over Pleasure Drive

Japanese Garden

Birch Tree Allee Vista Path

Birch Tree Vista and Tea Houses

From this vista, you can see the stone quarry for which the estate is named.

Rose Garden

The Great Garden

Tea House

Lee with Conservatory in the background

Grape Arbor Leading to Conservatory

After we toured the gardens, we went on to visit the Butterfly House and the Citrus Conservatory.  The grape arbor above takes you past the Great Garden to the Citrus Conservatory.