Quigley's Castle

As time to head back to college rolls back (my neice is heading back to Harding University today via my daughter's house in Memphis), I was reminded of this house that Joyce and I visited just outside of Eureka Springs in Arkansas. It is called Quigley's Castle. The young lady in green above is the great-granddaughter of the lady who worked so hard on this garden and house. She is heading to Harding in Searcy, Arkansas this fall as a freshman.

Her great grandmother had a vision of building a house that had plants growing inside. She, her husband and four children were living in a small structure and she kept urging him to begin building them a house. So, one day, he went to work and she and the children tore down that structure! He had no choice then. They lived in more farm structures and began working on her "castle".

She collected rocks...marbles...quartz, etc. She used them to build picnic tables, birdhouses, benches....you name it. So what did she have on the outside of her castle? Rocks of course. The walls, however are built out beyond the slab, so that two sides of the castle have a planting place for plants that grow two stories high. Some of the plants that were there today are sixty years old! It makes for a wonderful view from inside!

She also had a beautiful garden and she collected butterflies, creating a full wall of butterflies in one of the bedrooms. This woman really had a vision and went to work making it happen! Her granddaughter keeps the garden up and runs the tours.

Above, you can see the plants through the windows. Since they were building the castle during war time, it was hard to get glass. They had burlap hanging up there until they could finally get the windows she wanted.

The student I mentioned above still lives in the house with her family, but much of the house is open for tours as are the gardens. It was one of the most bizarre and interesting places we visited! I will share more of it later! Definitely worth the price of admission!