Loveland, Ohio: Chateau Laroche, Loveland Castle

If you grow up in the Midwest, you don't have too many opportunities to visit what feels like a pretty decent representation of a medieval castle. Our kids loved Chateau Laroche and the 'knight' on duty was more than happy to share several pieces of historical insight about the making and defending of castles like this one. Whatever people may feel about the motivation or persuasion of the builder or its current guardians, one has to admire the perserverance and vision that lead to the creation of a lovely little castle in America's heartland.

Visited the castle Chateau Laroche recently. Nice odd place to visit. It's amazing that one guy basically built it himself. Costs $3 and you can wander in the castle, dungeon and around the gardens. Doesn't take too long to see everything.

I was born and raised in Loveland (until the age of 12). I visited the castle when it was still under construction. I remember the boards that extended out over an area that we as kids called, "the dungeon." It was quite an experience to visit such a place as a young girl. It was scary, but was also interesting. My dad use to take me there to walk around, and he knew the man that built the castle.

I am going to return to visit the castle with my 17 year old son. Wish I had taken pictures back then, but of course my parents didn't think they would ever be something of value.

We learned more about Harry Andrews, the builder of the castle, from an April 2001 article and from the caretaker when we visited in June 2002. In World War I, Harry was a medic in the army because he was against violence. Harry saved the life of a French earl's son on the front lines. The earl knighted him. According to the article, "Shortly after returning to the States, Andrews moved to Cincinnati and formed the Knights of the Golden Trail, a group he said would be dedicated to 'helping save Civilization.'"

The castle caretaker is one of the Knights of the Golden Trail. He constantly talked about his boyhood with Harry as his role model. Several times during our visit we heard him quote Harry, saying, "Every knight needs a castle."

One of the most amazing things we heard about Harry was that he carried nearly 50,000 buckets full of stone up the bank of the river and from a nearby gorge. He lived in the castle and worked on it until he died in 1981.

In October, the Knights dress the castle up as a haunted house. We visited in early summer, and the gardens were blooming with a variety of ornamental flowers as well as practical herbs.