Monday: Adventures in Mansfield!

We had quite the day today.

A spontaneous trip to Mansfield, of all places, took us from this...

 ...to this...

 ... and back to this....

... and 10 hours later, we are home and can't wait to go back and explore this area some more.

When we went to pick up our kids at 10 from Gram's house, we'd not yet decided what to do with our day.  We managed to come up with some options on our drive out.  The beach, of course-- blue sky day called out for it-- or maybe Nelson's Ledges, which is always a good time.  And, for some reason-- not sure how this one came up-- the Haunted Reformatory in Mansfield.  Decided to put the choice to the kids.  And when your seven year old enthusiastically shouts, "The Haunted Prison!  Yesss!", well, that's where you go. 

We decided to stop at Malabar Farms on the way.  A favorite haunt of my mom and dad when I was little and we lived in Mansfield, I have a few shadowy memories of being at this place.  It was an idyllic spot, white and green buildings nestled in the verdant hills.  Timeless. 

Also, there was this parrot. 

 The only thing it said was "Hello," but that was enough to completely charm us.

We did not get there in time for the house tour (I'm sure the kids were ok with that!) but did wander the grounds for a bit.

 The butterfly bushes were absolute magic.  We need one for our front yard, I've decided.

Ivy loved the army jeep and I enjoyed telling her about the one her grandpa had.   Looking at Louis Bromfield's jeep-- and indeed all of his property-- I felt like I got to know my dad a little better.  I am pretty sure Bromfield was one of his idols.  I wish I could have had him as my tour guide at Malabar today.

 Of course we loved the petting farm. (County fair, redux!)  Ivy had no qualms about opening up this hutch to snuggle bunny inside.

 This goat is my favorite.

 Then, a wagon tour of the farm.  Pleasant, if not very exciting.  We got a sense of the property, identified a few places we'd like to come back to (the butternut trail and the caves), and decided we didn't need to take the wagon tour again any time soon.

 Then, off to the Reformatory.
We had no idea what to expect going in-- and we got more than we bargained for.

The first part of the tour was like a glimpse of an abandoned mansion-- the warden and deputy warden quarters.  Huge rooms, high ceilings, peeling paint.  Gorgeous 1906 construction and wood work and detailing under the cracks and decay.  Turret rooms and secret nooks eve-ry-where.   And the tour was self guided so we could poke in wherever we wanted. Delicious.

 Our girl-- little miss "The prison!  yess!"-- decided she was going to be "little miss scared" the whole time.  I think she was having a bit of fun with it.  And of course her brother was having a blast trying to scare her.  It was a bit of work to keep the ensuing whining to a minimum but on the whole, the kids had a blast and were fascinated with the place.

I am not sure what is going on with Ivy in this picture. 

So we went from the once-grand apartments, through a maze of smaller quarters and classrooms, into the great open space of the chapel-- a church made of steel.

Then, through a metal door on one side and into another world...

The view of Tier 6 of the East Cell block.  A tower of 100 steel cages in a cathedral of stone and peeling paint.  

 Crazy.  Terrifying. Surreal.

 Even more so when we learned that this prison was occupied by over 2000 inmates until 1990.  Ninety-four years, the majority of which were spent overcrowded and not living up to its name of "reformatory" very much at all.  Horrifying conditions hidden within a castle of an exterior.

What an experience.

 We decided to decompress a bit before driving home and stopped at Kingwoods Gardens.

We promptly fell in love.  

 Complete magic, this place.  Garden opening on to garden, secret behind hedges.  Little patio tables and fountains and statuary nestled into nooks.  A broad lawn opening up before the mansion.

We will definitely be making a return trip to this little slice of heaven.

But for today-- time to take two tired little adventurers home for rest and a quiet day near home tomorrow.

Maybe.

You never know what we'll get up to on a nice summer day.