Wildwood Preserve Metropark - Toledo, Ohio - Municipal Parks and Plazas on Waymarking.com

The prairie community at Wildwood Preserve is home to many diverse and fascinating plants and animals, providing them with critical habitat throughout the year. In spring, it is an essential breeding site for ground-nesting birds such as rufous-sided towhees, field sparrows and American woodcock. Summer brings a spectacular display of prairie wildflowers and grasses, such as rough blazing star, big bluestem and Indian grasses, some reaching 10 feet high.

Wildwood is the former family estate of Robert A. Stranahan, Sr., co-founder of the Champion Spark Plug Company. Metroparks purchased the estate grounds, including the family home, in the 1970s.

The Manor House

The Manor House is an architectural gem. Completed in 1938 as the Stranahan family home, it is an excellent example of 18th century Georgian colonial architecture, and it is decorated accordingly. The house, reminiscent of Mount Vernon with a wide front portico, rests on a bluff overlooking a branch of the Ottawa River. The house has 35 primary rooms, 17 bathrooms and 16 fireplaces.

Several other estate buildings, from a limo garage to stables, are now used for a visitors center, public restrooms and park district offices.

Twenty-two rooms of the house are open for free, guided tours Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., and for a variety of special programs, including musical performances.

The Manor House formal gardens were designed by Ellen Biddle Shipman, a pioneer landscape architect who designed more than 650 gardens from New Hampshire to New Orleans.

Name: Wildwood Preserve Metropark - Toledo,Ohio Street Location: 5100 W.Central Ave. Local Municipality: Toledo State/Province, etc.: Ohio Country: USA Web Site: [Web Link] Picnic Facilities: Tables,Pavillion,Benchs,ETC. Recreational Facilities: Trails,Playground,Old School,Manor House,Gardens. Memorial/Commemoration: Not listed Date Established: Not listed Monuments/Statues: Not listed Art (murals/sculpture, etc.): Not listed Fountains: Not listed Ponds/Lakes/Streams/Rivers/Beach: Not listed Special Events: Not listed Traditional Geocaches: Not listed

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