Lost and abandoned america
Mount Wood Castle And Cemetary
This abandoned dream castle and its cemetery look out over the struggling city that once inspired their creation.
Popular legend says that an unknown soul abandoned the magnificent dream structure when his lady love unexpectedly perished. After some digging, however, local historians established that at least some of these aspects were true. In 1925, this property actually belonged to a local doctor who set out to build this dream home as a gift to his wife. Naturally it would have a rounded, turret-like architectural feature with windows looking out on the best view of the city; the remnants of this, including its spiral staircase, and a second story form the entirety of the Mount Wood Overlook we know today. Unfortunately, the enterprising man in question was hauled off on federal drug trafficking charges before the structure was completed, and the property was “donated” (read: returned) to the City of Wheeling, which has retained control ever since.
With languishing funds in all its coffers, the space has declined over the years and is nearly unrecognizable from the top. Only those curious enough to walk down its staircase and look up from the brush will see the potential of what it could have been.
Among those who recognize its potential are those on the Wheeling Arts Commission, who have established a mission to reclaim the Castle from vandals. Through a project of “Guerrilla Gardening,” started in the summer of 2015, volunteers applied a natural slurry to grow moss in artistic patterns on top of the existing spray paint, which they see as an eyesore encouraging further blight upon the city.
Adjacent to the Castle is the Mount Wood Cemetery, which holds many old graves and mausoleums from many of Wheeling’s first residents. With grave markers dating back to the 1700s, many are so old and weatherbeaten that the inscriptions of their names and dates are illegible. Making use of the steep hillsides are dozens of sepulchers built directly into the earth. Though as with many of the mausoleums which contain remains of the early city’s most important families, the doors and windows have long since gone missing, only to be cemented closed by modern masons or padlocked shut to prevent further damage.
Despite its picturesque location, a potent mixture of time, neglect, and vandalism have resulted in lots of toppled obelisks and tombstones snapped off at the ground. Nonetheless, the grounds provide a haunting-yet-fascinating glimpse into the former grandeur of Wheeling’s citizens in the face of America’s blue-collar economic downturn, all while standing in the very same spot that inspired the city’s founders in 1769 to attempt to “tame” the landscape in the first place.
The facility also is located adjacent to Mount Wood Cemetery, a historic burial ground for many men and women who helped develop the city into a destination for westward travelers, immigrants, and industrialists looking to capitalize on the commerce taking place here more than 100 years ago. The cemetery has been the concentration of Rebekah Karelis, historian for Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp., as well as a plethora of volunteers who have worked extensively to rehabilitate it after far too many years of neglect.
While most residents know of the overlook’s present perch, few frequent it because of the unknown, but local historian Joe Roxby accepted the challenge of unlocking the truth that had faded away through the years. He discovered, too, that others had preserved the authentic tale behind Wheeling’s castle prior to his research, and Roxby now shares his discoveries thanks to historian Kate Quinn and a newspaper reporter from Wheeling’s past.
Roxby, a current Ohio County Magistrate who was a member of the Wheeling Police Department for more than 20 years, also includes what questions still remain about Mount Wood Overlook and its original owner, and he presents a few theories that extend even farther into the Friendly City’s real history
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In addition to the unfinished castle that was to be his residence, Harness also built a large laundry in front of it that actually sat near the bottom of Mt. Wood Road. He named it The Family Wash Laundry. When I resided on the hill, it was known as the Quality Laundry and owned by Roland J. Finney. If memory serves me correctly, it ceased operation about 1970 and was torn down to widen Mt. Wood Road in 1979.
The end of the article stated that Dr. Harness specialized in “female diseases,” and his office was located at 1500 Main St. in Wheeling. The last statement offered a lot of food for thought that led me to some other questions. The way the article singled out Dr. Harness’s specialty as “female diseases” seemed as if it were written as code words that the reader of the time would have understood.
An interesting aside from a business that was conducted by and large in code words, it was long rumored that more than a few Catholic boys from Pittsburgh came to visit Wheeling’s local temples of Venus. Afterward when going to Confession, the Friendly City’s reputation was so infamous they would simply say, “Forgive me Father, for I’ve been to Wheeling,” and the priests understood the errant lads had visited the vineyards of vice.
