Chances are you don’t associate a city like Cleveland with vast expanses of green, tranquil spaces. But as we discovered on our final RV trek across the country, there is actually quite a bit of lush verdant acreage surrounding Cleveland. And in the middle of it, you’d never suspect that you were only a few miles away from urban cacophony and pollution.

We came to this realization when we dropped in at Chagrin Park, located in the Cleveland suburb of Willoughby. Chagrin Park is named after the Chagrin River, which, to no one’s chagrin, runs through a lot of beautiful untamed landscape in Ohio.

What made our visit to the park especially memorable was the castle. That’s right, castle. Squire’s Castle was built in the 1890s as the home of Feargus Squire, an executive with Standard Oil, and modeled after the baronial estates of England and Germany.

Wandering through the castle now, you get the impression that it must have been foreboding and drafty, not a very inviting residence at all despite its architectural charm. But apparently it was comfortable enough during the time of its occupancy.

There is a legend that the castle is haunted, because after all, what would a castle be without at least one ghost? The stray ghost here supposedly belongs to Squire’s wife; if that’s the case, she must have carelessly misplaced it, because she died somewhere else.

During our day at the park, the grounds next to the castle were heavily haunted, not by ghosts, but by partygoers. The early arrivals were dudes on motorcycles, dressed in gaudy finery. Soon, more and more people began arriving, all dressed up quite dashingly. As it turns out, they were guests at a quinceanera, a coming-of-age bash among Hispanic cultures to celebrate a girl attaining the age of 15.

They came, they played music, they posed for photographs, and then they departed as abruptly as they had arrived. And we were left again with this tranquil rustic park with the deer, the squirrels, the snakes, and the dazzling variety of birds.

6/10-11/2025