The Garden of Eden ~ Lucas KS

 On our migration south this year, we spent some time geocaching in Kansas. As you know, geocaching takes us to some interesting places and The Garden of Eden certainly falls in the category of interesting.

I did not go through the museum. The information I needed was in the yard and there were plenty of objects for taking photos. 

Samuel Perry Dinsmoor built this stone log cabin in 1907. Dinsmoor, born in 1843 in Ohio, served as a Union Army nurse in the Civil War for 3 years, became a teacher in Illinois for 5 years before moving to Kansas in 1888 to become a farmer. He married a widow with 2 children, Francis A. Barlow Journey in 1870.

He retired from farming in 1905 and moved to Lucas where he began building the Cabin Home from quarried post rock limestone. The stone, some in 20 foot lengths, has dovetailed corners. The cabin has 12 rooms and was intended as a residence and source of income. He worked on the house and The Garden of Eden from 1907 to 1928. To add to the uniqueness of the cabin, no two doors or windows are the same size.

Dismoor was an artist, a social commentator (of the Populist Party), and a man with strong religious convictions. 

Adam and Eve, holding the apple, and the snake 

create the arbor

There are over 200 cement sculptures in The Garden of Eden. He used over 113 tons of cement or 2273 sacks of cement to create his sculptures. There are 15 cement trees, 30 to 40 feet tall. He also installed 48 electric lights on his creations.

According to S.P. Dinsmoor, girls always followed the boys in war. That is the reason for the girl behind the boy soldier. His sculptures include people from the Bible, animals,  and depictions of good versus evil.

the detail of the Indian aiming for the dog in the

photo below

S.P.'s comment on how one animal is after another: the dog is after the fox (on the limb) chasing a bird on a branch with its mouth open for the worm on a leaf.

one of two concrete planters in the yard

the mausoleum

S.P. Dinsmoor and his first wife, Francis A. Barlow Journey are buried in concrete coffins. Dinsmoor charged a $1.00 for folks to view the coffin behind a glass wall.  Remember, he built Cabin Home and The Garden of Eden to attract visitors for additional revenue. The house was in view of the railroad that goes through Lucas and just one block off Main Street. Today the cost is $9 for adults, $8 for seniors and military.

His first wife died in 1917. They had five children. He then married Emile Brozak. She was 22 and he was 81. They had two children. S.P. Dinsmoor died in 1932.

And across the road from The Garden of Eden is: 

an unusual rock sculpture garden

Do you suppose Dinsmoor's creation was the inspiration for the Millers? Think of all the rocks they collected to create the sculptures! As a South Dakota farm girl, I picked and carried many rock in my younger days. Most of them were not near as colorful as the ones found by the Millers.