Oglebay Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oglebay Park is a municipal park located in Wheeling, West Virginia, located on 1,650 acres (6.7 km²). Originally known as Waddington Farms, it was donated to the city of Wheeling in 1926 by Earl W. Oglebay, owner of the Oglebay-Norton Company. Its expansive history includes that of being a farmhouse – before Earl W. Oglebay bought it – and a model farm run by Earl W. Oglebay. It currently incorporates three championship golf courses, eleven tennis courts, a large outdoor pool, extensive walking trails, the Good Zoo, The Mansion Museum (operated by the Oglebay Institute), gardens, a greenhouse, the Anne Kuchinka Amphitheater, the Wilson Lodge (containing over 200 rooms), 49 cottages, The Schrader Center (a nature center operated by the Oglebay Institute), a planetarium (located within the Good Zoo), a ski slope, Camp Russel, and Schenk Lake, which is used for fishing, pedal boating, and several nightly fountain shows in season.
Annual events at the park include, but are not limited to: The Winter Festival of Lights, Oglebayfest, the Ohio County Fair, the West Virginia Open (tennis), and Springfest.
Oglebay will celebrate its 80th birthday in 2008. The gift (of land) technically was not accepted by the city of Wheeling until 1928 and was then named Oglebay Park.
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[edit] The Oglebay Mansion and Waddington Farm
The Oglebay Mansion was built in 1846 by Paul Matvey. It was originally an eight-room farmhouse. Earl W. Oglebay purchased the mansion and its 25 adjoining acres in 1900, renamed it Waddington Farm, and used it as his summer estate. He was the ninth owner of the mansion, and he continually purchased adjacent farms until Waddington Farm had grown to 750 acres (3.0 km²) at the time of his death in 1926. Earl W. Oglebay and his daughter Hayley Oglebay made many expansions and renovations including one by the Franzheim and Klieves of the Klieves, Kraft and Company of Wheeling, West Virginia. The mansion became a museum in 1930 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Earl W. Oglebay's hope was to develop Waddington Farm as a model farm, a laboratory for new agricultural changes that could be used to end the great starvation in the United States. He lent out parts of the farm to various researchers so that they could learn about crop rotation, soil improvement, and cost-cutting methods. Waddington Farm incorporated a dairy farm, a poultry farm, a pig farm, and a sheep farm as well as stables, vineyards, a greenhouse, a rose garden, groves of fruit trees, vegetable gardens for the consumption of those living within the estate, and the areas used to research agricultural techniques. Earl Oglebay's unconventional farming methods resulted in criticism by the agricultural community. To them, he was "a man from the city trying outlandish things", but after they saw the results of his experiments, they thought differently.
[edit] The Winter Festival of Lights
This 1985 holiday tradition began at Oglebay Park, but soon spread throughout the city of Wheeling. The first year, displays and landscape lighting covered 125 acres (0.51 km²) over a three-mile (5 km) drive throughout the resort. The show now covers more than 300 acres (1.2 km²) over a six-mile (10 km) drive throughout the park. Landscape lighting expert Dick Bosch and the late Robert J. Otten, Wheeling Park Commission’s long-time creative director, were the creative talents behind Oglebay’s show. Bosch’s lighting expertise was needed to produce the lighting for trees and buildings, and Bob Otten designed the first five displays for the 1985 opening and created nearly 50 additional displays until his death in 2005.
Every year, several new displays are added. Notable displays from past years include the Snowflake Tunnel, a display that allows visitors to drive through a lighted tunnel portraying thousands of twinkling snowflakes , the massive Polyhedron Star, which includes over 2,000 lights, and the Poinsettia Wreath and Candle, which is the festival's tallest. Other displays include the Candy Cane Wreath, The Twelve Days of Christmas, and Willard the Snowman, named for the television personality Willard Scott, who switched on the lights for Light-Up Night in 1986. Every year, local students submit new display ideas, and several displays were created at Wheeling Park High School.
The newest displays, "Gardens of Light" and the Good Zoo's "Lighting and Music Extravaganza" , were designed by Carson Williams. The Good Zoo's light show, added in 2006, utilizes upwards of 35,500 LED light bulbs and is controlled by a computer. This technology allows the lights to be synchronized with music. The "Gardens of Light" display, which was added in 2007, is very similar to the Good Zoo's light show, but on a much larger scale. In this display, park visitors walk through the gardens, which incorporate hanging flower baskets with lights and lighted flowers in the flowerbeds. The "Gardens of Light" display is an attempt to recreate the look of Oglebay Park's flower gardens during the spring and summer months.
[edit] The Good Zoo
The Good Zoo is a 30 acre facility that houses over 80 species of animals. The zoo was dedicated in memory of a seven-year old boy, Phillip Mayer Good, who loved nature. Its collection includes red wolves, river otters, spectacled bears, cottontop tamarins, lemurs, an ocelot, ostriches, llamas, goats, a red-tailed hawk, barn owls, bald eagles, red pandas, gorals, a red-crowned crane, a sandhill crane, a small colony of meerkats and many other animals from all over the globe. It includes a train, which travels through the ostrich exhibit and all throughout the zoo, and a discovery lab, with an indoor South American Rainforest exhibit. As of June 2007, the zoo also features an aviary, which houses red-flanked lorikeets, Goldie's lorikeets, and two subspecies of the Rainbow Lorikeet, the blue mountain (Swainson's) lorikeet, and the green-naped lorikeet. The Good Zoo is the only AZA accredited zoo in the state of West Virginia.
The Good Zoo is also home to a veterinary hospital where visitors can view operations and routine checkups. The hospital is used as a treatment area for zoo animals, a breeding center for certain species, a quarantine area for incoming animals, and a rehabilitation center for injured wild raptors. The zoo's raptor rehabilitation program has successfully treated many raptors and other native birds since its establishment. The zoo's red-tailed hawk, and bald eagles, however, were not able to be returned to their habitat due to severe injuries. They are now ambassadors for the plight of wild raptors and are used in numerous educational programs.
The Good Zoo has many SSP programs. The Species Survival Plan (SSP) is a cooperative breeding and conservation program instituted by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). The goal of SSP programs is to help as many species as possible through captive breeding, education, research, and habitat preservation.
The Good Zoo is directed by Penny Miller, a conservationist with many achievements, including serving as Pittsburgh Zoo's first female zoo keeper. She also is currently an advisor on the AZA Board of Regents Committee. Also noted on staff is Steven Mitch, the first and only director of the zoo's Benedum Planetarium. He also is currently serving his third term as the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society's President. The zoo's Curator of Animals is Joe Greathouse, who has noted research in various Hellbender research programs. Head Keeper is currently Susan McCardle. The zoo's Curator of Education is Vickie Markey-Tekely, who formed the education department in existence. She is also an active member of the AZAVA (Association of Zoo and Aquarium Volunteer Administrators).
Annual events at the Good Zoo include "Boo at the Zoo" (in October), "The Good Zoo Lights Up For You" (during the Festival of Lights), an annual car show at nearby Camp Russel, and an Easter egg hunt (in April).
[edit] Sports at Oglebay
Oglebay is home to three championship golf courses, tennis courts, soccer fields, horse stables, walking and hiking trails, horse trails, a swimming pool, and, during the winter, skiing and snowboarding. May through August 2007, Oglebay Park hosts seven sporting events, from local amateur events in golf and tennis to the West Virginia Open tennis tournament.
