Central Gardens

Hello again, this is John Hanson.  I hope you’re enjoying your tour today.  We’re standing now in Mrs. Winchester’s central courtyard and as you look around you can see the outside walls to many of the rooms. Behind you are the barn doors to the $25,000 storage room where the beautiful glass is kept.  Above that is the Hayloft. See the spider-web windows next to the Hayloft?  This is the 13th bathroom and if you look to the right you can see the room with the curtains, which is the room where Mrs. Winchester died.  Above that, you can see the shaft for the Otis Elevator which carried Mrs. Winchester from the first floor to the third floor.

Next to the elevator shaft is the 4th story balcony.  Hard to believe that the mansion used to stand three stories higher.  The room in front of you, on the second floor, with all the windows, is the South Conservatory. We’re standing here on part of her driveway, and if you look down it you can see the large double doors to the carriage entrance. Now if you look in the center of the courtyard, you can see a small building with more spider-web lead windows.  That was the Carpenter’s workshop. Mrs. Winchester kept a close eye on her carpenters and their materials, too.

I remember one day; a carpenter picked up some brass screws to repair a broken gate out in the garden.  Later on that same day, Mrs. Winchester asked that carpenter what he had done with those screws, and when he told her, she calmly told him that he’d have to go get them back.  You see, those were gold-plated screws and she was saving them for a very special project.  Stuff might have been lying around here, there and everywhere, but believe me, Mrs. Winchester kept track of everything.

You see the crescent-shaped hedge in the middle of the lawn there?  Some say it had a spiritualistic meaning to Mrs. Winchester.  Whatever it means, you’ll notice it points into her bedroom, the one where she died.  Coincidence?  Hmmm, maybe. 

Come on down and head over to the Garage, there are some incredible things there too.