Spiegel Grove adds little doors to keep squirrels, visitors amused

Spiegel Grove features the majestic home of 19th U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes, the first presidential library in the country, and a world-class historical museum.

Yet to generations of children, the Fremont estate’s most appealing feature is the community of squirrels who reside — and beg for peanuts — on the grounds. Even a casual walk along the trails can give visitors a close encounter with Spiegel Grove’s furry ambassadors.

“People refer to it as ‘that squirrel place,’ or ‘Squirrel Grove,’” said John Havens, who was hired as superintendent of buildings and grounds on June 1. “Every day, I see people walking with bags of peanuts.”

Havens is the brainchild behind a temporary feature at the estate, “Squirrel Doors at Spiegel Grove.” Ten handmade squirrel doors have been hidden in the trees throughout the grounds, and visitors are encouraged to stop by the museum’s front desk, pick up a Squirrel Doors 2022 Map and Guide, and go searching.

As other arboretums added fairy doors, Havens added squirrel doors

The Squirrel Doors are a fun way to promote Spiegel Grove’s relatively new arboretum status.

“About a year ago, when I was a volunteer here, we made arboretum status. I googled to see what other arboretums were doing, and a lot of them had fairy doors,” Havens said. “The lightbulb went off, and I thought, ‘We don’t want fairy doors. We want squirrel doors.’”

Some of the doors were created by Hayes staff, and some were crafted by local businesses and organizations including Our Lady of the Pines in Fremont, The Summer Kitchen in Helena, and the Sandusky County Visitors Bureau. The map and guide directs visitors to a general area for searching, tells the name of the tree the door hangs on, and gives a whimsical background about the squirrel that uses it. Since premiering on June 25, the doors have been widely popular.

“I’ve seen families, older couples and singles looking for them,” Havens said.

Speigel Grove staff eyes elevating its status as an arboretum

Tree tours are popular at Spiegel Grove, and the Squirrel Doors give visitors an opportunity to take a mini, self-guided tree tour. Havens said the grounds feature more than 1,700 trees of nearly 100 species. The Grove is currently rated at Level One arboretum status, but Havens is working toward Level Two, which requires an arboretum to include at least 200 species of trees.

“We try to add trees that Hayes referenced in his journals, and we have other unique trees. Maybe they were on the grounds at one time after Hayes, or they are a special tree,” Havens said. “We added a Franklin tree this year. It was named after Benjamin Franklin and has not been seen in the wild since the early 1800s.”

Tying the features of Spiegel Grove back to the Hayes family is important to the staff, and reaching arboretum status created one more connection.

“Looking back at the writings of Webb (C. Hayes) when he was drawing the plans for Spiegel Grove, he said he wanted to create a park for everyone to enjoy and a place for people to enjoy wildlife,’ Havens said. “Webb said that he wanted it to one day become an arboretum, and we did that. It’s nice to keep up with the wishes of the family.”

The Squirrel Doors at Spiegel Grove will remain in the trees until July 31.

Contact correspondent Sheri Trusty at sheritrusty4@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Spiegel Grove adds little doors to keep squirrels, visitors amused