Observatory

Merralls not only wanted to gather up rare earthly plant specimens for his private delight; he also wanted bring celestial wonders closer to home. Look up—way-up—over the west fence of the Conservatory property and you can see the “water-tower” base of what one once Merralls’s Observatory. Loyal Friend + Conservatory neighbor Chester Hartsough, who lives in Merralls’s original home, found as a child two glass negatives of the Conservatory and Observatory in his attic. The photo of the path around the original building shows the domed, slotted, likely rotating, roof.