About Sir Harry And the KOGT
Harry Delos Andrews
April 5th 1890 - April 16th 1981
Harry objected to modern warfare - killing at a distance. He preferred sword-to-sword medieval combat. He served as a medic in World War I, contracted spinal meningitis, and was declared dead in 1918. By the time that he was declared undead -- six months later -- his fiancé had married another man. Harry seemed not to have minded, he stayed in Europe, visiting castles. He veered away from women, period. Having more than 50 marriage proposals later in life, he turned all of them down!
Did You Know Harry....
- Drafted and served in the Army during WWI as a medic. He didn't object to war itself, he didn't like the weapons of modern warfare. So, Harry enlisted as a nurse.
- Was the oldest living Notary Public in Ohio...and he never charged more than a quarter for his service.
- Was a well published author, including a guide book he wrote at the bequest of the U.S. Immigration Department to aid those seeking citizenship. A copy of which is on display at the castle.
- Graduated from Colgate University.
- Also made the road you take down to the castle. Buses cannot make it down this road still today!
- Grew vegetables year round in hotbeds of his own design. They were heated by railroad lanterns!
- Hid his secret room in the garden. The entrance was one of the arches in the arch wall. It was only discovered after it collapsed from years of neglect...Even the knights didn't know it was there!
All About the Knights of the Golden Trail
The history of the Knights of the Golden Trail, KOGT, is almost as fascinating as the Castle itself. The castle actually can be considered an afterthought, incredible as that seems. In the early 1920s one of Harry Andrews's pet projects was his Sunday School / Boy Scout troop. He had a dozen or so boys that met regularly for Sunday School. One of their favorite things was camping. As it happened; years ago the Cincinnati Business Currier, a local newspaper, had a promotion to establish a greater subscription base. If a person paid for a 6 month subscription in full, they received a plot of land on the banks of the Little Miami River in Loveland Ohio. One of Harry's Sunday school pupils had parents that took advantage of the Business Currier's offer, and they sold the lots to Harry and his knights. Harry and his knights became regular visitors to the banks of the Little Miami. So much so that they took to leaving their gear at the campsite. But, between the elements, the wild animals and even people that stumbled upon their cache, their equipment constantly came out missing, damaged, or unusable. In 1928 the knights had over 100 members and decided they weren't going to be real knights because they didn't have a castle. Harry told them if they helped him fetch stone from the river that he would build them a real 10th-century style caste. Those boys started fetching rock, Harry bought the property in 1929 and started building on June 5th, 1929