Here be minotaurs: Labyrinths pop up in pricey homes

There are 3,740 long, intricately-winding walking paths in homes, hospitals and retreat centers in the US

A Hamptons labyrinth (credit: Edmund Hollander Landscape Architects)
A Hamptons labyrinth (credit: Edmund Hollander Landscape Architects)

Theseus, the mythical Greek king, entered a labyrinth to slay its monstrous guardian, the Minotaur. Today’s labyrinth dwellers have something more peaceful in mind.

Homeowners from Los Angeles to the Hamptons are building long, walled, maze-like walking paths on their property, in hopes of nothing more than a beautiful, relaxing place to walk, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Ruth Ann Harnisch, the CEO of investment firm Peconic Partners, built an 86-foot tripartite walking path on her Hamptons property, with 18 looping turns and a 300-foot wall around the edges. The labyrinth took two years to building and required 5,000 square feet of stone.

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Harnisch’s cost more because it was part a larger landscape architecture project, but the average labyrinth – if there is such a thing – starts at around $40,000.

There are 3,740 labyrinths total in the U.S., according to Lauren Artress, author of “Walking a Sacred Path: Rediscovering the Labyrinth as a Spiritual Practice.” [WSJ]Ariel Stulberg