12 awe-inspiring American castles | Fox News

Boldt Castle is located on Heart Island in New York's Thousand Islands.(Courtesy Boldt Castle)
You don't have to travel to Europe to indulge your royal fantasies--it turns out we have towering
turrets, secret passageways, and medieval moats aplenty right here at home, not to mention some
fascinating stories about how these great houses came to be.
Who doesn't go a bit giddy at the sight of a castle? The good news is that you don't have to head to
Europe for honest-to-goodness ones of the Cinderella variety--we have plenty right here in our own
backyard. Railroad barons commissioned most of these estates, but at least one housed a legitimate
king and queen (bet you didn't know this country had its own history of royalty!). Each is an
engineering wonder in its own right, with some even constructed out of old-world castles that were
shipped across the ocean. And each is open to tours should you decide to make a trip (a select few
will even let you spend the night). Read this and you might just discover a side of America you never
knew existed.
SEE THE 12 AWE-INSPIRING CASTLES
Grey Towers Castle
Most colleges contend to be fortresses of learning, but Arcadia University in the suburbs north of
Philadelphia can back it up with battlements acquired in 1929. Grey Towers was built by eclectic
sugar refiner William Welsh Harrison between 1893 and 1898 and modeled after Northumberland's
Alnwick Castle (a.k.a. the most archetypal expression of the medieval style). The 40 rooms wowed
with gilded ceilings, tapestries, ornamental paintings, and hand-carved walnut and mahogany
woodwork in styles from French Renaissance to Louis XV--and of course a Mirror Room--while secret
passages behind fireplaces and underground tunnels. Self-guided tours of public areas are possible
while classes are in session (the building now contains dorm rooms and administration offices). Free
brochures outline the history. 450 South Easton Rd., Glenside, PA, 215/572-2900, arcadia.edu.

'Iolani Palace
Other properties on Gynecologist in Cape Town this list may be bigger and more lavish, but the
'Iolani Palace has one thing above them all: legitimacy. America's only true palace--as in, royalty
resided here--was built from 1879 to 1882 by King Kalakua and Queen Kapi'olani. The goal was to
enhance the prestige of modern Hawaii in a kind of Victorian-era keeping up with the Joneses. (The
palace had electricity and a telephone even before the White House.) Stone-faced with plenty of koa
wood inside, the two-floor American Florentine--style building includes a throne room, grand hall,
and private suites, including the upstairs room where the queen was imprisoned for five months
following the 1895 coup. Today, concerted efforts are underway to find artifacts and furniture (like
the king's ebony and gilt bedroom set) that were auctioned off by the post-coup Provisional
Government. 364 South King St., Honolulu, HI, 808/522-0832, iolanipalace.org. Admission $12,
guided tour $20.
Hammond Castle
Like a modern-day Frankenstein's castle on Massachusetts's rocky Atlantic shore, Abbadia Mare
(Abbey by the Sea) served as both home and laboratory for prolific inventor John Hayes Hammond
Jr. after it was completed in 1929. Hammond is largely credited as the "Father of the Radio Control,"
as in tanks and planes and remote-controlled cars. He was also a lover of medieval art, and the
castle was designed to showcase his collection. The building itself is a blend of 15th-, 16th-, and
18th-century styles, including a great hall with elaborate rose windows and pipe organ plus a
courtyard featuring a two-story meat market/wine merchant's house brought over from southern
France. And, yes, like any proper mad scientist, he made sure there were secret passageways. Selfguided tours are available along with annual Renaissance Faire fund-raisers, psychic gatherings, and
spooky Halloween events. 80 Hesperus Ave., Gloucester, MA, 978/283-2080, hammondcastle.org.
Admission $10.
Fonthill Castle
Celebrating its centennial in 2012, the former home of industrialist-turned-archaeologist Henry
Mercer is an ode to artisanship: All 44 rooms (10 bathrooms, five bedrooms, and 200 windows), 32
stairwells, 18 fireplaces, and 21 chimneys are hewn from hand-mixed reinforced concrete in a
mishmash of medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine styles. Thousands of handcrafted ceramic tiles were
inset throughout, including Mercer's own Moravian-style tiles plus Persian, Chinese, Spanish, and
Dutch productions he collected. Today, the 60-acre Bucks County estate serves as a museum to preindustrial life, with 900 American and European prints at Fonthill and even more artifacts (like a
whale boat and Conestoga wagon) in its sister building, the Mercer Museum, a fun house--like sixstory castle in its own right. East Court St. and Rt. 313, Doylestown, PA, 215/348-9461,
mercermuseum.org. Admission $12.
Castello di Amorosa
Word to the wise: Imbibe the cabernet sauvignon and pinot grigio at the Castello di Amorosa winery
carefully, because somewhere in the 121,000-square-foot, 107-room, eight-level complex there's a
dungeon with a functional Renaissance-era iron maiden. It took 14 years to construct the castle
using historically accurate medieval building techniques. The end result is an "authentic" 12th- and
13th-century Tuscan castle with drawbridge and moat. The frescoes in the Great Hall and Knights'
Chamber are hand-painted, some 8,000 tons of Napa Valley stone hand-chiseled, the Hapsburg-era
bricks, hand-forged nails and chandeliers, and 500-year-old fireplace all tediously imported from
Europe. That sense of awe? Very modern. 4045 N. St. Helena Highway, Calistoga, CA, 707/967-6272,

castellodiamorosa.com. Admission $18, including wine tasting.

Boldt Castle
What do you do when you come across a heart-shaped isle while vacationing with your wife in the
Thousand Islands? If you're upstart industrialist George Boldt, you buy it and hire 300 stonemasons,
carpenters, and artists to build a six-story, 120-room testament to your love. There were Italian
gardens, a dove-cote, and a turreted powerhouse, plus all the imported Italian marble, French silks,
and Oriental rugs money could buy. But when his wife Louise died in 1904, the heartbroken Boldt
ceased construction on the Rhineland-style Taj Mahal and left it to the elements for 73 years. Today,
tourists can visit from May to October for self-guided tours--or book a wedding in the stone gazebo.
+44 20' 40.29" N, -75 55' 21.27" W, Heart Island, Alexandria Bay, NY, 315/482-9724,
boldtcastle.com. Admission $8.
Gillette Castle
It's elementary: Get famous (and rich) by playing Sherlock Holmes on the stage; build your own
Baskerville Hall. Pet project of campy eccentric William Hooker Gillette, the 24-room castle was
completed in 1919 by a crew of 20 men over five years using the actor/playwright's own drafts and
designs. It's also the focal point of his 184-acre Seventh Sister estate, a forested bluff overlooking
the Connecticut River. Outside, the local fieldstone reads like crumbling medieval; inside, the builtin couches, curious detailing, and inventive hand-carved southern white oak woodwork is all arts and
crafts. As for cat images? There are 60. (Gillette had 17 feline friends.) Gillette Castle State Park, 67
River Rd., East Haddam, CT, 860/526-2336, ct.gov. Grounds open year-round; interior tours
available Memorial Day to Columbus Day. Admission $6.
OHEKA Castle
Second behind Asheville's Biltmore as the largest private estate in the nation, OHEKA--an acronym
of Otto Herman Kahn, its millionaire financier original owner--ended up abandoned in the late 1970s
and sustained extensive damage from fires, vandals, and neglect. After a 20-year renovation, it's
back in form and is now a 32-room luxury hotel. Think Downton Abbey just an hour from Manhattan
(themed packages available), or for that matter, Citizen Kane (photos of it were used in the film).
Originally set on 443 acres, massive tons of earth were moved to make the hilltop location of the
127-room, 109,000-square-foot manse the highest point in Long Island. The Olmsted Brothers
planned the formal gardens, the Grand Staircase was inspired by Fontainebleau's famous exterior
one, and 126 servants tended to the six-person family when they came for weekends and summers.
The 1919 price tag: $11 million. That's $110 million in today's money. Sounds about right for a man
whose likeness inspired Mr. Monopoly. 135 West Gate Dr., Huntington, NY, 631/659-1400,
oheka.com. Admission $25. Double rooms from $395 per night. Guided tours available.
Bishop's Palace
Of all the Gilded Age Victorians built by Nicholas Clayton along Galveston's Gulf Coast, the Bishop's
Palace (ne Gresham Castle, 1893, after its original owner, Santa Fe railroad magnate Walther
Gresham) remains the grandest--and not just because its steel and stone hulk survived the Great
Storm of 1900. Its small lot and oversized proportions with chteau-esque detailing of steeply peaked
rooflines and sculptural chimneys still dominate the street, while inside the 14-foot coffered ceilings,
40-foot octagonal mahogany stairwell, stained glass, plaster carvings, and Sienna marble columns
exude richness. Keep a lookout for the bronze dragon sculptures. After serving as a Catholic bishop's
residence for 50 years, the house is now open for tours. Book a private guide to see the usually off-

limits third floor. 1402 Broadway, Galveston, TX, 409/762-2475, galveston.com. Admission $10,
private tours from $50.
Castle in the Clouds
Location, location, location--as important in castles to fending off conquers as forgetting Gilded Age
woes. And for millionaire shoe baron Thomas Plant, that meant setting his 1914 Lucknow Estate
(named after the Indian city he loved) on the rim of an extinct caldera high in the Ossipee Mountains
with unbroken views over 6,300 private acres of woods and lakes. The mansion by comparison is
relatively subdued: A mere 16 rooms, it's practically minuscule compared to the other castles on this
list. Throughout, the arts and crafts philosophy of artisanship and living in harmony with nature is
expressed in the stone walls, inventive handiwork like the jigsaw floor in the kitchen, and functional
decor that eschews ostentation--all planned at Plant's 5-foot-4 height--plus a few technological
innovations like a needle shower, self-cleaning oven, brine fridge, and central-vacuuming system.
Much remains wholly preserved today. Route 171, 455 Old Mountain Rd., Moultonborough, NH,
603/476-5900, castleintheclouds.org. Admission $16.
Thornewood Castle
It's not every day Stephen King chooses your luxury B&B as setting for his haunted-house TV
miniseries Rose Red. Then again it's not every day that a 400-year-old Elizabethan manor house is
dismantled brick-by-brick and shipped round Cape Horn to be incorporated into an English Tudor
Gothic castle in the Pacific Northwest, as Thornewood was from 1908 to 1911. The property was a
gift from Chester Thorne, one of the founders of the Port of Tacoma, to his wife and apropos of its
origin, the 54-room castle is now a prime wedding venue, with antiques and artwork galore plus an
Olmsted Brothers--designed garden and three acres of fir-dotted grounds overlooking American
Lake. Book a room to get an inside look at the building; there are also tours and events that are
occasionally open to the public. 8601 N. Thorne Lane Southwest, Lakewood, WA, 253/584-4393,
thornewoodcastle.com. Double rooms from $300 per night.
Hearst Castle
Understatement of the millennium: William Randolph Hearst's 1919 directive to architect Julia
Morgan to "build a little something" on his ranch in San Simeon. Then again, a 115-room "Casa
Grande" inspired by a Spanish cathedral is a relatively modest proposition compared to the 250,000
acres and the 13 miles of coastline it's set on. It's when you add in the three additional
Mediterranean Revival guesthouses (46 more rooms total), 127 acres of gardens, the Neptune pool
with authentic Roman temple pediment, the zoo with roaming reindeer and zebra, Egyptian Sekhmet
statues on the terraces, and the private airstrip that things get a bit over-the-top. Magnificent
doesn't begin to describe the museum-quality artwork, which drove the architecture as much as
anything, from Renaissance statuary to Gothic tapestries and entire ceilings, nor the palatial scale of
the publishing magnate's vision for "La Cuesta Encantada" (The Enchanted Hill)--still unfinished
upon his death in 1951. 750 Hearst Castle Rd., San Simeon, CA, 800/444-4445, hearstcastle.org.
Admission from $25.

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iring-american-castles/