Medieval Castle in Arkansas???

[Woot22]

Not sure if it was on this site I found out about this castle or somewhere else but figured what the heck I will post it again. Not really kilt related but it is historical related and I know there are plenty of amateur historians on this site. Currently some dedicated artisans are building a caslte in the middle of Arkansas using only medieval methods and tools. Apparently the Frenchman who started funding this project already started another project in France and was talked into doing another one in the United States. Seems pretty cool to me and I plan on taking a trip to see it when I get back to Tennessee. Currently I am working as a civilian tech rep with the Army on deployment but when I get home I need to see this myself. This is a great idea and I am glad people still fund these types of learning projects. Anyway here is the link;
http://www.ozarkmedievalfortress.com/en-us/

[Chirs]

That is really cool! Certainly falls into the category of 'long-term project'. That would be worth a visit.

[Fitzy]

It's great to see. I hope PBS or someone does a documentary on the building of it.

And yes, they can be realy cool..... especially in the winter !

There were quite a few castles built in the USA back in the "Robber Baron" days. I know of several just on the north shore of Long Island NY, of which two still survive

Here's links to them both.

http://www.sandspointpreserve.org/htm/hempstead.htm

This one may look formiluar to anyone who watched the TV series "Kings", and other TV shows and movies.

http://www.sandspointpreserve.org/htm/photos.htm

This is Castle Gould. It orinally was the "Stable" (with equestrian ball room )for the castle/mansion above.

The reason I said "realy cool" is that they can be VERY cold and damp in winter. I spent nine years working in the "dungeons" of Castle Gould above, so I have a bit of experiance with it. The good news is, with walls at least 3 feet thick stone, they don't need air conditioning.

At the tip of Sands Point, north of these two castles, there was another castle built by W.R. Hearst very much like the one the OP linked to. Pictures I saw of it in the Nassau County Museum archive, it looked very much like the castle in Disney Land. It's long gone to make way for a private community, but the crenulated outer wall, guard towers with cross arrow slits and gateways are still there at the very end of Middleneck Rd.

Paul

[Coastie]

There is one in Kentucky though not historically accurate.

http://www.thecastlepost.com/default.asp

And an old website that tracked the long and storied road it took to become a site for weddings and such.

http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/martin.htm

[Chirs]

We do have one in Toronto as well. Casa Loma. People may recognise it from the X-Men movies. Yup, really really.

http://www.casaloma.org/

[chrisupyonder]

If any of the rabble ever get to Scotland again, this place is truly magical. Fully furnished and still lived in. Open to the public most of the time. We have been many times as it is only about 1 hours drive.

http://www.dunrobincastle.co.uk/index.htm

[Whidbey78]

There's Bishop Castle near Canon City Colorado. It was listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest one-man construction project at one time. It may still be, but their website was extremely slow when I tried to look it up and I just gave up. Jim Bishop has built all of it except part of one tower, which was started by his father in the sixties. It's all been done by hand, no cranes, no loaders, carrying rocks up to where they need to be...but he does mix the mortar with a powered mixer to save time and reduce waste, and the iron-work was done with a stick welder.

He says it will never be finished and he plans to keep going until he dies!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Castle

[chrisupyonder]

Great photo's of castles in the USA and Canada. I didn't know you had so many over their.

Do any staff wear the kilt?

I love castles.

[Fitzy]

Chris,

Can't speak for the others castles, but no kilted staff at Sands Point.
However, they do hold one of the older renfairs every year.

When I worked there we called them the "Mid-upheaval" group. Back in the 70's they were a bunch of stary eyed kids who drove us crazy with what we preceived as outlandish requests.

Now they've grown up and so has the income that Nassua Couty takes in from it, ... so none of that seems so outlandish anymore !

And I forgot to mention, there are also two French country style manor houses on the south half of the property.

This one was the son's house, Capt Harry Guggenheim.
http://www.sandspointpreserve.org/htm/falaise.htm

And, no pictures of it on the website, but there is the mother's house that she had built after her husband died and she didn't want to live in the "big house".

Was a very interesting place to work.

Paul

[Bigkahuna]

There are stories of Prince Madoc of Wales building fortifications in America around the late 1100s.