Love, Insanity and the Castle on the Hill

Ever since my friend Andy had got me hooked on this new HDR thing, I have been excited and thrilled to create art using my photography as well as my paint and pens. I love the fact I can capture a photo in its natural state or, using HDR and software, create a piece resembing a painting or fairytale image. I also love the fact that photography is not something that is bound only to stuffy studios or limited to portraiture or weddings or even sports. I have learned mostly this summer from several adventures, including my trip to Wyoming and Yellostone, that photography is a lasting legacy of journey’s and adventures. Speaking of adventures, I have recently been introduced to the sport of urbexing. Let me tell you, it is indeed a sport. I have found myself hiking, running, ducking, crawling, tip-toeing or climbing in some of the most unfriendly and sometimes unstable environments. But, Wow, what an adreneline rush. One of my latest adventures was a trip to this abandoned castle that Andy had visited previously. He had told me stories of his shoots there in the past and described this castle as something out of a fairytale book from the brothers Grimm. He described the surreal sense of the  place as well as its tragic history and how awesome it was to actually be there and witness this place first hand. I remember thinking, “yeah…that sounds cool” and telling him I’d like to go see it sometime. Well that sometime was last week. Andy picked me up at 9 a.m. and we headed several hours East until we found the location to make our dash up the hill to the castle. I could see it through the trees at the top of a 40 yard steep hill. The first thing I saw were the turrets and the amazing stonework. When I reached the top I think my jaw hit the ground when I saw the entire castle.

 I couldn’t believe my eyes…..holy crap, wow, where am I? I felt like I had been teleported back to 1890.  This was so cool. Since Andy had been here before he knew right where to sprint to so we would not be detected. We ran around back through a large stone archway into a huge courtyard out back surrounded by at least 12′ stone walls and into an open door which led to what must have been a kitchen at one time. This is where we carefully decided on our game plan.

The place smelled of the ages, but not too bad. A little musty, dusty and mold. I was in awe immediately of the tilework and woodwork I saw, including the massive carved arch doors. I was very pleased to see that vandals and taggers had not been too cruel to this truly magnificent place. I saw a only a few tags but most of the windows were broken or missing. I imagined that sitting over 100 years, the windows probably succumbed to the elements rather than vandals, but, who knows. The light coming in through the open windows made for some very cool shots however. We spent a couple hours exploring all three floors, the nooks and crannies and neat rooms. Most of the rooms had very ornate and massive stone and marble fireplaces. The spiral staircases leading to the second and third floors were very nice Italian marble still in pristine condition. Apparantly the castle was ahead of its time and was one of the first places in the area to have electricity and steam radiators. I found the electrical outlets and switches very unique and something that I have never seen before. The colors on the wall were still quite vibrant but the paint in many spots was chipping and pealing

which certainly added more character to this old grand castle which was coverted from a late 1800s lodge to the completed castle in 1924. The history of the castle is as unique as its design and structure. The castle boasts a house, a bailey, a curtain wall and a folly resembling a barbican. The Castle had 36 rooms and the ornate fireplace in the main reception room was once covered in gold leaf and is said to have been valued at $5000 in 1910. We spent much time exlploring each room, the many bathrooms, sitting rooms, bedrooms and such. Peering through the arched windows to the view outside into the courtyard

was breathtaking and I couldn’t help to imagine what the view must have been like back when it must have been neatly manicured with shrubs and trees. It is now quite overgrown with vines and other weeds. We decided it was about time to leave to explore our second location. So it was back down the beautiful Italian marble spiral staircases and back outside. We had to take a few more shots of the  stunning exterior of the place.