Death Valley Castle
Located in Death Valley is a castle that was built as a vacation retreat for Albert Mussey Johnson and his wife. Stories told how the castle was built with money earned from a gold mine that he had invested in in the 20′s. Actually, there was no gold mine and his investment was in a dream but out of it he did build his vacation retreat.
When you get investors for a mining project you really should have a mine. Walter Scott had gotten Mr. Johnson to invest in the mine that was supposedly going to make them both rich. It was working for Mr. Scott until Mr. Johnson decided to come and see the mine for himself. With no mine to see it was impossible for him to get too excited about the mine.
Mr. Johnson and his wife decided that even though there wasn’t a mine in Death Valley they liked the area anyway. With that in mind they decided to build a vacation retreat. The retreat was named Death Valley Ranch but to those that were local and knew the story of Mr. Scott it was known as Scotty’s Castle.
The alure of seeing the retreat built by the “richest gold miner in California” was a huge attraction to the rich and famous. They came to see just what that type of money could buy. Mr. Johnson never told that there was no mine. It would have taken some of the charm away from the retreat to know it was built with money he had earned in other ventures and not the mine.
There are guided tours available at the castle for those of you wanting to visit. With interactive displays, living history exhibits and all inside the house it will be a treat to see. The tours are available daily on the hour.
There is a second tour that you can take while at the castle. It is the tour of the underground area of the castle. It shows you the technology incorporated a the time to produce electricity and see the 1/4 mile underground tunnel system that runs under the house.
Using the technology of the past in conjunction with the technology of today keeps the castle well preserved. The National Park Service is responsible for maintaining the castle today. The underground area has been incorporated into the workings of the current management so you will get to see some of that along with history as you tour the basement level.
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