Scotty's Castle, Death Valley National Park

                                   Tuesday 4/3/2012

On our fourth day drive in Death Valley, we visited Scotty's Castle, also known as the Death Valley Ranch. We thought it would be faster to drive Hwy 95 North, than to drive to it through Death Valley.

Off Hwy. 95, we could see Big Dune. We had tried to see it the prior day, but because of high winds, visibility was minimal.

Big Dune is 300ft above surrounding land. It is maintained by BLM management. The dune is open to motorized and non-motorized recreational use.

An abandoned building, out in the desert.

Views just south of Beatty, Nevada.

From Pahrump to Beatty, Nevada it is 73 miles.

We went through Beatty, Nevada, a town we had gone through a couple of day prior.

From Beatty, Nevada to Scotty's Junction it was 35 miles.

At Scotty's Junction, we turned west onto Hwy 267 for another 26 miles, before we entered into California. As soon as we entered into California, we headed down a mountain.

Shortly across the border, just before Scotty's Castle, we started to see lots of green plant life.

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As we came down the mountain, we could see Scotty's Castle out in the middle of nowhere.

Construction of Scotty's Castle started in 1922. It cost $1.5 to .$2.5 million

Walter Scott, born in Kentucky, moved to the west as a teenager to work as a cowboy. Later he worked as a stuntman for Buffalo Bill Cody, in the famous Wild West Show. From this career he learned to be an actor and used it in his next profession: talking people out of their money. He convinced a Chicago millionaire Albert Johnson, as well as others, to invest in his made up gold mine, in Death Valley. Albert Johnson traveled to Death Valley in 1906 to see this mine, in hope to gain full control of it.. Of course Scotty never showed him a mine, but took him on great adventures which included a gunfight.
This is a view into the courtyard. The trees are Joshua trees next to the gate.

The Joshua trees were in bloom.

Picture of the visitor center in the distance. To the left of Joe, was what looked to be a wishing well. We were waiting for our tour to start of the castle.

I was most impressed with the details in the doors and gates.

After several visits to Grapevine Canyon, in Death Valley, Albert Johnson purchased land and started to build a villa for his vacations, because his health improved.

Albert's wife Bessie, wanted a more comfortable place, so the castle was built, and it ended up being a winter home for them.

View into the courtyard.

Lengthwise view of courtyard.

Sundial in courtyard.

Stairs going to second floor in courtyard.

Tour guides are dress in 1939 clothing to fit the era.

Door in courtyard leading into the main living room.

Main living area or Great Hall. A rock fountain was built below the tapestry.

As water dripped down the rock wall, evaporation cooling was created.

On the other wall of the Great Hall was the fireplace.

Archway's going into the Great Hall.

Another fireplace in the guest living room.

The dining area.

Most of the dishes came from Italy.

Sink in kitchen. The kitchen was not used much because there was a cook house on the property.

Leather curtains

View from walkway above in courtyard.

Bell tower in distance.

Door to walkway or stairs going down, from upstairs of castle.

Entrance into other bedrooms from the walkway.

Music room on first floor below the bedrooms.

In the music room, there is a 1,121 pipe Welte theater organ. The organ is played on the tour.

Door leaving the music/organ room to the spiral stair case.

Looking up!

Door leaving the spiral stair case.

The castle became known as Scotty's Castle because Scotty was quick to pretend ownership of it. To be continued: