Castles in the United States, Part Two

Here are more castles that are my favorite, found in the United States. The first one is an estate built by the wealthy and eccentric, William Randolph Hearst, who died in 1951. In 1957, the Hearst Corporation donated the property to the state of California. The Hearst name became famous when the granddaughter, Patricia "Patty" Hearst, was kidnapped and brainwashed by her kidnappers, a terrorist group in the United States.

Hearst Castle

The Hearst Castle was originally called La Cuesta Encantada (The Enchanted Hill), but Mr. Hearst called it “the ranch”. It is located near the community called San Simeon, which is about 250 miles between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Castles in the United States, Part One

Sussex, UK

Castles are familiar across the landscape of Europe, some still standing and renovated, while others mere shells of their former splendor or the shell used to build new structure. Designed to be a fortress as well as home to feudal lords and kings and their servants, fascination with castles, their construction and history, still continues today.

Most of the descendents of the first Americans, as well as many today, came from Europe. Some visited Europe in the 19^th and early 20^th century and were inspired to build their own castles in the United States. There are more castles than one would imagine here in the USA, some looking like castles and others just mansions with castle characteristics – and huge.