Castle Grandeur

Yes, there is a grand castle in Death Valley!  Sprawling at the north eastern edge of the park in Grapevine Canyon, Death Valley Ranch (or as it is mostly known, “Scotty’s Castle”) rises above the wild wilderness wasteland as a heavenly oasis.  We decided to take the “House Tour” that is led by a Park Service Ranger dressed in 1939 clothing. The guide shared many stories about the heyday of the Castle in the late ‘30s, the construction in the 1920s, and the curious relationship between the Johnsons and Scotty.  The house is fully furnished with the Johnsons’ original decorations and some of their clothing still hangs in the closets.

It is the Johnsons who built and own the Castle, so you might wonder, "Why is it called Scotty’s Castle?"  It is a wonderfully weird and amazing story.

Here are a few photos of the exterior of the Castle.

 

 

 

Albert and Bessie Johnson were a very wealthy family and they became investors in one of Scotty’s fake gold mining scams.  Albert Johnson, however, decided he wanted to visit his mine to see how it was doing.  Of course, the mine did not exist.  So on his first trip to Death Valley to check out the mine's progress, Scotty (having been part of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show) staged a fake gunfight to scare the city-slicker, Albert, away while keeping the investment money coming in. 

Scotty arranged for some of his cronies to come galloping in on horseback, shooting guns.  Unfortunately, a stray bullet hit his brother and Scotty yelled, “Stop!  You’ve hit my brother!”  Of course everyone stopped shooting and came to the rescue.  That (obviously) blew his cover.  They had to depart from the desert and head back.  But Albert requested another visit to the mine and that’s when Scotty coughed up the truth.  However, Albert and Bessie had fallen in love with the desert and Albert had always secretly desired to be involved with the wild west so Scotty became his ticket to the exciting lifestyle he desperately dreamed about.  This was an odd couple pairing for sure which began a long and enduring friendship between the unlikeliest pair – one the charismatic con artist and the other the banker who was conned! 

While the Johnsons frequently visited the Castle, Scotty lived their full time, entertaining many guests including celebrities and politicians, dazzling them with his old west stories.  Actually, Scotty didn’t really “live” at the Castle because the Johnsons did not allow alcohol, gambling or tobacco in their home--they were very religious.  So Scotty had his own little hacienda (Lower Vine Ranch) not far away so he could continue to freely pursue his more lascivious lifestyle. The Johnsons both passed away before Scotty, but Scotty continued to live there until he passed away in 1954.  All three of them have their graves on the hill behind the Castle property. The Johnsons willed the property to a Christian organization with the stipulation that Scotty could live there as long as he wanted to.  Once Scotty died, the Christian organization ran it to make money by continuing to offer Castle tours.  Eventually, it didn’t pay to keep the property so they sold it to the National Parks where Castle tours continue to this day.

In addition to the House Tour there is also an “Underground Tour"  that focuses on how the Johnsons built a comfortable vacation home in Death Valley. The tour sees the basement, underground tunnels, heating system, original pipes, original power generation and power storage systems. A highlight is the demonstration of electrical generation using an original Pelton water wheel.  The site was well chosen because it has one of the few natural springs in Death Valley that continues to supply all the water needed to maintain the grounds and property.

While we waited for our tour to start (we had about 45 minutes), we walked over to the stables that now hold the Johnsons antique cars.

This is Scotty’s 1936 Dodge Commercial Sedan.

This is a Concord western stage wagon and a horse drawn dump wagon.

Check out this 1914 7-Passenger Packard Touring Car

How about this 1925 Dodge pick-up truck?

When was the last time you saw a 1928 Ford “AA” Dump Truck?

We continued to walk around the grounds and saw these burned palm trees.  Later, during the tour, we found out that just this last spring there was a fire that not only damaged this palm tree grove, but also did some minor damage to some of the outlying structures at the Castle.

 

There is a watercourse around the property from the spring so I took a few pictures of it.

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The pool must have been absolutely astounding!  It is HUGE and was divided by this center arched walkway which separated the deep end from the shallow end. 

This photo shows the full shallow end which is actually shorter in length than the deep end.  I actually wonder if the pool was ever used because it appears that the bottom was never finished. 

Time to start the tour!  You first walk through these beautiful gates into a terracotta tiled patio area. In this photo you can see the clock tower right above the gates.

This is the front entrance to the Castle with its official name "Death Valley Ranch" engraved above the ornately adorned wooden door.

The main entry living room has this wrought iron chandelier hanging overhead.  All of the ornate wrought iron throughout the house was specially created just for the Castle!

 

 

The terracotta floor in the main entry living room is outlined in these ornately designed tiles.

All the rugs and tapestries (such as this one hanging from the second floor balustrade) were hand made in either Majorca (before the Spanish/American War) or Spain. Notice the decorative tile along the edge of the balustrade.

This painting and artwork were on display in the main room.

This lovely decorative bowl was sitting on one of the side tables.  Notice the inlaid hand-painted tile on the side table below the bowl?

 

There were two of these elegant Tiffany-styled lamps in the main room.  In this photo you get a better view of the hand-painted inlaid table tiles.

 

Walking around the second floor indoor balcony that overlooks the main room were these brightly colored hand-painted decorative tiles.

This is Scotty’s bedroom (or what was considered Scotty’s bedroom).  It was said that after he “went to bed” he slipped out his back door and went up to his own hacienda up the hill.

 

This is the desk area in Scotty’s bedroom.

 

The main house also includes a music room.  Our Park Ranger (to the left with the hat on in the photo) is explaining some of the features of this fabulous entertainment area.

 

This room also includes a few musical instruments to entertain guest.  This is just one corner of this fabulous entertainment chamber.

 

One way you can tell that the Johnson’s were enamored with Scotty and considered him a very dear friend is by the way this double photo of both Scotty and Albert was created and permanently secured over the fireplace.  It is as enduring as their relationship!  Scotty is on the left and the more conservative Albert is on the right.  However, let’s not overlook that spectacular tiled fireplace over which those portraits reside!

How would you like this for a dining room in your house?  All the pottery displayed on the shelves behind the table were made specially for the Johnsons in Italy!

 

Here are a couple of close-up shots of the beautiful Italian pottery—their everyday ware!

 

Next is the kitchen.  Now, remember, this was the 1930s!  They did their best to make the home habitable and desirable to Bessie so that she wouldn’t mind coming here on vacations.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to get a photo of their stove and refrigerator since we were being hussled through and I was trying to take photos without people standing in front of things … it was a challenge sometimes and the kitchen was the worst of it!

 

This is Bessie’s room at the Castle.  Here is her sitting area followed by her bed which features a pull-down table for reading and writing!

 

Her room also displays her collection of handwoven Indian basketware.

 

Bessie was an avid writer and had her own typewriter set up in her desk area in her room.

 

Along the balcony there are interspersed between the regular terracotta tiles are these hand-painted tiles.  There were about four or five different designs … these are just two of them.

 

Back into the courtyard, here is a close-up of those ornate wooden and iron gates looking down from the overhead walkway between two sides of the courtyard.

 

Don’t you just love this prospector wind vane situated on the roof of the house?

 

Located on the opposite side of the main patio, this main guest room would be highly sought after!  Spacious and comfortable are the two words that come to mind!  This particular guest room included its own bathroom.

 

This elaborately tiled bathroom is the “shared” bathroom for other guests.

 

This is one of a number of guest bedrooms that use the shared bathroom.

 

Still on the other side of the main house, there’s a second music room.  This is the substantial, sumptuously decorated fireplace in that special room.

 

I’ll end with one last photo of the Hacienda behind the house.  To the right of the Hacienda would be the stables and to the left would be the main house.   The Hacienda housed all the workers needed to maintain the house and the grounds.

 

The clock tower continues to chime on the half and full hour.  We heard it sing its song a number of times while we were on the property.  And now it’s time to say “Farewell” to Scotty’s Castle … until we return, “Adios, mi amigo!”  Next stop after the Castle?  Think "BIG hole in the ground"!

 

Isaiah 32:14-17 // Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken.  Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever, a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks; until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field is considered as a forest.  Then justice will dwell in the wilderness and righteousness will abide in the fertile field. And the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.