California 2nd November, Death Valley and Scotty's Castle
We had left the rather grim, just a car park really, Stovepipe Wells campsite after our one night there and had visited the Mesquite Flat dunes for dawn. So what next for this first Sunday in November?
Why not Scotty's Castle! Just about an hours journey away. Perfect timing.
This extraordinary edifice was built by Albert Johnson, a wealthy businessman from Chicago who had visited Death Valley as the result of a hoax. The perpetrator was one Walter E Scott or 'Death Valley Scotty' a rather unsuccessful prospector who hit on the idea that, as no investor from the north ever came down to check out a mine, why not make one up. This he did and with the 'mine' and several publicity stunts he hit the headlines and was feted throughout the US. Albert Johnson, who had been crippled from a back injury since youth, always wanted to be a cowboy so thought he would check out his investment in the wild west. He found no mine, and in fact Scotty staged a highway robbery to discourage him from going further to look. But Johnson was entranced by Scotty who took him on outback trails and camps and entertained him with stories so that Scotty's misdemeanours were overlooked and he ended up living with the Johnsons' in their newly built home in Death Valley. He had a room in the castle but actually preferred living in a shack not far from the grounds where he would usually sleep out under the stars. Johnson went from being a cripple to someone who rode horses and had a 'ranching' lifestyle so the arrangement obviously suited him. Johnson lost a lot of money in the Wall Street crash, never finished the swimming pool at the castle and took in paying guests. Scotty would spin his tales to them while they were having their after dinner drinks. The guests paid if they were not celebrities but celebrities got to stay for free to attract others.
The inside of the house is sumptuous, filled with hand crafted furniture and fitments. Upstairs is an enormous pipe organ which plays on its own (the Johnsons' could not play an instrument and, judging by what we heard the organ play had no taste in music either).
We arrived at around 8.30 expecting the castle to open at 9.00. There was no one in the car park apart from one elderly lady with a couple of little dogs with her and we thought it odd. Around half an hour later someone came to the reception door and said that their first tour would start in an hour. Of course we had not realised that the American clocks had gone back and we were earlier than we thought. A nuisance as that put sunrise back an hour!!
We wandered the grounds and watched a tourist film on Death Valley in their video room and finally got to purchase tickets and go on the tour, quite expensive. The guide said she would have to pretend for a short time at one point that she was one of the Johnson's guests as this was their 'living history' which qualified them for educational status and tax breaks! This she did for around 5 minutes in the sitting room. She did have to wear a 30's style dress and stockings which would be pretty hot in the summer. I did not take any pictures inside as it was quite dark.
I start with a picture looking at the Grapevine Mountains, the range on the east of the Valley. With the cream mounds in front of them they reminded me of folds of chocolate and vanilla blancmange.
Why not Scotty's Castle! Just about an hours journey away. Perfect timing.
This extraordinary edifice was built by Albert Johnson, a wealthy businessman from Chicago who had visited Death Valley as the result of a hoax. The perpetrator was one Walter E Scott or 'Death Valley Scotty' a rather unsuccessful prospector who hit on the idea that, as no investor from the north ever came down to check out a mine, why not make one up. This he did and with the 'mine' and several publicity stunts he hit the headlines and was feted throughout the US. Albert Johnson, who had been crippled from a back injury since youth, always wanted to be a cowboy so thought he would check out his investment in the wild west. He found no mine, and in fact Scotty staged a highway robbery to discourage him from going further to look. But Johnson was entranced by Scotty who took him on outback trails and camps and entertained him with stories so that Scotty's misdemeanours were overlooked and he ended up living with the Johnsons' in their newly built home in Death Valley. He had a room in the castle but actually preferred living in a shack not far from the grounds where he would usually sleep out under the stars. Johnson went from being a cripple to someone who rode horses and had a 'ranching' lifestyle so the arrangement obviously suited him. Johnson lost a lot of money in the Wall Street crash, never finished the swimming pool at the castle and took in paying guests. Scotty would spin his tales to them while they were having their after dinner drinks. The guests paid if they were not celebrities but celebrities got to stay for free to attract others.
The inside of the house is sumptuous, filled with hand crafted furniture and fitments. Upstairs is an enormous pipe organ which plays on its own (the Johnsons' could not play an instrument and, judging by what we heard the organ play had no taste in music either).
We arrived at around 8.30 expecting the castle to open at 9.00. There was no one in the car park apart from one elderly lady with a couple of little dogs with her and we thought it odd. Around half an hour later someone came to the reception door and said that their first tour would start in an hour. Of course we had not realised that the American clocks had gone back and we were earlier than we thought. A nuisance as that put sunrise back an hour!!
We wandered the grounds and watched a tourist film on Death Valley in their video room and finally got to purchase tickets and go on the tour, quite expensive. The guide said she would have to pretend for a short time at one point that she was one of the Johnson's guests as this was their 'living history' which qualified them for educational status and tax breaks! This she did for around 5 minutes in the sitting room. She did have to wear a 30's style dress and stockings which would be pretty hot in the summer. I did not take any pictures inside as it was quite dark.
I start with a picture looking at the Grapevine Mountains, the range on the east of the Valley. With the cream mounds in front of them they reminded me of folds of chocolate and vanilla blancmange.
Here are our first views of the castle, a large Spanish style building, which must sit near springs as there were patches of green trees round it, which was very refreshing against the arid scenery.
There was a rather interesting old solar powered array and we had time to walk up a hill which overlooks the castle to see Scotty's grave and memorial.
We managed to photograph some details around the castle, including a lovely spiral staircase.
After the tour we went to an area at the back of the house which had been used as a dumping ground. Here there were stacks of wood left over from the building operations and a number of cars and other vehicles quietly sinking into the grit under the California sun.
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