All About Castles

My fascination for expensive real estate has finally hit a personal note...I've discovered 'Castle Nicole'. Check it out:

This castle has a total of 7,719 square feet and a price tag of $3,788,000. I guess they gave it the right name because it's the most expensive castle plan on the site! Now I wonder, does it come with Prince Charming?

I haven't really associated the US with castles (and I still don't) but there is a gorgeous one in Idaho called 'Castle Kataryna' that is currently for sale:

It kind of looks like something you would see in an animated Disney movie, doesn't it?

All this talk of "castles" is beginning to jog my memory! There is a castle outside of Versailles, KY that I've driven past several times and was always fascinated with. This is how I remember it:

This image is so vivid in my memory because I knew there had to be a great story behind it. Seriously, who would build such a thing in rural KY?! At the time (1997) it seemed that nobody really knew what was going on with the property and I eventually forgot about it. Well, I did some digging and my instincts were right; this place has got a lot of history! Here's a quick recap:

It's a fascinating story of a husband (Rex Martin) building a castle for his bride after a trip abroad where she fell in love with castles and their architecture. Construction began in 1969 but the couple divorced in 1975. At this point, Mr. Martin ceased construction of the castle and the place sat unfinished and unoccupied for decades. You can see unfinished interior photos of the structure here.

Mr. Martin moved to Florida and made a half-hearted attempt to sell the property. Apparently, all inquiries about the property and its sale went unanswered. It's the classic case of can't live with it, can't live without it. Mr. Martin passed away in 2003 and a Miami lawyer spent a year and a half attempting to purchase the castle from Mr. Martins estate. He finally succeeded and began renovations in 2004. Six months had passed until a fire suddenly destroyed the interior castle wiping out all of the renovations.
The new owner soldiered on and once again began to reconstruct the castle. After several years of construction, the place is now complete. At the end of 2008 it was opened to the public as a tourist home/inn called The Castle Post. You can rent out a room for the night and prices range from $1000-$3000. However, if you really want to feel like the king of the castle, you can rent the whole kit and caboodle for 3 days and it will only cost you $50,000.


I must admit, the owner did a magnificent job. You can view a photo gallery of the new structure here. The grounds don't seem to have that eerie/haunting feeling that the old place had.

It seems unreal that I first passed this place 12 years ago. That just amazes me! It's these quirky little things that you run across while traveling that makes it all worth while!