Yesterday my sister told me about an end-of-the-summer party that was scheduled for tonight. I hadn't received the invitation since it was sent to my wife who is out of town for a few days.

At first I wasn't especially interested since it was slated to start around 5:00 or 5:30 and I usually work until 6:00, plus it is about 40 minutes from where I work. But then I read the invite which said come around 5:00 to 5:30 if you want to tour the castle, and after that they would go up the hill to their house for a potluck party.

I was quite intrigued and decided to leave work early to attend, especially after seeing on the map that the access road to the property is this overpass over the highway that I had seen and wondered about. I arranged to pick up my sister and carpool to the place and was amazed.

First the overpass over the highway, is their driveway, which twists and turns for 1.5 miles up the mountain towards Shenandoah National Park. When we arrived about thirty people were about to go into what really would best be called a castle. It was massive, solid rough stone, with a round tower with crenelations.

Inside it really looked as if you had stepped into an English or German castle, with intricately carved dark wood, ornate plaster ceilings, suits of armor, and medieval themed painted panels. Our friend explained some of the history of the place, how her grandparents bought a bankrupt apple orchard on the slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains with the intention of building a summer getaway to escape the heat (and yellow fever) in the Richmond, Virginia. The grandfather had the "castle" built from local rock, by British and Italian and local craftsmen, and dispatched a designer to Europe to buy furnishings for the place.

Atop the main tower you can see miles of beautiful rolling ridges stretching off into the distance.

Since I didn't have
time to stop at home, I didn't bring my camera, but my sister brought
two, so I borrowed one and took numerous photos. When I get the memory card from her I'll post some here.

Here's one of the exterior from the internet: