"This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. " - Shakespeare

A current photo of our home, and one made when we purchased it in 1997.

Why did we decide to build around and add to a house, instead of building new? Building new from ground up was our first intention. Then this home came up for sale, and it being my home place, I really wanted to keep it in the family. So Tim graciously agreed, under the condition, that we would not give up our dreams of building a castle, and he could build and add onto the existing structure.

Our first year here in 1997, it took us all year to turn the back cross-fenced field into a yard. It was awful, worn out fencing, weeds and briars grown up over head’s height in some places. Then the following year, Tim ordered the first delivery of stone. See the photo below, after arrival then we had to go through and make piles of the different size stones. This is Tim in the photo. He started building the stone fence, and our castle construction begun from that point.

Both the sides of the new entry way are four feet high. Tim built the framework, he poured and spread the concrete floor. After the concrete dried, we removed the frames, and added the flower pots.

Construction of the walls has begun, and the framework is finish for the arch. Tim poured the arch one bucket at a time. He added some of his stone carvings into the arch, when the archway dried we added our newest gargoyle. After the seventh layer of blocks we place rebar in each block. Then we filled each section with concrete. A cap was placed completely around the seventh row, then the process of building with blocks again. We have filled the upper cores with concrete, and the top caps are in place. We have also added a few more statues across the front. The roofing has been completed, and we box in the framework. Carvings have been placed above the front door in the entry. Most of the ceiling is in place.

Work done inside the entry. We made the chandelier from an old wagon wheel. The entry is 16 feet high. Everyone that has seen it in person and on the net says that the pictures just don't do it justice. They say that it is larger than what they were expecting to see. Tim and Jordan places the spires on top of the entry. Small dragons have been placed on top of each spire.

We have placed ironwork on each side of the entry in the windows.

Dragons at Entry
They get color changes from time to time.