Polly #3 can’t believe there’s a real castle in West Virginia!

According to the WV Encyclopedia article written by Jean Mozier, Colonel Samuel Taylor Suit built the imposing stone structure in the fashionable spa of Berkeley Springs as a summer cottage for his young bride, Rosa Pelham. Construction began in 1885; he never lived to see it finished. Suit was politically well-connected and a successful businessman who marketed his popular brand of whiskey across the country in little brown jugs. Daughter of an Alabama congressman, Rosa was less than half his age when they married.

Perched on Warm Springs Ridge overlooking the famed springs, Suit’s cottage was the most extravagant example of the town’s Victorian building boom. Although it always looked like a castle, it was not until the tall, blue-eyed, attractive widow returned in 1891 that the cottage became known as the Castle. She was Queen Rosa, famous for sophisticated friends and gala parties.

Berkeley Castle has gone through several hands since Rosa was evicted in the 1920s. It served at various times as a tearoom, summer camp and focus of tours. Living quarters were added in 1938. Most of the overblown stories were created for the tours.

Built of local stone, the castle has 13 rooms plus a basement dungeon, which was popular during ghost tours. The Great Hall has a high ceiling, hardwood floor and stone fireplaces at each end. A pine-paneled dining room on the main floor also has a fireplace. A wide stairway curves up to second floor bedrooms and a paneled library. A narrow staircase leads to the turretted rooftop trimmed with battlements and offering a fabulous view of the town. Three crosses are sunk into the stone walls of the turret.

I can't believe there's a real castle so close to home!

Check out the castle!

This scary looking guy is guarding the entrance to the castle.

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Tags: Polly 3