Castles of "United States" BERKELEY CASTLE vs BETTENDORF CASTLE

The Samuel Taylor Suit Cottage, also known as the Berkeley Castle or Berkeley Springs Castle, is located on a hill above Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. The castle-like house was built for Colonel Samuel Taylor Suit of Washington, D.C. as a personal retreat near the spa town, beginning in 1885. It was not complete by the time of his death in 1888 and was finished in the early 1890s for his young widow, Rosa Pelham Suit, whom Suit had first met at Berkeley Springs and their three children. The post 1888 work is of noticeably inferior quality. The fifteen-room interior features a ballroom 50 feet (15.2 m) wide and 40 ft (12.2 m) long. The design is attributed to Washington architect Alfred B. Mullett, who is alleged to have drawn a rough sketch of the plan on a tablecloth at the Berkeley Springs Hotel. The design may have been based on elements of Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. Detailed design and construction supervision was carried out by Snowden Ashford, who designed Washington's Eastern Market, apprenticed for Mullett and is also credited as an architect. Mrs. Suit entertained lavishly at the house until her money ran out and the property was sold in 1913. In February 2020, the property was purchased by the VDARE Foundation, a tax-exempt affiliate of anti-immigration organization VDARE. VDARE is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "a place where relatively intellectually inclined leaders of the anti-immigrant movement share their opinions. VDare.com also regularly publishes articles by prominent white nationalists, race scientists and anti-Semites."

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In 1931, Theodore “Teddy” Bettendorf immigrated to America from Luxembourg. Overlooking the town of Fox River Grove, he began building a castle that took over 36 years of dedication and hard work. As a boy, Teddy learned his masonry skills from watching a historic castle being rebuilt in his hometown of Vianden, Luxembourg. In his building of the castle, he collected stones from such places as local farmers’ fields, stone quarries, and the excavation of Lake Julian. In addition to the castle itself, there is a water-filled moat, a wishing well, a working drawbridge, an outside bathroom and sink, an outdoor fireplace, an observation tower, and a courtyard. Since its completion, the Bettendorf Castle has been used as a honeymoon suite, for the filming of commercials, various civic events, and as a private residence.

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