Castles of "United States" BOWMAN'S CASTLE vs BULL RUN CASTLE

BOWMAN'S CASTLE

Bowman's Castle, also known as Nemacolin Castle, was built in present-day Brownsville, Pennsylvania, at the western terminus of the Nemacolin's Trail...

Bowman's Castle, also known as Nemacolin Castle, was built in present-day Brownsville, Pennsylvania, at the western terminus of the Nemacolin's Trail on the east bank of the Monongahela river. It was built around the original trading post, which was built near the site of Fort Burd, the latter built by British colonists during the French and Indian War. Construction on the castle, including addition of a crenellated tower, continued through the Victorian era, when it was considered an engineering marvel. The trading post was built shortly after the American Revolutionary War, in the mid-to-latter 1780s. Jacob Bowman began constructing the castle during the mid-to-late 1790s in the community once known as Redstone. The trading post was located at the Redstone Creek river crossing. The community built flatboats for travelers and traders on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It was the long-time terminus of the western part of Nemacolin's Trail. Likely more than 1,200 years before construction of the fort, trading post or castle, prehistoric indigenous peoples had also found this site a strategic one. They built the earthwork mounds which the colonists called Redstone Old Fort. Fort Burd was built on top of its sandstone base. The Castle is one of several large buildings of the 1850s (In this case, the site holds part of Fort Burd; the well dug by the Fort Burd soldiers) still standing in western Pennsylvania. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its alternate name, Nemacolin's Castle, was derived from Nemacolin's Trail, named after the Shawnee chief who helped improve and mark the ancient Native American trail through the Alleghenies. It connected the valleys of the Potomac River and the Ohio River drainage basin on the Monongahela River.

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BULL RUN CASTLE

Despite its Medieval elements, the Bull Run Castle is a relatively new addition to the Loudoun County landscape. In 1986, a man by the name of John Ro...

Despite its Medieval elements, the Bull Run Castle is a relatively new addition to the Loudoun County landscape. In 1986, a man by the name of John Roswell Miller decided to quit his job and pursue a dream of building a real-live castle as his home. Just a stone's throw away from Route 15 in Aldie, the castle is a true feat of imagination and architecture. The process of building the castle took 10 years to complete. When Miller first purchased the property, it was a modest corn field. When the castle was open to visitors, it was advertised as a romantic bed and breakfast. For approximately $60 per night, guests could stay in this picturesque castle and have a made-to-order breakfast cooked by Miller himself. While the business is no longer in operation, those interested in viewing the castle can do so from afar. Even at a distance, you can marvel at the impressive 4 3/4-inch iron shod front door. Other impressive features of this one-of-a-kind building include 14 interior closets and a whopping total of 89 windows. Can you imagine what it must have been like to stay here? Who knows...perhaps one day the castle will again be open for public viewing. Until then, admiring it from a respectable distance will have to do.

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