Hoquiam’s Castle – A beautiful Home with heritage and tradition
In the peaceful town of Hoquiam, State of Washington one can find a real national treasure. Listed in both state and National Historic Registries as a heritage site, it is a masterfully built 19th century Victorian-style home that is more affectionately known by residents and visitors alike as Hoquiam’s Castle. This historic home can be viewed and experienced by those who can reserve in advance since it is being operated as a bed and breakfast.
During the years when the town was a center of trade for lumber, Robert Lytle the so-called lumber baron made his wealth by operating the first electric saw mill that serviced the west coast. With his fortunes, he started building his 10,000 square foot “castle” on a large area over the town.
The castle was completed in the year 1900 and Robert Lytle and his family made it their home for the next 10 years, after which they moved to Portland, bequeathing it to their niece as a very generous wedding gift.
Upon her death, the mansion was left in disrepair and virtually abandoned for several years, and for some time it was regarded as a personal playground and local curio for the children of the town, who out of curiosity and childishness broke in and used it to play roller skates. In 1968 the Watson family bought the mansion and began restoring it, much to the joy and appreciation of the townsfolk. It was also the Watson’s who opened up the castle to public tours, introducing its vintage architecture and antique collection, which deeply increased its intrinsic value with the town’s residents.
The Castle as everyone calls it is a venerable Victorian era home that was once part of a bygone era. It is this connection with the history and heritage that makes it so alluring and respectful as it mirrors the town’s attitude of easiness yet tempting and stirring all the same moment.
The castle as it is more widely known today, as a bed and breakfast was made possible by an enterprising couple, David and Linda Carpenter who made expended great effort in rebuilding the mansion to its original splendor, converting the castle into a bed and breakfast that offers five magnificent rooms that befit a castle and will give that warm, cozy and of course secure feeling that anyone would expect when staying in a castle.
The Castle’s bed and breakfast offers its prospective guest five rooms as built by the Carpenter couple a few years back but with new owners, since it was again sold in 2004 to Donna Grow, who runs it with her children. The five rooms offer splendid furniture and beds that lull you into sleep that minute you lay on them, a truly Hoquiam effect is at work here. Hospitality knows no bounds and the owners will be so happy to share with you details of the history of the castle and the rooms and why the structure is aptly known as one of the most beautiful houses in America by no less than National Geographic.
Houses that can really be called homes but are actually castles, that’s the magic of the town and its people for anyone who wishes to share its love and passion of everything old and worth living for like heritage and tradition. It is the citiy’s pride and joy to be home to a wonderful home in itself like the Castle.
Hoquiam’s Castle – A beautiful Home with heritage and tradition · Effective Carbon Monoxide Maintenance in the Home