Scotty’s Castle (also known as Death Valley Ranch) is a two-story Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival villa located in the Grapevine Mountains of Death Valley, California.
However….Scotty’s Castle is not actually Scotty’s, nor is it a castle. The house was actually built by Albert Johnson, an insurance broker from Chicago. Albert was lured to the area by the promise of a gold mine investment worth millions by Walter Scott.
Walter Scott, also known as “Death Valley Scotty,” was a rather unsavory character. However, the two men would strike up an unlikely friendship.
THE HISTORY OF SCOTTY’S CASTLE
In the early 1920s, Walter met with wealthy Chicago businessman Albert Mussey Johnson. Johnson at that time was recuperating from a severe back injury after a railroad accident. Walter convinced Albert to invest in a Death Valley gold mine he had found, which he promised was worth millions.
Albert Johnson and Walter Scott
Walter, who was from Kentucky, had been a member of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. He had been described as a con man, ham actor, roughneck, pathological liar and all-round shady character.
Unsurprisingly, the gold mine turned out to be non-existent. While this initially angered Johnson, he was fascinated by the colourful Scott and the two men struck up an unlikely friendship.
While spending time in the Death Valley area, Johnson noticed his back felt much better in the warm and dry climate. Because of his health improvements, he and his wife Bessie chose to build a vacation getaway home there. The home would become known as ‘Scotty’s Castle’, despite it being built and owned by Albert Johnson.
The Johnsons with Death Valley Scotty inside the home.
Construction on the property began in 1922. Johnson hired Martin de Dubovay as the architect, Mat Roy Thompson as the engineer and Charles Alexander MacNeilledge as the designer.
Unknown to the Johnsons, the initial survey was wrong. The land they had started building the property on was actually government land. The land they had bought was actually further up Grapevine Valley.
Construction came to a halt as they tried to resolve the mistake (the house was almost finished by now). However, before construction could resume the stock market crashed in 1929. This forced Albert Johnson’s insurance company into bankruptcy, making it difficult to finish the property. Having lost a considerable amount of cash, the Johnsons used the unfinished property to produce an income by letting rooms out.
The home as it looked when construction had stopped. The swimming pool was never tiled, and the ponds and gardens were never landscaped. The tiles for the pool are still stored in the property,
In the 1930s, President Hoover created the Death Valley National Monument. This encompassed the land Johnson was building on but did not yet own. Although Johnson did eventually buy the land in 1935 he was never able to complete the property.
The living hall as it looked back then.
The Spanish style kitchen.
Walter Scott’s bedroom, which he would tell people had a secret door into a gold mine.
The Johnsons later retired to Hollywood, visiting the castle-tuned hotel from time to time. After Albert died in 1948 without heirs, Johnson willed the castle to the Gospel Foundation.
The foundation was one Johnson had created in 1948. The only provision was that Walter Scott could live there as long as he wished.
Despite the property not being completed, Scott lived there until his death in 1954. He was then interred on a hill overlooking the castle next to a beloved dog.
The Gospel Foundation sold the property for $850,000 to the National Park Service in 1970, who still owns the property today.
THE HOUSE TODAY
Today, Scotty’s Castle is a tourist destination open to the public. It receives approximately 100,000 visitors each year. The Johnsons’ original furnishings and clothing can be seen. Park rangers also dress up in 1930’s style clothing to help take the visitors on a trip back in time.
Scotty’s Castle as it looks today.
A view of the unfinished swimming pool and clock tower.
The turret, one of the reasons people started calling it a ‘castle’.
The clock tower.
The courtyard.
The living hall as it looks today.
The original sofas, almost 100 years old. The Johnson’s and Scott can be seen sitting on them in an earlier photo.
The upper walkway which wraps around the living hall as it looks today.
Scott’s bedroom as it looks today….nobody has yet found the secret door which Scott claimed led to a gold mine.
The turret staircase.
TOURS
Scotty’s Castle offers a number of different tour choices:
House Tour
This is the main tour that most people go on when they visit the castle. This tour runs throughout the year, with the last tour of the day running at around 4 o’clock. It runs for about an hour and takes you into the castle for an up-close look at the lavish lifestyle of those that lived here. This tour costs $15 and is highly recommended.
Underground Tour
The underground tour also costs $15 dollars and takes you down into the extensive basements below the house. This tour gives you an insight into the technology that was used to construct this giant house in the middle of the desert. It will also show you the technology that the NPS is using to continue to maintain it to this day. It is around 50 minutes for this tour.
One of the underground tunnels. In total there is a quarter-mile of tunnels beneath the property.
A combination of both these tours is available for $25.
Lower Vine Ranch Hike
This tour takes you to Scotty’s actual home, his cabin, not the castle. This tour will show you the ranch that he lived on when not maintaining his image as the owner of the castle. This area is closed to the public so you have to take a tour to get there. The tour is over 2 miles of walking, so make sure you are wearing some comfortable shoes.
Lower Vine Ranch, the home of Walter Scott, located about a mile from Scotty’s Castle.
The bedroom inside Lower Vine Ranch.
Scotty’s Grave Site
One of the other things you can do by yourself, without a tour, is take a short walk to where Scotty is buried. This is a worthwhile hike that gives you a lot of great views of the castle and a unique look into history by seeing his gravesite.
Walter Scott’s grave on a nearby hill overlooking Scotty’s Castle.
FLOOD DISASTER OF 2015
In 2015 the “Thousand Year Flood” in Death Valley deposited more than three inches of rain on Scotty’s Castle. That’s 4x as much as the area would usually get in a year!
While the castle wasn’t badly damaged, the flash flooding destroyed the access road to the castle. It also deposited over a foot of mud in the visitor center and stacked up mud and debris around the property.
The destroyed road leading to Scotty’s Castle.
The visitor center under a foot of mud.
The entire cleanup is expected to cost as much as $20 million, with Scotty’s Castle not expected to reopen until 2025, 10 years after it closed!
If you like Scotty’s Castle you should check out Gillette Castle, another historic American ‘castle’.