Once inside Turner Falls Park near Davis, Oklahoma, you can visit an abandoned castle. The castle is not a single structure but rather a series of stone buildings. The medieval stone buildings were built in the 1930's by Ellsworth Collings, who was Dean of the Education Department at the University of Oklahoma for about 20 years.
The main house had three rooms including a fireplace. The compound, which covered about an acre, also consisted of two bunkhouses and two outhouses along with other buildings. There is a narrow, winding staircase inside this turret.
The castle is more of a series of interconnecting stone buildings with lots of outdoor living space forming an unconventional compound.
Building the structures must have been quite a project since they are built into such a steep hillside. I image that is why the rooms are so long and narrow. It would have taken a lot of excavation to make the rooms wider.
Chuck checks out the Castle.
View from on top of one of the structures overlooking the creek below.
I have to admit, the Castle is a little bit creepy now in it's abandoned state but apparently it was a happy family vacation spot for the Collings who held BBQ's and cocktail parties outside.
I don't know what these symbols mean drawn into the concrete of the outside fireplace but I wondered if they were possibly cattle brands. The castle was once part of a working ranch (Bar C and 101 Ranch) and Mr. Collings really liked Western History and amassed a huge Western artifacts collection (now displayed at the National Cowboy & Western Museum in Oklahoma City). If this seems too tame for you, I suppose you can come up with your own conspiracy type theory.
Chuck surveying his Kingdom.
The site has been used in some straight to video movies.
Some restoration work is being performed inside. Over the years, the abandoned building have been vandalized and fallen into disrepair.
I have no idea what purpose these buildings served. Outhouses?
Walking up to the Stable/Garage.
Chuck demonstrates the low ceilings in the structures.
Above the castle is another structure which was once a stable, then used as a garage. I thought this bar looked like a fine place to tie up a horse.
I assume this is the former stable turned into a garage.
A very narrow drive leading to the garage. It's not hard to imagine a 1930's vehicle making the journey. Today's cars would have a more difficult descent.
Winding stairs. Note how the ground has eroded over the years.
The ceilings inside one of the Main buildings is very low and the room is rather long and narrow with slot like windows. The castle was only a "summer retreat" for the Collings family. Mr. Collings is said to have loved Western Art and to have decorated his summer home with Navajo rugs, a couch made from Texas Longhorns and western paintings.
Distant View of one of the structures.
A nice website with lots of pictures of the castle being built is found at:
Winding staircase up the mountain. At the top, is a fabulous view of Turner Falls, the largest waterfall in Oklahoma (see previous post). You can certainly see why someone would choose to build their castle in this location.
I enjoyed exploring the site and would recommend a detour to the castle and Turner Falls.
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