Knapp's Castle

Located not far from of the subject of my last post (Chumash Painted Cave), is another one of those places that few have heard of and even fewer have actually seen. Just about 100 years ago a very wealthy industrialist named George Owen Knapp decided to build himself a little mountain retreat (on about 160 mountain top acres).  He already owned one home in the nearby town of Montecito (on a measly 100 acres). Montecito is a perennial member of the most wealthy towns (per capita) in the United States. I guess that is no surprise, because Mr. Knapp was one of the founders of Union Carbide Company. If you haven't heard of that company, you are probably very young. Over the years, I believe it has morphed into Dow Chemical Company. Don't hold that against him though, because he was a philanthropist of the first order.

Craftsmen and building materials were imported from Europe to complete Mr. Knapp's castle. Apparently, the "retreat" consisted of five bedrooms, observatory, studios, cottages, servant quarters, and a superintendent's house. Running water was provided by nearby waterfalls.  (photo credit: Unknown. In addition to seeing it many times on the Internet, it is also at GeorgeOwenKnapp.com) 

This is what it looked like when we were there a few months ago. I'd heard that there was security on site and the property had been purchased and the ruins were going to be demolished. Is that possible? I'd also heard the county of Santa Barbara refused to issue the required permits. We had no inkling of what we would find once we got there.  I apologize in advance for the inconsistency of the photos. The sky was huge, bright and harsh. 

If you look at the two buildings to the far left of the fist photo. You will see that this stonework is all that is left of them. The whole place was destroyed in a wild fire in 1940. The Knapp family sold it to a ultra-famous German soprano Lotte Lehamm 46 days before the fire. 

There was a guy working on the property while we were there, but he didn't give us a second look. If you look at the stone work, you can see that he has been doing some repairs to the original work. It didn't look like anything was being torn down.

For those who know a little about the area, the water in the background is Lake Cachuma. The famous town of Solvang is about 12 miles beyond the lake. Solvang is a Danish community established in 1911. It is a great place to visit. For me, that means visit no more than once every 5-10 years. I say that because it never changes.  I'll shut up now and let you look at the photos.

I told her not to drive the Jeep so hard! She didn't listen!

Seriously, I have no idea why, but this jeep was sitting on the property.

This is the dirt road leading to the place. Although it is locked, there is clearly not a "no trespassing" sign to be seen. Besides, we could squeeze by the tall pole on the right.

After about 10 minutes we came to another locked gate. But read the sign! "Right To Pass Revocable By Owner."  There was another sign at the ruins that said:  "This is Private Property and Under 24-Hour Video Surveillance." It also said that they would give a reward to anyone who reported acts of vandalism.  In other words, "look around, but don't screw anything up! I have no idea who owns this place, but I love them!

George Owen Knapp

Thanks for using so much stonework George!

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After enemy ships attack the desert planet, Byron discovers another battle within his own family.  the declaration of war between all ten races triggers nightmares in his son, threatening to destroy the boy's mind.

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CassaStorm by Alex J. Cavanaugh

Science Fiction - Space Opera/Adventure

Print ISBN 9781939844002

E-book ISBN 9781939844019

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You can find CassaStorm and the other books in this series at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Amazon Kindle and Goodreads.

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Also available:

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