The Casco Castle Years, Chapter 4, Photos of Casco Castle

[1902] View from front lawn.

[1902] Closer view from front lawn.

[1902] View from the spring house.

[1902] View from the spring house.

[1902] View from the spring house.

[1902] View from the southwest.

[1902] View from the southwest.

The following photo was taken from the front lawn in 1903. The two photos after it are selective zooms I made from the first photo.

[1903] View from the south.

[1903] Closer view from the south.

[1903] Much closer view from the south.

View from the lower field.

View from the street railway.

Another view.

Wide view.

Closer view.

Detailed view.

Detailed view.

Detailed view.

Casco Castle in winter.

Casco Castle in winter.

Casco Castle in winter.

Casco Castle in winter.

The following photo was taken in 1904. It is a view from the bridge. The four photos after it are selective zooms I made from the first photo.





The following photo was taken in 1905. Like the ones above, it is a view from the bridge. The four photos after it are selective zooms I made from the first photo. The quality is poor but I wanted to show them anyhow.




Here is a photo of the dining hall. The two after it are zoomed-in shots that I made.

The Casco Castle Years, Chapter 3, Floor Plans

These floor plans bearing my great grandfather's name do not agree with the description of the hotel's plans as described in the previous chapter. My guess is that the plans changed somewhere between the June 6, 1902 Freeport Sentinel article and the drawing of the floor plans you see here.

The first and second floor plan images were taken from the single image you see here just to the left.

Adding to the confusion is the fact that the hotel had more than two floors. It apparently had, at the least, four floors. It could be that the floor plans were only meant to show the floors that had guest rooms.

The Casco Castle Years, Chapter 2, Construction

Freeport SentinelFreeport, June 6, 1902
Freeport folks enjoying a day at Merrymeeting, Underwood or for that matter at any of these like summer resorts, were obliged to leave them just in the pleasantest part of the day in order to catch the afternoon train home, otherwise we must wait till the midnight train which of course is anything but pleasant to do. Now we shall not only have a means of transportation which will enable one to come or go at his own option, but we are to have right in our midst the finest summer resort of this kind anywhere in the State, an doubtless equal to anything of the kind in the United States. This is to be "Casco Castle" and will be built at South Freeport upon the thirty acre preserve recently purchased by the Portland & Brunswick Street Railway. This structure, the plans of which is drawn by Mr. Miller of Lewiston, show somewhat of Norman style in architecture, will be built upon a very high table rock located within the preserve and will command an outlook of ocean, mountains and valley unsurpassed hereabouts. Along the front is the sea with its rugged coast, picturesque islands and ever changing attractions; to the right and back runs a clear, fresh water, which stream will be dammed, a rustic bridge built, and the entrance of the electric road into the park will be via the same and through an immense arch or gateway. The stream will be so controlled as to form a fresh water pond and here will be built and stocked a fine fresh water aquarium. The salt water makes up into the land in one place and this will be dammed for a salt water aquarium. In both ponds the water will be kept pure by ever changing and flowing, thus enabling the owners to place here one of the most notable aquariums in this part of the State. Nature has lent all grace and beauty to this spot, and with the intelligent use of good American dollars the place can be turned into a truly fairyland. Landscape gardening will add color and tone to the present natural beauty which, by the way, will, so far as possible, be left as nature planned. Mr. Miller is one of the best architects and the structure which he has pictured and planned to build in the midst of all this wild beauty will only add to the whole and make of it an ideal retreat. The main building of this castle will be of wood, and will be 125 feet long and 40 feet wide, and on the outside it will be given a castellated treatment and will be finished with stained shingles. Its centre will be surmounted with a cupola some 80 feet high, and from the main building will arise turrets and decorations in keeping with the ancient Norman style of architecture. The interior of this main building will be divided into three floors, the first floor to contain an immense dining hall, a number of smaller, private dining rooms, also kitchen and serving rooms. The second floor will comprise a handsome ballroom, dining and smoking rooms, parlors and theatre. The third floor will be given up to private rooms for guests. As it is planned now there will be about twenty private rooms besides servants' quarters. The great feature, however, and withal the most attractive perhaps will be the stone tower rising 100 feet in space and adjoining the main structure. This tower will be built of moss covered cobble stones as far as possible, laid with walls of great firmness and should endure for ages. It will be round in shape, will be fitted with electric elevator and winding stairways, and will have observation glasses for the use of the guests. A landing will built every 12 feet, where rustic seats will invite the vistor and where he may at leisure enjoy ices and refreshments to order. The outside of this tower will also be given the castellated finish, with innumerable little turrets and battlements in keeping with the general architecture of the main structure. The many rods of old stone wall which were laid, some of them near a hundred years since upon this tract of farm land, by owners long since dead, will be taken down and built into this tower, hence lessening the expense of building, which at best will be very large. The grounds will also contain a zoo, and two interesting specimens for this department have already taken up their home upon the preserve, two immense buffalo, which, by the way, will scare the life out of your horse if you drive too close with an animal which admits of being the least bit nervous. (Moral: Look out you see the buffalo before your horse does.) There has already been one accident from this source upon these grounds. Of course all this building and constructing and beauty making takes time, but Mr. Gerald has now a force on the place cleaning up and will push the enterprise just as fast and far as possible this season. His architect having already handed in plans for same, which plans the writer had the privilege of looking over this week, and from seeing which concluded that while Freeport had been a patient waiter for this "modern inconvenience" - electric railway service - yet in the end all the summer resorts along our home coast combined will not be an approach to this at our own door, the final climax of which will be reached when its interior is completed in the beauty of fine furnishings, rustic and modern, and the graceful lines of its exterior architecture are outlined and clearly defined by the blaze and glory of electric lighting and many hundred tiny balls of electric fire. The contract for putting up this set of buildings was let to Lewiston parties Wednesday of this week and ground was broken Wednesday morning for the foundation. It is stated from authoritative source that August will see this building in shape to receive guests but of course all will not be complete before another season as regards the finer detail.

The engine, tools and derrick arrived this week to begin work on the tower. The casino is to be called "Casco Castle;" it will be 175 feet long and 64 feet wide, with balconies and piazzas with a tower on the end 100 feet high and 28 feet in diameter, an electric elevator running to the top of it. The cars will not come into the park, but by a loop they will come down to the creek on the back of the park and a foot bridge will cross the stream near the buffalo pen.

The Casco Castle Years, Chapter 1, Introduction

From 1902 through 1911 John J. Turner was the superintendent of Casco Castle Park in South Freeport, Maine. He left behind quite an extensive collection of photographs and newspaper clippings so it will take some time to get this material posted.

Upon his resignation from Casco Castle Park in 1911, the following was reported in the Freeport Sentinel... On July 25th, 1902, while on a trip to Bar Harbor to lay out an estate there, he made the acquaintance of Mr. Amos F. Gerald, who engaged him to lay out Casco Castle Park where he has remained ever since.

Here is a flyer of the park as seen in its heyday.















Under entire new management
Casco Castle
(Fourteen miles east of Portland, Maine)
"It's Casco Castle, gem of the Coast and when you see it you'll say so yourself." This picturesque new hotel stands on a high bluff 120 feet above the sea and only 300 feet from the waters of beautiful Casco Bay, which surrounds it on three sides. The broken construction of the building with its battlements and towers, make cosey corners frequent. Wide verandas extend all the way around on the ground and second floors.

The rooms are all large, light and airy, high-studded and handsomely furnished, fitted with all modern conveniences, twenty with private baths, telephone and electric lights in every room. All windows are fitted with awnings and screens.

The grounds of this hotel contains 50 acres on the seashore, part of which is heavily wooded with fragrant pine trees. Where Nature has done so fine a job as at "Casco Castle," it can't be improved, but can be embellished, and this has been done by our landscape gardener, skillfully blending the natural with the artificial, producing results that are wholly pleasing. There is something interesting on every acre of the big garden. Greenhouses to visit, filled with rare and beautiful plants and flowers. Places to dream and read and through it all that tireless salty breeze from the sea just over the headland, mingled with the many spicy scents from the country side just beyond. The bridge, the castle, the tower, the ships and the sea, the garden and the flowers in the quiet nooks, so far from the bustle of work day life, make it seem like a page from some old history with a castle and its grounds indeed.

[Note: I believe the children pictured above are J.J. Turner's children, Arthur and Madeline. My family knew them as Uncle "Dirts" and Aunt "Bee." A third child, Albert Page Turner (my maternal grandfather), was not born until April 1907.]

A steel suspension bridge 306 feet long and 70 feet above the water connects the mainland with the castle grounds.

Recreation and Amusement
Billiard, pool, bowling.

Bathing, boating and fishing, electric launch and sailing yachts for trips to neighboring islands and the open sea. Fine fleet of row boats in connection with the house. Bathing beach pefectly safe for children with bath houses two minutes' walk from hotel.

The waters of the bay abound with fish of every kind. Here are the favorite grounds of the cod and haddock, the mackerel and cunner.

Deep sea fishing grounds distant only a half hour's sail, while close at hand are small fish in great variety.

Archery, lawn tennis court and croquet grounds, new this year. Golf on the links at Brunswick.

Beautiful trolley rides to Portland, Old Orchard Beach, Brunswick, Bath, Lewiston, Augusta and nearby towns of historic interest. Steamboat trips out amongst the 365 islands of beautiful Casco Bay twice daily. Many secluded walks and charming drives through this beautiful country. Unexcelled cuisine and orchestral music are two of the features of this house. The beautiful views from the dining room of the sea and country cannot be equalled by any hotel on the Atlantic Coast.

The table will be supplied with cream, eggs, butter, vegetables, etc. from our grounds, and fish, clams and lobsters from the waters of Casco Bay daily by our own fishermen; lambs, chickens and fowls from the nearby farms; and we use only the heaviest and choicest loins of Chicago Beef. The hotel is supplied with excellent water piped from a crystal spring two miles away. For location, beauty of scenery, sea on one side, country on other, looking inland to the White Mountains, and Mt. Washington in the distance, Casco Castle cannot be equalled by any hotel on the Maine Coast. Read what a guest says:

"I have visited all the principal resorts of the Country and the world, but this is the best of all. For once I have found a summer hotel prospectus that does not exaggerate, every word in this little book is true, and it doesn't tell it all - it can't be put on paper. I believe there is not spot on the Maine Coast where nature has done so much to make an ideal resort. It can't be described. You have to come and see it for yourself and breathe some of these fresh breezes, eat of the excellent food served and look at this magnificent country scenery - to know it all - and then it can't be adequately described in cold type."

Automobilists, come and enjoy a hot, cold or sea water bath to remove the dust of travel and rest yourself, while refreshing the inner-man on Broiled Live Lobsters just out of the sea, a planked steak, a fried chicken a la Maryland, a broiled chicken fresh killed or the best shore dinner in the world.

Mr. Charles Campbell with twelve years' experience in the leading hotels of this Country and Canada, whose record as caterer is well known has charge of the excellent cuisine.

How to Reach Casco Castle from New YorkBy train - via Worcester, Mass. and Rochester, N.H., through sleeping cars to Freeport, Maine, thence ten minutes by trolley to the Castle Grounds.

By boat - Maine Steamship Company from New Pier 32, East River to Portland, Maine, thence by Maine Central Railroad to Freeport and thence by trolley to Castle, or take Steamer Maquoit, of the Harpswell and Casco Bay Steamboat Line at Portland direct to Casco Castle, or else by trolley, electric cars leave Monument Square, head of Elm Street every half hour for Yarmouth connecting with cars for the Castle.
From BostonBy train - Boston & Maine and Maine Central, through express trains with parlor, dining and sleeping cars attached to Freeport, Maine, thence by trolley to the Castle, ten minutes ride.
By boat - Eastern Steamship Co., day or night, boat to Portland, thence either by steamer Maquoit, or trolley to Casco Castle.
From Toronto and MontrealCanadian Pacific or Grand Trunk Railroad or Yarmouth, Maine, thence by Maine Central, boat or trolley to the Castle. "It's Casco Castle, Gem of the Coast"
Come and see it for yourself.Rates, $2.50 to $4.00 per day    Weekly $17.50 upaccording to location of rooms, with or without private bath. Special rates for families or for long visit, also for months of June and September.

For terms, reservations and full particulars, address
L. W. COOK & CO., Lessees,
Casco Castle, South Freeport, Maine.
Charles Campbell, Manager.


Casco Castle today - Google Maps link


Other references:
The Story of Caso Castle - Freeport Historical Society
A Glimpse into Freeport's History - The Cryer Online