Today we went to the Hearst Castle. It was pretty incredible. For those of you who don’t know who he was, his father was born relatively poor in Missouri and made it big by moving out west during the gold rush and finding silver. He left his fortune to William who is most known for his success as a newspaper owner which he inherited from his parents. He is also the grandfather to Patty Hearst who was infamously kidnapped in the 1970’s.

He started building the castle in 1919 and continued building it right through his death in 1951. It has many valuable antiques from throughout Europe, many thousands of years old. He also had the largest private zoo in the world. There are still some animals that aren’t indigenous to California or even the United States running around the property including zebras.

After his death the family donated the property to the state and it’s now a museum.

I’m separating the photos into 2 different posts because there are so many. These photos are the outside of the castle and the cottages. There are two cottages. The first was originally built for the family to live in while the castle was being built. Later they were used for guests. The castle is 60,000 square feet with 165 rooms, 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, a movie theater, indoor and outdoor pools and tennis courts.