His inspiration for the castle was a tower in Roman Campagna in Italy. He built the castle for his son with the idea to make it the family summer retreat.
The Stokes family did not live in the castle more than a month, and a few other days over the next two years from the time it was built. Stokes sold his mine and all his equipment and the family moved further west and never returned to the castle again.
The castle had a fireplace on each floor and a rooftop terrace. Though the tower seems bare and empty now, it is said that when it was first built the inside was richly decorated like any royal castle. The castle is built with hand-hewn, native granite.
Mychelle Blake is a freelance writer, website designer and social media consultant. She happily tolerates the insane Las Vegas heat with her three wacky pit bulls, one fish, one bird and one husband.
