Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

Every year for the past 75 years there has been a convention in Vermont where amateur telescope makers meet. Ever since I was a teen I have been wanting to go to this convention. Finally this year I went (Just this weekend past). It was an amazing experience and there were so many wonderful telescopes there! And the night sky was so amazingly dark!

Stellafane is a world famous club and event and people come from all over the world for it.  If you are really into telescopes and telescope making you have probably heard of it and maybe you have even gone to it.

Anyhoo, I will be posting lots more information to my telescopenerd.com website and for now I have a youtube video showing some of the telescopes. You can watch that video here

There aren’t a whole lot of medieval castles in america and the ones we do have aren’t 500 years old like their european counterparts. Anyway, I have a goal to visit as many medieval castles as possible and I am starting in a radius around where I live. I have visited a lot of these so far this year and the latest one is an interesting little castle on in connecticut on the bank of the connecticut river.

It is called Gillette Castle and it’s quite a unique little place. It was built in the period between 1915 and 1919 all out of local stone and all to the architecturual plans of its owner William Gillette.  He was a famous theatre actor in the last century and is most famous for his portrayal as Sherlock Holmes.

It is quite unique on the outside and on the inside. I have never seen a castle like this and I called it decayed baroque The picture will tell you why!

It’s a fun trip and if you live in new england you might want to make a day trip and go out to see it. One of the unique things about it is that there is a ferry across the river that you can take to see it. Kind of different, and very New England.

And if you want to check out more medieval castles and see the ones I have visited so far you can visit my website here: Medieval Castles

You probably already know I am a big fan of medieval castles. There aren’t a whole lot of them here in the US  but there are a few that could be reasonably categorized as Medieval Castles. Anyway, there is one in New Hampshire calle Kimball Castle. It is pretty run down but still standing. I haven’t been able to make the time to go up there and visit so I ended up hiring a photographer to make the trip.

He delivered the pictures today and they are pretty neat. The place does have the reputation of being haunted and judging by some of the pictures it looks like people throw halloween parties in there! Anyway, I have posted a bunch of pictures to my facebook page and I will be doing a write up about the castle on my medieval castle website

The exterior

An amazing structure on the inside. Having been built in 1895 light was a very big consideration, thus the big beautiful skylight.

I took a day trip this past weekend to a castle called Hammond Castle. It was a great day of fun and adventure and I really enjoyed the castle. I will be posting more information about it but in this blog post I thought I would take a look at the Smithy inside the castle. The Castle itself was built in the 1920 by the inventor John Hammond and even though this puts the castle at less than a hundred years old it was very much built to medieval and gothic standards. This castle is very European in build, feel and style.  And that means of course it would of had a blacksmith.

The smith inside this castle is part of the armory and is small. I have some pictures here for you to check out. They include the smiths bench with some tools on it and the forge that is built right into the wall.

This smithy is located on the second floor of one of the towers.

If you are a New Englander this is one day trip that you should really consider. It is quite an amazing experience and the castle, and it’s owner have quite a remarkable history. Hammond and his wife also delved into the occult which gives the whole place a rather spooky milieu. 

The door inside the armory which leads to the blacksmith’s shop.

The blacksmith bench with a variety of tools:

Th Forge built right into the wall of the tower:

 About Hammond Castle: It is located in Gloucester Mass. which is just a little north of boston. If you are a New Englander I highly recommend you make a day trip of this site. They only have limited open hours during the summer and in part of the season they are only open on weekends. Entrance cost me ten dollars and it’s worth every penny. Check out their website for more information: Hammond Castle Official Website

Also: A local writer has written several novels that include the Castle in the story. Pretty neat stuff.  Wicked Is the Wind: A Jeffrey Devereaux–Kirsten Eriksson Novel

More Information about the Castle including a video: I am putting together pictures, information and video about Hammond castle on my Medieval Castle website here: A look inside a medieval castle

Ok, I have been contacted by the representative of a major movie studio. Yes, this is a big company that you have heard of and I have a very rare opportunity here!! If you live in the UK and are an expert mead maker, and are able to give a presentation on the art of mead making then send me an email or message.

I can’t say much about the opportunity but this is what I can say:

 Major movie studio looking for mead specialist to teach members of the media the art of mead making.  April 26-28.

This is something that is going to be a whole lot of fun and is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. So, send me an email If you live in the UK and have some expertise with mead making. Don’t wait on this one, we don’t have a whole lot of time.

Will

The image below is my email.