I received E-Mail that said:
My name is Jenny, there is an old castle that is located on the Alexander Mountain here on the outside of Little Rock, AR, right behind my house. It is all broken up now, but use to be a big castle and I wish I knew more about it. It was buried behind hundreds of trees, but was found when some teens went riding up the mountain with their 4-wheelers and spotted the remains of it. They have now removed all the trees around and very soon will be knocking it down to build new homes. I would love to know more about it before they do so. It is out in the open now, and from it's remains you can see that it was probably very large and beautiful. Please, help me find out something about it. Thanks a bunch!
PS. I have even found old cradles and stuff around it.
Later, I received E-Mail that said:
Attached are pictures and some great info forwarded to me by one Kelli Peters of the Arkansas Heritage organization of the "Unknown" castle in Little Rock. She wrote:
Also, we found a survey of what remains of it - at least we think this is the same property. I scanned a few of the slides we have and they are below. Please tell me whether or not you think this may be the one you're talking about.
The information we have is very limited. All the survey form says is that the "second floor was reinforced with small railroad tracks" (what that means, exactly, I'm not sure - railroad ties?). It says it was built c. 1920. Apparently, it was of stone construction and had at least one arched entry. The brush appears to be overgrown and one photo shows a basement. The survey was done in February 1990. However, the structure doesn't show up on the current TopoZone.com quad map.
Let me know if you have any other questions. If this is the correct structure, you may be able to locate information from the Saline County History & Heritage Society in Benton (501) 778-3770 or the Arkansas History Commission (501) 682-6900.
On 2-2-12, I received e-mail that said:
I have knowledge of the so called (Castle) on Alexander Mountain in Arkansas. I was born in 1963, and lived in Alexander from 1968 to 1979. Many times as a kid I would ride my bike up there with friends and see this old home. It was the same as your picture shows, but there are more mysterious items in those hills that I discovered as a child.
You mentioned the house had railroad ties in the construction.. Actually, when you walked in the front Archway, you could see a open room with a fireplace, with two small rooms on either side. The second floor had been torn down mostly, but you could see actual Railroad Tracks that had been used in the construction. I still have a few items that I collected from there, not sure if they were from the actual house, or left behind from later (guests) to the property.
I never found a basement, maybe because it was scary enough as it was. But, over the years, and after I bought an old Jeep as a teenager, I started looking around on old trails that surrounded the property. I found several things on that Mountain that no one could explain to me. Not far from the House is a very small cart trail, or wagon trail.. that crossed a small ravine. It had a hand made stone bridge that crossed it. It was arched they same as the entrance to the home, but there was no visible signs of a creek or any water movement down the hill. Maybe storm water, not sure. Not far from the bridge there was a stone wall built around a natural spring. I remember drinking from the water, very cold, and very metallic tasting.
On another path, very less noticeable, and not Jeep accessible, was a small cave.. I want to call it a root cellar. Not sure.. It went into a steep part of the hillside, about 10 ft or less, and only about 5 ft tall. It was hidden by thick vines, and very hard to see. there was very little trash, or debris around the opening, and the cave itself was empty except for stone shelves built on both sides of the walls. The last thing I remember is a Grove of trees, many trees. It was on a flat piece of land not far from the house, there was Apple, Peach (I was told) Walnut and Pecan.
As a kid growing up on Alexander Mtn, I was very curious. But all I ever learned of the so called Castle, was from my Grandmother. She was born in 1902 and told me to stay away from there! She said bad things happened in those hills... Who knows? I know I enjoyed looking around.
Does anyone have more information about it? Does it have a name? Is this the correct picture?
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Photo sent in by Katrina Price.