The primary purpose of our visit to Ione was to take the flashlight tour of Preston Castle at night. Preston Castle "is a Romanesque Revival-style landmark that originally served as the administration building for the Preston School of Industry, a prominent juvenile rehabilitation reform school. Constructed between 1890 and 1894, the massive 50,000-square-foot structure housed young wards from 1894 until it closed down in 1960. Today, it is recognized on the National Register of Historic Places and managed by the Preston Castle Foundation which hosts historic, seasonal, and paranormal tours to raise money for its ongoing structural restoration."
We enjoyed the 90 minute tour of Preston Castle overall. There were twelve of us on the tour. We learned a lot about the history of Preston Castle including the factoid that country singer, Merle Haggard, once resided at Preston Castle. The only thing I didn't enjoy was seeing real, live bats flying over our heads during the tour. It creeped me out seeing the bats, quite honestly, due to the fact that bats are carriers of several diseases, which are transmittable to humans. My husband, being the scientist that he is, was fascinated by the bats! Otherwise, we had an enjoyable time at Preston Castle.
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| Preston Castle, Ione, California |
Until my next post, happy reading!!
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