August 2022. Visited the grotto in the late morning. Very humid. But boy was it worth it. So inspirational and beautiful. We were there about an hour and a half. Bought two loaves of bread and a child’s book from the gift shop.
Settled on the northwest corner of 9th Avenue South and 21st Street South, the castle was built in 1927. According to Bhamwiki, Quinlan’s remarkable theme was inspired by two investors who were greatly impressed by the French castles they came across while serving abroad during World War I. Wanting to bring this one-of-a-kind style to the great city of Birmingham, they teamed up with architects William Weston and H.P. Hanna who completed the project.
An advertisement in 1929 made the doubtful, yet very striking claim that its design was based on “the actual plans of a medieval English castle”–I think I’m going to pretend this is true because wow.
The bathrooms need a lot of work. I tried three shower stalls before I could get a shower. The first one was fine in the beginning. I got my hair wet and put shampoo in it and suddenly it only had scalding hot water and no way to control it. The shower floors are very slick. I had to slip and slide my way to the next shower with no glasses on, soap in my eyes and mouth, and naked. The second stall only dribbled water. So again, I had to slip and slide my way to the next shower with no glasses on, soap in my eyes and mouth, and naked. Thank goodness we only stayed one night.
You have to get out of your car to find it. If you’re in the parking lot for the zoo, facing the zoo, it’s to the right inside the gate. There is a small green alien like sign on one of the trail heads. Follow that. You have to walk one of the trails to see it
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Great campground. Large sites and plenty of shade. We camped there for two days. Make sure you go into Pontchatoula to Berrytown Corner Cafe. The beignets were absolutely wonderful. We tried the stuffed and the plain. The stuffed were good, the plain beignets were phenomenal. It is about a 20 minute drive, but absolutely worth it.
Apparently it has been moved. The new address is 1290 NW Falling Creek Road Lake City FL. Beautiful little church and cemetery.