Ruminating about nobles and castles and the better parts of the feudal era (few that there were), if you had the means and opportunity, where would you build your castle and claim your throne?
I was always partial to Somerset in Washington. Its a decent size hill overlooking I-90 with great views of both Seattle and Bellevue. A popular spot for watching the Blue Angels during SeaFair. Its a good thing I aint Bill Gates*, cuz I woulda done it.
Though if I was a wizard, I head to Mt. Si and carve the Haystack into my own personal Orthanc.
Arrogant, pompous? Who cares when you’re living in your own castle.
AP
*That guy got no imagination when it comes to real estate. A house on Lake Washington? Puh-leeze. Ya gotta think big. Go grand. Go Hearst!
Any defensible hill would do—there are several right here outside of Fresno.
I’d want a moat and gun turrents and an electric fence and dogs running the perimeter but a hill is most important.
I always wanted to look down on my minions and spit.
Maybe off the helicopter pad…
Cyn, who hasn’t spent much time thinking about this type of thing.
Any defensible hill **won’t ** do. You also need a secure water supply. If the hill isn’t on an easily-tapped aquifer, you are SOL in the event of a protracted siege.
Personally, I’d forgo the hill and locate my castle on a bluff overlooking a river junction. Automatic moat on two sides, so I can focus my defenses on the others.
If anything were possible, probably Wizard Island located in the middle of Crater Lake. I think a castle on an island in the middle of the deepest freshwater lake in the US at the top of a 2000 foot volcanic mountain with winter snowfall measured in dozens of feet could well be called impregnable. Beautiful too.
Well, I have always liked the view from the Palisades in New Jersey. If I decide to go for defense, however, there is nothing more secure than a nice sea cliff in the skye.
Of course, there’s always the top of Mount Olympus. It might not have the ideal resources, scenery, or strategic value of the other sites, but…hey, it’s friggin Mount Olympus. From an iconic point of view, that’s like using the Lincoln Memorial as a throne room.
I’d reclaim the ancestral stomping grounds in Perthshire, and perhaps use the Gleneagles Hotel as my base (although strictly speaking that isn’t on my clan’s old lands).
I’d put it right here, a huge castle with a battalion of modern 155mm artillery. Our house would remain, in the center. I’d commence immediate bombardment of the encroaching developments that are ruining my beautiful town. Goddamn that would be fun.
Alternately, Stone Mountain, GA has the advantage of being convenient to DragonCon Atlanta. Of course that graffiti on the front would have to be scraped off first.
Only on the SDMB would this exact topic come up more than once. And my answer hasn’t changed since the last time. The street I grew up on is shaped like a giant backwards P, with the hole being a hill, and the end surrounded on 3 sides by water. Perfect castle territory. I estimated at one point a few years ago that it would cost me about $19,000,000 to buy all the real estate on the street, tear the houses down, and build my castle. Property values have gone up a little since then but I’m still dreaming.
