Last Updated on: 28th January 2022, 03:24 am
I love seeing castles! I have spent time abroad exploring some of the most beautiful castles in the world and I can attest, seeing castles in Missouri can be just as exciting as seeing them in Europe! You just have to know where to look.
Here are the best Missouri castles which you can find all over the state, including castles near St. Louis and Kansas City! If you know of any that I missed, add them in the comments!
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How to Visit Missouri’s Castles
Well, if you’re a Missouri local then you probably already know that getting around the state is really tough without a car. I didn’t have a car the first two years I lived in Kansas, and whenever we headed over the border into Kansas City we had to borrow some wheels.
Since you really need your own wheels, I have tips below for renting a car if you don’t have one.
The good news is that most of these are easy day trips from many parts of Missouri, so hopefully, you can find one or two that piques your interest. However, if you do decide to stay nearby, all of these would make excellent Missouri weekend getaways.
The Best Castles in Missouri
In no particular order…
Chateau Charmant
After moving to Missouri in 2003, Bonnie Palmer built Chateau Charmant with inspirations from a 14th-century French castle. It was believed to have been constructed by just three people, yet it is quite enormous and delicately designed.
Built on the Ozarks Hills, the castle has six rooms and two-bedroom guest suites. Each room is decorated differently to showcase the unique styles of castles in different parts of Europe. There are beams in the castle that are 42ft tall, and the castle occupies a massive 149-acres of land.
The castle is available for tours, events, and weddings.
The Stuart Castle
This one has a bit of a dark history. Located in Eureka, Missouri, the Stuart Castle was built by Wallace Stuart, a dermatologist in Eureka, Missouri. It was built in the late 1960s. The castle was built as a tribute to his father who would later abandon him and he would, in turn, abandon the castle.
There are peepholes into the rooms and secret passages in the living room as well as a basement that looks eerily like a dungeon. The walls of the basement are about two-foot thick with a secret passage that leads to another basement. The castle is currently vacant.
Twin Turret Farm and Castle
Occupying one hundred acres of land and very close to the Route du Vin Trail, the Twin Turret Farm and Castle is located at St Mary, Missouri. The Mark Twain National Forest and Hawn State Park make the views around the castle spectacular.
It is available for up to sixteen guests with seven bedrooms, a pool, an enormous kitchen, and a waterfall. There is a front porch that allows for a splendid view of the area.
The castle has a turret, stairs in every room, and some of the bathrooms have curtains instead of doors. Can you say Old World charm?
Chateau Pensmore
Chateau Pensmore is a 72,000 square foot mansion. The construction of the mansion began in 2009 and is owned by retired CIA Officer Steven T. Huff. The mansion is believed to be much larger than the white house and is still under construction.
It is a five-story castle that contains thirteen bedrooms and fourteen bathrooms. Huff wants the castle to be able to stand for 2000 years and, hence, was built to withstand earthquakes, bomb blasts, and tornadoes.
It is an all-concrete mansion and is open for tours on specific days.
Ha Ha Tonka Castle
Located on the bluffs of Ha Ha Tonka State Park, the Ha Ha Tonka Castle roughly translated to Laughing Waters Castle. It is what is left of Robert Snyders dream of constructing a European-style castle in the Ozarks.
Snyder was a wealthy businessman from Kansas City, Missouri who purchased 5000 acres of land and work began on building the castle in 1905.
Tragically, Snyder died in a car accident in 1906. However, his sons continued the construction of the castle, and it was finally completed in 1920.
Built from stone imported from Europe, the castle stood tall until the Snyder fortune ran out. In 1942, after a few years of being used as a hotel, the castle was unfortunately ruined by fire.
The castle is now a part of the Ha Ha Tonka State Park and is open to visitors.
Pythian Castle
Built in 1913, the Pythian Castle is often named one of Missouris best-kept secrets.
Hidden away in Springfield, the castle is also called the Pythian Home of Missouri. It was built by the Knights of Pythias, a society founded in 1864 by Justus H. Rathbone. They operated during the second world war and prisoners from Germany and Italy were kept in the castle.
The exterior of the building was constructed with Carthage stone, a type of limestone quarried in the Ozarks. The interior is made of steel and concrete floors.
There are two floors with a grand foyer, ballroom, dining halls, and parlors on the main floor. The second floor houses a theatre, dormitory-style rooms, and bedrooms. The castle is currently private-owned and open for tours.
Kennett’s Castle (Selma Hall)
Referred to as both Kennett’s Castle and Selma Hall, this 19th century Italian-styled castle sits on the bluffs of the Mississipi River. The castle was built with Limestone in 1854 and was owned by William O. Schock until 1939. It was designed by George I. Bennett for Ferdinand Kennett. However, the family fled due to the civil war.
There are nine bedrooms and six bathrooms and covers about 2,400 acres of land. There is also a golf course, a tennis court, a lodge, a pool, hiking and riding trails as well as a horse stable. The castle offers a stunning view of the Mississipi River and is open for tours.
Sky High Castle
Sky High Castle has a striking appearance that first draws people in. Located in Joplin, Missouri, it is a privately owned castle that used to be opened for tours. However, it is currently vacant.
The castle was believed to have been constructed from 1927 to 1930. There are hand-hewn beams, cast-bronze ceiling fans, and a massive stone fireplace. There are rock wall terraces around the castle.
The castle and cliffs where it sits are made of the same color of stone, giving an appearance as though the castle was hewn directly from the rock overlooking the river valley.
Elmwood Castle
This 220-year old castle was modeled after the famous Dalhousie Castle in Scotland. The Elmwood Castle was built by Rebecca Ramsey Giboney and her husband Alexander.
The same Ramsey clan owned the Dalhousie Castle in Scotland which is now a popular historic tourist spot years before the Elmwood Castle was built.
The mansion has twenty-two rooms and sits at the end of a winding forest train in Cape Girardeau in southeastern Missouri.
The castle is not often open for tours, but sometimes you can take tours outside the castle walls. You can also come by to see the outside for yourself.
T.R Goulding Castle
This castle is located on the base of Shephard Mountain and occupies nearly four acres of woodlands.
It is surrounded by forests and owned by the Misselhorns since 1999. There are a winding driveway and a rock-walled fish pond. The castle was built to look like an Italian mansion with stone walls, stone and concrete steps and lines of trees, and well-manicured shrubbery.
Inside the castle, there are three stories that include bedrooms and a tower room. There is a massive living room, a marble-tiled bathroom, and a vaulted ceiling. There is also an open-tiled kitchen, a formal dining room, and a floor-to-ceiling china hutch.
Parkhurst Castle
The Parkhurst Castle is one of the most beautiful castles in Missouri. It was once transformed into Windmoor Bed & Breakfast but was eventually closed. Can you imagine waking up in that turret!
The Castle features seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms with a long driveway and a spectacular view. There is a regal front gate, a huge lawn, fancy staircases, and a massive parlor to welcome guests.
The castle covers 49-acres of land and even has a pond. The floors are made of the finest wood giving it an almost fairytale-like atmosphere.
Miller Mausoleum
This Mausoleum was built by Joseph M. Miller, a religious man who wanted his family to be laid to rest together. He built the mausoleum entirely from concrete. It took ten years to complete construction from 1917 to 1927.
The two-story building contains four rooms and a staircase. There are family arts and artifacts in some of the rooms preserving important family history. The mausoleum covers about 120 acres of land and is currently owned by Carl Cranfill, the great-grandson of Joseph M. Miller.
Wood-Smith Castle
Built on about 420 acres of land on the cliffs of Mississipi and overlooking the Mississipi River, the Wood-Smith Castle was built by the Scottish engineer, George F. Woodsmith, in the heights of his success.
The Castle is unfinished, yet its splendor is often talked about. Currently closed and under repair, the construction of Wood-Smith Castle began in 1914.
There were to be 20 rooms, two swimming pools, eleven bathrooms, a billiard room, sunken gardens, guest rooms, towers, a stable, a golf and tennis court, a waterfall fountain and servants rooms.
However, what is left of the building are the sunken gardens, towers, and massive stone staircases. The fountain was started but not completed when Wood-Smith went broke as a result of the stock market crash in the late 1920s.
Iron-Hill Castle
Built by Frank DeClue, this castle rests in Franklin County, Missouri. DeClue was believed to have built the castle himself by hand in 1950. He found stones from quarries, creeks, and rivers and transported them to the site of construction on a trailer bed.
Sadly, after the passing of his wife in the early 1980s, he stopped working on the castle leaving parts of the interior unfinished until his own passing in 2008.
The Castle is currently undergoing major repair and is therefore unavailable for tours at the moment.
Tiffany Castle
Located in the northeastern part of Kansas City, Missouri, Tiffany Castle was built in 1908 by author and oculist, Dr. Flavel B. Tiffany.
The castle was built on top of Cliff Drive. It is often covered by trees except in fall when the trees lose their leaves.
The castle sits about 500 meters above the Missouri River and is built from solid Stone. The castle is two-story and made of wood and concrete.
There are six bedrooms on the second floor and two spiral staircases that each lead to a tower. The castle is privately owned and is also open for tours in and within the castle environs.
Bothwell Lodge
This state-owned property is historic for the duration of time it took to complete building it. Construction of Bothwell Lodge began in 1890 and it wasn’t until 1921, precisely 31 years later that it was completed.
The castle takes its name from John Homer Bothwell, a Sedalia lawyer who built the castle atop the 6,400 caves of Missouri. It showcases the 20th century in the best way with the exquisite and eclectic tastes of John Bothwell.
The castle is a 31-room, 12,000 square-foot recreational lodge with a 3-mile hiking and biking trail.
Kansas City Workhouse
The City Workhouse Castle was built to be used as a jail for trivial offenders of the state. Although a jailhouse, the prisoners were given individual works as part of their punishment as well as rehabilitation, hence the name workhouse.
The castle was built in 1897 but was closed as a correctional facility in 1924. It has a roman-like architecture with towers. The building has two stories including a kitchen, a guard room, a dining hall where concerts were frequently held, and bathrooms with large, king-sized bathtubs.
Cupples Mansion
The massive 42-room mansion is also called Samuel Cupples House. It was commissioned by Samuel Cupples in the 1880s and is located on the campus of St. Louis University.
After the death of Cupples in 1912, the mansion remained vacant until it was purchased by the University in 1946 where it was converted into classrooms.
It was restored in 1973, uncovering the beauty that was hidden by years of accumulated dirt and grime. The interior features stone walls and rich wallpapers. The mansion also has a whopping 22 fireplaces and leaded glass, Tiffany-style windows.
Wallace House Castle
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The magnificent building is believed to have first been built in the late 1800s by Judge William Hockaday Wallace, a prosecuting attorney for Jackson County and was later appointed Judge in 1970 in Kansas City.
It used to be a simple residence until its renovation in the early 1900s. Stone walls were added and extensions were made.
Wallace House overlooks the Cliff drive providing a stunning view of the Kansas City Skyline and the forestry that surround the huge estate.
Wallace House Castle used to be owned by the government but was sold after some time. It is now a private residence that is sometimes available to tourists on specific days.
Ste. Genevieve Castle
The Giant Castle in the woods is something out of a kid’s fairy tale book. This Bavarian-style castle is located in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri. This castle has a private lake and an indoor pool.
It is large enough to accommodate ten guests and is available for rent on weekends. The ceilings are hand-painted and the staircases are wood-carved.
This castle was owned by Geunter Foerster who kept it hidden from the public for about 35 years. The decision changed after Foerster became too old to maintain the 7000 square foot estate.
It is perfect for a weekend getaway especially for nature lovers. The interior of the castle is designed to give you a taste of royalty with a perfect view of sunrise and sunset.
Castle Northmoor
This unsurprisingly cozy castle takes its name after the city of Northmoor, Missouri. It is situated in the suburbs of the city and is available for tours on specific days.
Castle Northmoor is 40ft tall with doors that are handmade from oak. Built within a period of three years from 1981 to 1983 by Harlan Shaver, the castle is a one-person castle. Perfect for those who want to be king of their own castle!
There are spiral staircases that lead to treasure chests that contain lots of information about the castle, as well as paintings of knights made by Harlan Shaver himself. There is a top deck with a stunning view suitable for a mini picnic
Pin this Guide to the Best Missouri Castles for Your Adventures!
Enjoyed reading this, very informative. Where would start + stop for a road trip? How do you find schedule of tours?
This was delightful to read, Stephanie. Thank you for sharing your writing.
(In the St. Genevieve section, the word “suitcases” is used instead “staircases” in case you would like to correct it. Gotta love autocorrect, right? 🙂
Thank you! I will fix it. =)