The grand four-story brick mansion, overlooking the historic Gold Rush community from atop forested Prospect Hill, was completed in 1860, before the Civil War began. Built for one of the city's founding families, a California State Historic Landmark, the Williams family home is the only one of its kind in this part of the state.

A prominent feature of Nevada City for more than a century, the "castle" was named by the townspeople as it was being built high upon Prospect Hill. Its Gothic Revival architecture was as rare in California as were four story brick homes in Nevada City. The imposing Pre-Civil War landmark was rescued from the ravages of time in 1960 to become one of the first Historic Bed and Breakfast lodgings in California, an exact restoration that has been recognized by The Smithsonian. Today, your hosts Conley and Mary Louise Weaver, resident innkeepers for twenty six years, invite you to "dwell in the past" at the Red Castle, where you will make magical memories of your own.

Williams Family History They came to California as a family, John and Abigail Williams with their son Loring Wallace, crossing the great plains by wagon in 1849 to stay with relatives in Napa. Abigail taught school there while John and Wallace Williams came to Nevada County in search of gold. The men located claims at Caldwell's Upper Store, later named Nevada City. Mining the nearby streams at Deer Creek and Gold Run brought enough of the precious metal to enable them to purchase property and build two ranches on Gold Flat where Abigail joined them and Wallace Williams married a neighbor named Caroline Humes. John developed Nevada City's first water company.

Loring became District Attorney, Squire Williams a town governor, the family prospered and eventually their business and mining ventures kept the men in town more and more. The time had come to fulfill John's long held back dream and in 1857 he began to build the tall brick mansion on the crest of Prospect Hill that would be their town house. It stands today as a monument to those who came to California lured by the promise of easy riches, but unlike most emigrants who returned to their homes "back in the states", stayed to civilize and build a new state, leaving a tangible legacy in the state landmark known today as The Red Castle Inn.

For reservations, please call (530) 265-5135 or click here to request a reservation.
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