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CNN Live At Daybreak

Berkeley Castle on the Auction Block

Aired May 02, 2002 - 06:49   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ever wanted to own your own castle? Well now you can, for the right price of course. The Berkeley Castle in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia is going on the auction block Saturday.

CNN's Skip Loescher has more on its rich background.

Good morning, Skip.

SKIP LOESCHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

You know most of us really don't have any royal blood coursing through our veins, but that doesn't necessarily have to stop you from owning this real stone castle here in this town.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOESCHER (voice-over): Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, it was a spa town long before the American Revolution and its warm mineral springs continue to draw bathers.

JEANNE MOZIER, HISTORIAN: George Washington first came there in 1748.

LOESCHER: Local historian Jeanne Mozier says this is the tub in which George Washington took therapeutic waters.

MOZIER: We have the only outdoor public monument to presidential bathing in the United States.

LOESCHER: More than a century later, on a ridge overlooking the town, Colonel Samuel Suit (ph), a wealthy businessman, began construction of a summer cottage that would become known as Berkeley Castle. He died before it was finished, but his much younger third wife, Rosa (ph), often hosted lavish parties for her rich and powerful friends in Washington. Presidents Grant and Hayes were among the guests. Rosa eventually ran out of money and lost the castle for good in the 1920s.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It became the Berkeley Springs Post Office.

LOESCHER: For 35 years, beginning in the 1950s, the castle was open to the public, a Victorian museum of sorts. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is important to the town. It -- you know if it was a bed and breakfast or something like that the people could actually visit now and then it would be great.

LOESCHER: The 18 rooms stand empty now, stripped so that the building could be renovated. Its latest owner hopes it will be more attractive to prospective buyers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The idea that you have the opportunity to own your castle, it's just -- it's very, very unique.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOESCHER: If you want to own this castle, there is still time. It will be sold off to the highest bidder at auction Saturday afternoon. They're hoping for an opening bid in the neighborhood of half a million dollars, although we're told it could be much less.

We're live in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. I'm Skip Loescher.

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: So a half millions dollars can buy you a castle in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia and a shack...

LOESCHER: It can indeed.

COSTELLO: ... and a shack in San Francisco.

LOESCHER: Or in Washington.

COSTELLO: You're right about that. Thank you, Skip.

LOESCHER: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: What a beautiful place.

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