The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1890-12-05

an opinion.
/ L. l.. Ronalds, Jr, accompanied by a
/ friend, Mr. Vail, drove from Bridgeport,
Sunday and Investigated the affair, say
ing that he should cable his father as
soon as he landed in France. He was
unable to say whether the castle would
be rebuilt, but thought that his father
might restore it in short time.
For the present, Mr. Stuart will remain
rary wooden roof over the arches, to pro-
tect them from the elements.
Mr. Ronalds thought that his father
would adhere to his original plan of
spending the Winter in the south of
France and would return in the early
Spring to give attention to the castle.
| Peter Lorillard Ronalds is an extreme
| ly wealthy and somewhat eccentric New
York gentleman, who traces his lineage
| in direct line for more than 1000 years,
to the ancient Scottish kings. He is
about Ga years old and has spent much
of his life travelling, having traversed
France by coach, most of Europe by va
rious conveyances, most of the world at
different times and has walked over a
| large share of Connecticut soil
| He spent considerable money in build
ing, short distance out of New York,
but became dissatisfied with the loca-
tion and finally came to n ewtown, where,
| between three and four years ago, he
| bought of Mrs Henry Il. Nichols a tract
! of about so acres on the brow of Taunton
hill, the highest point for miles around,
which soon became locally famous as
Ronalds Peak.
Here he purposed to build a structure
which should be entirely original, per-
fectly adapted to its uses and stand as a
monument and memorial of the house of
Ronald.
TO that end, he bought 1000 tons of
granite at the quarries at Mine hill, RoX-
bury, 500 or 600 from local quarries and
about 500 more of cut stone and, in the
Spring of 1888, commenced the construct
ion of Castle Ronald.
| He also commenced horse and hay
barns, carriage houses, etc. and spent
large sums in sinking an artesian well.
A depth of 1872 feet was reached and wa
ter obtained, but the supply was irregu-
lar and the well gave constant trouble
until a stoned well 40 feet deep and of
great diameter was made. An Aermotor
windmill, with pump, supplies two large
tanks from this we'll.
The construction of the castle was car
ried forward with large force of work
men, Mr. Ronalds supervising the work
in person.
The plans, drawn by himself, were an
adaptation of old world ideas with new
features. They provided for a building
10 feet long and AZ feet wide, with two
wings 60xlS feet on the north side. The
main building contained balconies which
increased it's width to Sc feet and the
length proportionately; the height was
about IS feet.
1t was built in the most substantial
manner and the close of the seasons
work saw the first story completed. 1t
consisted of three immense arches run
ming the entire length of the building !;
the northern arch to be used as cellar
and wine room, the center as a driveway,
the other as servants quarters, etc.
Next season, the side and end walls of
the maiE building were finished and the
time has since been occupied in putting
on the glass roof which covered the
whole, in plumbing and wood fitting.
Little work has been done on the wings,
Mr. Ronalds intending to finish one the
coming year and the other later.
Thecastle was finished in hard wood,
oak and yellow pine being almost ex-
clusively used and some idea of the i'm
mensity of the castle may be gained
when it is said that over 100000 feet of
lumber, 10000 bricks and between 1000
and 5000 tons of stone had been used, so
far.
The upper story, surmounted by a Gu
pola aud flagstaff, was huge conserva-
tory, filled principally with roses, gera-
NUNS, orange and fig trees and tropical
plants; strawberries almost ready to eat.
Below, where the rooms were fitted
without regard to expense, were the
apartments which Mr. Ronalds was to
occupy, the guest chambers and the
rooms for the exhibit of his vast collect
ion of relics, antiquities, valuable statu-
airy and paintings, furniture and curios.
or these he had many thousand dollars
worth, the accumulation of many years
of travel; most of them were still in the
packing cases.
One painting in particular, which he
decribed as magnificent, cost $4,000,
He alse had collection of ancient ar
NOR, INCLUDING several full suits, which
he valued very highly. AS it was on the
lower floor, it escaped destruction by
fire but not by vandals, for several o.
, the pieces are missing. One of the mos
; deplorable incidents of the fire was thu
stealing of watch from Charles, {
, purse from Fred and small articles from
Mr. Ronalds's property.
But this is far less than the sacking O
4 Mr. Ronalds' wine cellar.
t A petition, circulated by l.. b. Booth
: received many signatures and the select
. men have called special town meetin,
for Saturday, 18th, to take steps to ex
. empt p. l.. Ronalds from all taxation il
o Newtown for the next seven years, o.
s condition that he at once rebuild tn
castle.
/ FvTN