preston castle

Preston Castle is near Sacramento close to highway 49 on the way south to Amador City and Sutter Creek in the town of Ione. In 1890, the wise people of the California State Correction System decided it was not a good idea to house teenagers with adult convicts. Preston Castle was then built to rehabilitate these youthful offenders. It is a beautiful property with the main “castle” and a number of surrounding dorm and training building. The building is very much in need of money to repair damage done by architectural scavengers and vandals but despite the disrepair, I found it very interesting. They have docent guided tours spring thru fall only on a few days of the month. No tours in the winter. I have also been there for their haunted house on Halloween which was quite spooky. You can see their tour schedule and buy tickets on-line at their website. http://www.prestoncastle.com/

Love this place. We went for the Halloween costume ball. They had a small outside haunted trail also. This is an old historic boys reform school with so much history. They currently are waiting on approval to be able to have indoor tours again. I hope they can raise the funds to keep this place open!

hung out by the fence and got some really awesome photos of figures, would love to get IN for a night

So glad we were driving through the area on a day when the castle was open for tours. Make sure to check their website and see what days the tours are actually going on. Walking around the outside is impressive enough as it is. This building has some very interesting history. Thinking of all the troubled boys who passed through definitely adds a bit of somberness to the locale. We even found some old carved names on some of the walls outside. It's definitely worth a stop if you are in the area!

My mother and I were in from out of town and really wanted to tour the Castle. We had read about it and thought it would be an interesting experience. When we got into Ione we kept seeing signs saying the Castle was open for tours. Sadly much to our surprise when we pulled up into the gates of Preston Castle we were greeted by a tour guide telling us the county had shut down their tours. We could only do an outside walking tour. We were allowed to go up to the Castle and look through the windows but currently as of June 15th the Castle cannot be toured from the inside.

I was there for an overnight investigation of the Castle with a group from the Bay Area Ghost Hunters. Preston Castle has a long history of people saying it's haunted and, after my visit, I would have to agree. We were in the Castle from 7 p.m. until 4 a.m. and covered most of the basement and first 3 floors. (The 4th floor is currently closed.) I am reviewing my recording of that night and I am hearing a lot of EVPs!The bad news is that inside tours and investigations of the Castle are on hold for now. There is a problem with getting the permit the Castle needs from the State Fire Marshall to have people inside. You can, however, visit the outside grounds and they are available for public events.Hopefully the permit issue will be resolved and the inside of the Castle will be open once again to the public. When it is, I highly recommend a visit/investigation! You are sure to capture some evidence if you are ghost hunting.If you aren't into ghost hunting, Preston Castle is a great place to visit a piece of California's history and a nice stopover as you cruise the Gold Country.If you stay overnight, the Ione Hotel is a nice, comfortable place and there are several small restaurants in town.

Preston Castle was wonderful. Our party of 5 was delighted and the docents were awesome and informative! Thank you PC Foundation for all your hard work in keeping this landmark open to the public!

I attended the wine fundraiser w/a meetup group and had a wonderful time, my only complaint is that there were portie potties. The castle is full of history and views of the hillsides. We were able to tour the castle on our own, it was so cool to see all of the rooms and hunt ghosts. The wine event was w/15 winery tastings and food, w/a complimentary wine glass and a band. Love the Preston Castle and surrounding towns ~ first time I had been in this area.

the story is told that this building was let to fall apart...now there is a foundation that has fundraisers to keep what is left of the building intact..if you have the chance to visit,it is interesting to learn of the past...too much too tell.....check it out...the next one is Halloween.I hear it is very scary.

This historic building has a wonderful past. There are many stories associated with it and going on a tour of the building with a guide is the best way to learn of the history of this building. If you subscribe to the theory that there are ghosts, then this place certainly has been said to contain them. You will spend a pleasant afternoon there viewing the grounds and the pre-1900 architecture. They also have many activities there such as wine tasting, shows and dinners. Get on line and learn about them.

This building is full of history, mystery, intrigue, and, I've been told.....ghosts. It is situated on a hill which gives it an imposing appearance. Many famous people, as youths, were incarcerated there which makes it even more interesting. After visiting the castle, I came home to do some web research on it. Found it to be more interesting and made me want to see and learn more about it. Definitely worth the time to visit.

We had a great time hearing all the wonderful stories. Lots of "ghost" stories. Loved it and will go again.

The Preston Castle is such a Awsome place I visited April 2012 with my brother & sister I can definitely say the tour was great our tour guide Bill gave us so much details & history about the castle along with stories of the paranormal, The second time we visited our tour guide wasn't as detailed and fun about the castle but that still doesn't affect the rating, I only wish that we would be allowed to view the other places on the castle grounds and the castle cemetery. The money you pay is definitely worth it plus it help with the restoration of the castle I recommend this place a lot.

Loved everything about the castle..overnight ghost hunts are never disapointing at Preston Castle,if you have never been there you must go....Beautiful place,

My review is solely on the haunted castle tour (not to be mistaken with the paranormal tour). It was a bit low budget and sad. This one character named Alice needed to calm down....I promise nobody paid to see you do the splits and spread or your legs. I didn't completely write off the castle. I plan on returning for the paranormal tour hopefully it's a bit more tasteful and scary in the creepy way not the raunchy way....yikes!