| Kings and Queens |
| John Hays Hammond, Jr. built his medieval-style castle between the years 1926 and 1929 to serve both as his home and as a backdrop for his collection of Roman, medieval, and Renaissance artifacts. In addition, the building housed the Hammond Research Corporation, from which Dr. Hammond produced over 400 patents and the ideas for over 800 inventions. Second only to Thomas Alva Edison in number of patents, John Hammond was one of America's premier inventors. His most important work was the development of remote control via radio waves, which earned him the title, "The Father of Remote Control." Visitors to Hammond Castle Museum are welcome to explore the castle on a self-guided tour of eight rooms including the great hall, indoor courtyard, Renaissance dining room, two guest bedrooms, the inventions exhibit room, the Natalie Hays Hammond exhibit room, the tower galleries, as well as several smaller rooms and passage ways. Visitors may also enjoy the beauty of the castle grounds and a view of the Atlantic shore line. In addition to self-guided tours, Hammond Castle Museum offers a number of educational programs and prearranged tour opportunities for school and tour groups. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "For the last three years I motored many miles through Europe. After traveling all day, I would arrive at my destination to see a church, a cathedral, a town hall, a scrap of Roman wall or viaduct, a colosseum or an ancient theatre. It was always a piece of architecture that suddenly dissipated the obscurity of time and brought the living presence back of all ages. It is in the stones and wood that the personal record of man comes down to us. We call it atmosphere, this indescribable something that still haunts old monuments. You can read history, you can visit a hundred museums containing their handiwork, but nothing can reincarnate their spirit except to walk through rooms in which they have lived and through the scenes that were the background of their lives. It is a marvelous thing, this expression of human ideals in walls and windows." (John Hays Hammond, Jr., Unpublished letter, 1929) |
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