Solomon's Castle in Ona, Florida
Last week, we found out about another interesting place in Florida — Solomon’s Castle, and naturally, we had to visit it ourselves. We took advantage of the cooler and gloomy weather forecast for the weekend, and headed inland, a place we avoid at all costs once temperatures and humidity start going up.
It took us longer than expected to get there (coming from Tampa). Initially, when checking the route, it indicated about an hour and a half of travel, avoiding tolls. However, once we got on the road, it took us two hours to get there, again, avoiding toll roads. I didn’t mind the drive as, even though it was mostly through the wilderness, it was beautiful. We passed by a lot of farmland, orange groves, and cow pastures, and I can’t say that it didn’t have a certain charm to it. Well, minus the abundant roadkill, which included deer — please be aware of wildlife and drive carefully. That aside, getting there was pretty straightforward.
We didn’t know what to expect, but I will say that we were pleasantly surprised. The castle looks like something taken out of DisneyWorld: quirky, futuristic, and 100% eclectic.
This three-story building is covered in old aluminum newspaper printing plates that had been discarded by the local newspaper and features themed stained glass windows throughout. You’ll find all sorts of scraps that have been turned into various art objects “sprinkled” everywhere. What you see there has been created by the artist Howard Solomon, the man behind it all. The castle, of course, comes with a moat, and an old boat that houses a restaurant — the menu sounded pretty good, however, we didn’t eat there so I can’t speak about the food.
The door behind me is well over 200 years old, we heard.
The boat restaurant, and the adjacent deck packed with people.
It didn’t feel busy, though there were people waiting for guided tours, and the restaurant deck towered by a huge live oak tree was packed for the duration of our visit (actually, that was the busiest of the entire place). The boat’s dining room was empty, though I can’t blame anyone for that — it was a gorgeous day outside, and the interior was somewhat dark, even though beautiful.
Because we arrived fairly late, and the castle closes at 4pm, we skipped the 45-minute guided tour and hit the ground running by ourselves. We followed the arrows as well as every nook and cranny we found and decided it was a pretty rustic, yet charming place. We even came across a donkey and a few ponies that made a run for my green dress — good thing there was a fence between us, haha… By the way, my dress is old, and I shared its details in this post.
Expect to find here the true Floridian landscape and nature: abundant with brush, huge live oak trees, moss, and bromeliads, as well as wildlife, including gators (yes, we saw one “chilling” in the sun). While there are paved paths around the castle, the rest of the grounds are mostly unpaved.
Towards the end of the day, as we returned from wandering the grounds, we found several cats enjoying their dinner. 12 or 14 (can’t remember the exact number) live there and provide entertainment for visitors as they lounge around, and most of them sure love the attention.
Note that the castle is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10am - 4pm, from October 2nd to August 1st. It is closed on Mondays and the months of August and September. Photography is not permitted inside the castle. Free to park and visit the grounds on your own. To visit inside and guided tours start at $23 for adults.
As far as how much time to allocate for visiting, if you also plan on lunching there, I recommend reserving your whole day; otherwise, I advise a minimum of 2 hours to see everything at leisure, with or without a guided tour included.
You can find a few old cars displayed on the grounds.
Solomon decided to add his own Alamo to the grounds of his castle after a visit to Alamo, Texas
I hope you found this interesting, and are intrigued to visit this place yourself.
xo,
Em
