'The Story Behind the Castles'

Every home has a story. Here's ours.

A Defining Moment...
Some moments change the direction of your life forever.
Mine came in 1978 when I was 23. A marriage ended. 
Life had taken an unexpected turn, and I was sharing a 
rented townhouse with five other guys. It wasn't an ideal
place for me — and certainly not for my 3-year-old son, Jason.
I was trying to figure out what came next... for both of us.  

Highlands Castle was born from a father's promise...
"Jason, this is not our home... this is temporary.
Someday I'll build a home for the two of us.
Someday I will build you... a castle".

I don't know why I said "castle" to my son.
I loved log cabins at the time — and still do.
Perhaps a nudge from above.

I didn't know where I would build it.
I didn't know what it would look like.
And I certainly didn't know how I would fulfill the promise.

Looking back, I realize the promise had less to do with building an actual castle than it did with a father's desire to rebuild a better life. 

But a promise had been made.
And from that day, I began a quest to keep it.

The Quest Begins...
What I didn't realize at the time was how much help would come along the way — people, circumstances, and unexpected discoveries that would somehow chart a path and direct my steps.

I had done some construction and remodeling when I was younger, but I had no idea how — or where — to build a castle.

So I decided to do it backwards.

While sketching designs and floor plans over the next several years, I began collecting the things I imagined would someday belong in it: antique Gothic Revival furniture, light fixtures, stained glass windows and doors, and even suits of armor.

Each purchase helped to keep the dream alive.
None of these antiques were going to end up in a "log cabin".
It also seemed entirely rational that, once the house was finally built, I might not have two nickels left to furnish it!

Then, one summer, while visiting Cape Cod with my son, we stopped at an antique store in Dennis Port, Massachusetts. Inside were four stained-glass panels with a “Not For Sale” sign on it. I met the shop owner, Mr. Snell, and said that the shields and halberds on the two stained glass doors had caught my attention, and looked like they came straight out of a castle. I also mentioned my plans to build a castle for my son. Mr. Snell explained that the shields were family crests for the Montagues & Capulets, while the other two panels depicted Romeo & Juliet. They had been his conversation pieces and his pride and joy for many years. I gave Mr. Snell a note before I left: "In case you come across any "castle-like" antiques, here's my number".

I often wonder why I left my phone number with a store that was hours away from home.
I'm very glad I did.   

A few months later, Mr. Snell called. He asked if I would be interested in buying the Romeo & Juliet doors — the very doors he had never intended to sell. He was 78 years old, and his health was failing. Of course I was interested. I made a second trip to Cape Cod, wrapped the doors in blanlets, brought them back to New York, and put them into storage with the other pieces I had collected.

I would design the entire house around those doors.
They would one day open into The Great Hall.
There was just one small problem.
I still hadn't found the land.

Finding The Land...
It would be almost 5 years before the ideal piece of land presented itself — a mountaintop in Bolton Landing, NY.

One day, while driving north on Route 9N along the shores of Lake George, I stopped at the Ranch House diner to grab a cup of coffee. Sitting on the counter was a local publication called the PennySaver. A small Land For Sale advertisement caught my eye. I put a quarter in the pay phone and had a short conversation with the seller. I explained that I was looking for land with a bit of privacy — land where I won't see any neighbors, and they won't see me. He told me the land was at the top of a mountain, in the woods.
It sounded perfect.
And it was. 

The seller's father, Mr. David Tenant, was a contractor who had bought a 56-acre parcel of land. He divided it into building lots, selling each lot and building a home for each buyer. He had given the largest lot to his son, who eventually decided to sell it. 

How was it, that I would purchase the last parel of land at the top of the mountain, in a development that Mr. David Tenant named The Highlands? Such a fitting name for the castle I had promised.

Shortly after purchasing the land from his son, I had the pleasure of meeting David Tenant. We sat together on the old stone farmer's wall that still remains as a property boundary. During our conversation, he looked at me and said "John, this land is going to change your life." These were powerful words spoken to a 28-year-old, a complete 'stranger', buying his first piece of land in his life.
And he was right.   

A View Waiting To Be Revealed...
When I began clearing the land for the foundation, something unexpected was being revealed with a chain saw. Within a matter of weeks, the most spectacular views of Lake George and the Adirondack Mountains emerged from the forest. It seemed as though this majestic vista had been waiting all along to be uncovered.

Was it luck that I would be the one to settle here?
Or was it something much greater?
I believe that I was led to this spot.

Throughout my life, I have felt what I can only describe as "evidence of things not seen".  I hope you recognize some of those moments in your own life. 

Building The Dream...
Once the foundation was completed, the wood framing rose to the roof within a few months, and the structure began to find its outward appearance. Finally, I graduated from a sleeping bag in a tent to a mattress on the floor of what was essentially a large plywood box. And I was happy.
I was sleeping in my own home.

Then, in the summer of 1986, my son, Jason — now 11 — was unknowingly instrumental in helping me meet the woman I would marry. Jason was playing in Rogers Park in Bolton Landing and met a young boy around his age, Alex Henkel. At the end of the day, we escorted Alex back to his house, a short distance away, where we were greeted by his mother, Lee Henkel. She invited us to stay for "Friday Night Pizza".
During the evening, I made a comment that would change my life. 
"Bolton Landing is slim pickings".
Lee looked at me.
"What do you mean by that?"
I replied: "Well, for a single dad with a son..."
Within seconds, a woman who I had just met said:
"I know somebody you should meet. Her name is Yvonne and she's the Assistant Manager at the Sagamore Resort, where I also work".

On July 19, 1986, Yvonne and I went on our first blind date.
She is, without question, the best part of my life. 

Six years later, on July 19, 1992 - six years to the day after we met, and I so wish I hadn't waited that long — my parents officiated our wedding right here at Highlands Castle. 

That same year, a decade into construction, I reminded my son: "I promised I'd build you a castle; I didn't say you wouldn't be helping me! "
Jason, now a teenager, joined in the stonework. Naturally resourceful, he recruited his high school football teammates to lend some muscle during the summer months.
Their daily mantra was:
"Let's rock! "
And they took great pride in their accomplishments, working together as a team once again. The stonework was slow and tedious. Laying up a thousand tons of local granite with only a handful of masons would take decades.

For many years — Highlands Castle was simply home — first for Jason and me, and in 1992, for Yvonne as well.

I often say:
"It was Yvonne and her 'light' that turned a pile of rocks into a home." For me, and for my son Jason, she brought the stability and normalcy I had been seeking years before. 

Another Defining Moment...
30 years after my first defining moment came a second one. 
An accident in 2008.
A fall from the roof shattered my right ankle.
It was a difficult 8-months and 4-operations before I could walk again.  

But something unexpected emerged from that difficult experience: an awareness of just how fragile — and how short — life can be. I knew it was time to reinvent myself and start a new chapter. Until then, I had never intended or planned to open our home to vacation guests. But sometimes, life has a way of opening doors we never intended to walk through.

Ex Malo Bonum: "Out of bad comes good."
Sometimes, good things come out of bad experiences.
And this was one of those times. 

When the Doors Opened... 
In 2010, my son volunteered to build a website for us.

Once it went live, what followed became one of life's unexpected gifts.
Wonderful and fascinating people from every corner of the world began arriving at our home. They shared personal stories about how and why they had been drawn to travel here. Some stories made us smile.
Others were heartwarming.
A  few... heartbreaking. 
Many came looking for peace and relaxation.
Others needed time to rejuvenate, reflect, or heal.
And countless visitors simply came to create memories with the people they love.

Somehow, in welcoming all of these people into our home, I found something, too. 
A sense of purpose.

The Story Continues...
What began as a promise in 1978 has grown into Highlands Castle — three castles perched on a graceful mountaintop above one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, where families and friends come together to share and celebrate life's most meaningful moments.

But Highlands Castle is more than a place to stay... 
It is the realization of a promise.
The embodiment of a dream.
And a reminder that sometimes the most extraordinary things in life begin with simply:
Believing they can be done.

When I think back to my words I spoke to my son —“Someday I will build you... a castle,”
I see now that the promise was about far more than a castle.
It was about hope.
It was about rebuilding a life.
It was about believing that something better was possible.
And looking back over all these years, I can see that good things really can come out of bad experiences.
Somehow, there was a plan and a purpose for all of it.
I believe it wasn't just my plan.

I hope you'll share Our Story with your family & friends.
And I hope that, someday, you'll have the chance to visit us...
to experience Highlands Castle for yourself,
and perhaps become part of The Story.  

Kindest Regards,
John

John & Yvonne Lavender
Owners/Hosts of Highlands Castle

Today, what makes me happiest is simple:
Seeing someone else happy.

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