A Letter from Joseph Huntzinger to Omar Hallsson, October 12, 1992

My Mother who was a Dressmaker in Wilkes-Barre bought the land where "The Castle" now sits in 1925 from a Mr. Neely who lived in that first house on the old road going towards Harvey's Lake. The Neely's owned the adjoining property, which was a farm of about 35 Acres; The original property she purchased was 7 Acres. The Price for the land was in the neighborhood of $2700.00. My Mother who was Elizabeth Huntzinger remarried in 1925 to Harold F. Blewitt from Scranton,Pa. He was a graduate of Penn State College in Engineering. At that time I was 10 years old and I had two sisters, one 14 and one 15 years old, who are now both dead.

My stepfather and my mother drew up the plans for "The Castle" and started to build in 1926. The building was completed in 1927, and we moved in the fall of 1927 from Wilkes-Barre,due to the fact that there was little or no competition at that time the business was an immediate success. As I remember the menu was mainly chicken and waffles and steak dinners priced at $1.75 for 7 courses. The menu also listed sandwiches of all kinds, rarebits and chicken a la king, all priced under $1.00 each.

In the fall of 1927 up to New Years Eve we turned customers away every night. That first New Years Eve in 1927, we stopped taking reservations a week before the New Years Celebration. The present Bar and Taproom, which was added in 1937, did not exist at that time and as we needed every inch of space for tables. We charged $12.50 a couple for a full dinner and favors which was unheard of at that time. The alcove for the orchestra was added in 1929 and music for dancing was supplied these first two years from the corner of the main dining room.

Business continued to increase until the Stock Market Crash in1929 and the start of the great depression. Our business suffered drastically and my Mother and stepfather made the decision to rent "The Castle" to a Mr. Frank Brader who had been a restaurant owner in Wilkes-Barre. The year was 1935 and I was hired by Mr. Brader as a waiter for $4.00 a week plus tips. My stepfather took a job in Washington D.C. and my mother & myself rented an Apartment in Kingston. When Mr. Brader's lease expired we moved back to "The Castle". As business began to recover we built the Bar and Taproom on the back of the building.

Our Menu changed with the financial conditions of the time and included lobster tails, shrimps, steak and hamburgers for the first time. It was at this time that I advanced to Bartender and the prices as I remember were as follows: Bar whiskey, Kessler's 15¢ an ounce, gin 15¢ an ounce. Mixed drinks Tom Collins, Whiskey Sour, Gin Fizz, Highballs 35¢ each, Scotch and premium brands sold for 40¢. The most popular Beer was Stegmiers on draft 10¢ for a 10 ounce glass.

Around this time the New road from Dallas to Harvey's Lake was built and the stone wall was removed from the front of the property. Following this, my mother Mrs. Blewitt died in 1939. In 1940 I left “The Castle" to take a position with a company in Stamford, Conn.

With the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the start of the War, I enlisted in the Air Corp and was sent to Glider Pilot Training School. My stepfather Harold Blewitt was called up a short time later and left "The Castle" in the care of a man by the name of Ralph Walp. Mr. Swan came at a later date, when, I am not sure, because I was over seas and had little communication from home.

To get back to the building, my stepfather and I installed allof the electric wiring including lights on the stone wall adjoining the old road. We also had a large Billboard on the right side of the property facing Dallas. The wall was later removed when the new road was constructed. As I remember the total cost of the building was between $18000 & $19000. In the rear of the present Bar and Taproom was a 6 car garage. One bay in the Garage was used for Ice storage and one bay was used as a Shop. At the rear of the property was a large Chicken Coop and a vegetable Garden that supplied the restaurant with ducks, chickens etc.

Heating was supplied with a steam furnace in the cellar which was later moved to its present location under the porte-cochere. We had a serious water problem in the cellar due to the fact the building was not built on a rise 3 feet higher. Oil heating was out of the question at that time because Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Plymouth were the heart of the hard Coal mining area employing over 400,000 men. We used approximately 20 tons of coal a year at the cost of $3.25 a ton delivered. Air Conditioning was not available in the 20's and a large fan was installed in the wall of the dining room, near the alcove used by the orchestra. Early photos of the building will indicate the french doors across the entire front which were open during the summer.

Details from here on out get very vague in my memory. My stepfather and my sister who lived in Wilkes-Barre arranged for the sale of "The Castle" after the War. As I recall there was a mortgage of $7000.00 on the building and a second mortgage of $800.00 to Nr. Neely on the land where the swimming pool was located. Interest on the mortgages had accrued during the War but the Mortgage holders could not foreclose while we were both in the Army. It all went for about $10,000.00, as I recall. I can't remember to whom it was sold nor how many owners there were after that. A search of the property Deed should reveal names and dates should you care to go into it further.

In the years since the War I have made many trips home to Wilkes Barre and stopped occasionally at "The Castle". The depression of 1929,the War years, the death of my mother at the age of 45,plus a certain amount of family dissension was poor incentive to following up on new owners.

I feel now, however, Omar, that with you in charge, "The Castle" will once again be the success it was and was meant to be.

Sincerely,
Joseph Huntzinger

Castle Inn, 1927

Joseph Huntzinger and his mother, 1934

Castle Inn, 2005

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Huntzinger and Omar Hallsson, 1993

Mrs. Huntzinger, 1932

Mrs Huntzinger, year unknown