What’s the point of building a full-on castle if you can’t defend it like it was a medieval stronghold? If you asked Virginian John Roswell Miller, there isn’t one. His home is known as an indestructible castle, built to withstand any attempt at intrusion. And if you approach his home on the outskirts of Aldie, Virginia, intending to break in, you better bring an army.
An Indestructible Castle Built by a Veteran
“This castle is entirely defendable from attack – small arms or otherwise,” he told the Roanoke Times in 1993. “I could fire at anybody at any point. It’s a real castle. I wouldn’t say I like phony things and phony people. There’s nothing phony about this place. And that includes me.”
Most modern-day castle builders in the United States aren’t really thinking about having to defend their creations from a siege. When World War I veteran Harry D. Andrews built his castle in Loveland, Ohio, he just wanted to recreate France’s Château de la Roche. Ona, Florida’s Howard Solomon built his for fun. Jim Bishop of Rye, Colorado, just wanted to have the freedom to build a castle at all.
KillDozer-Like Mentality
On the other hand, John Miller built Bull Run Castle in Aldie, Virginia, to defend it properly. Loudon County hasn’t seen a day of war since the end of the American Civil War, but when Miller started building his 7,000-square-foot stronghold, the United States and the Soviet Union were in a showdown for global supremacy, and an apocalyptic war could have broken out at any time. He built a place he could easily defend while awaiting nuclear armageddon.
That year was 1979. It was the same year the USSR invaded Afghanistan, President Jimmy Carter withdrew the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) from ratification, embargoed food and technical shipments to the Soviets, announced a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and increased military spending. Relations between the superpowers didn’t improve when President Ronald Reagan took office, either. He kept many of the Carter policies in place and went further, announcing he was determined to leave the “evil empire” on the “ash heap of history.”
A New World Order
Those were bold words from the Leader of the Free World, a man who (ostensibly) would have enough warning to get to a secure, nuclear blast-proof facility with enough food and water to survive a full nuclear exchange and the war that followed. Most Americans probably supported the president but were likely left wondering what they would do in the event of a nuclear war. Those in big cities didn’t have to worry about that; they would be vaporized in about 30 minutes. However, Americans in more rural areas had to worry about how they would eat, drink, and defend their homes if society broke down the day after.
John Miller figured out what he would do, which is the same thing any human under siege would do if they could:
- Build an enormous, indestructible castle.
- Fill it with everything he needed.
- Defend it until it was safe to come out.
“I started telling all my friends, ‘I’m gonna build a castle,'” he told the Washington City Paper. “And when I say it, it happens. Or I’m dead. I’ve never said, ‘I wish I would have…’ That’s not me.”
A Military Mindset
Miller spent 14 years as a captain in the Army Corps of Engineers but left the Army knowing he wasn’t suited to sit behind a desk. He began construction in what used to be a cornfield but is well within range of the nearby road. It was a plot of land he bought for less than $30,000. He began construction with a small loan but opened an antique shop in the castle to continue building. He built most of the castle himself, using scrounged material and with the help of his family and one paid worker. He and his family moved to nearby Mount Vernon Woods from Fort Belvoir and camped out on weekends until the castle was livable.
”They wouldn’t complain. I’m the head of my household, and I run things my way,” The former Army officer and Vietnam veteran said. “That’s right, I’m a male chauvinist pig, just like most men – only I’m not ashamed to admit it.”
“When it came to working, we really didn’t have much of a choice,” his daughter, Mary Knight, said in a 2002 interview. “I don’t think we complained a lot. You can only work so much as a kid. We’d all go up there, do some work, and then come back and play with our friends. Gosh, it all seems so long ago. I can barely remember living in that tent.”
Building a Strong Foundation
Unlike many first-time homebuilders, he built and upgraded the house from his workshop in the basement, a workshop protected by a steel-reinforced, blast-proof concrete slab. He considered the foundation a necessity due to its proximity to Dulles International Airport.
The castle itself isn’t based on any castle architecture one might find in a book. Although Miller had seen European castles and read about castle design, he readily admitted that the castle design was based on his imagination, which is what he believed a castle should look like. The low-lying fortress boasts six bedrooms, five full baths, two powder rooms, and 14 closets (for 22 rooms, 81 doors, and 89 windows), not to mention the metal portcullis chapel and four ¾-inch thick oak front door.
It’s a symmetrical castle with four towers, each providing 130-degree firing capability from its 30 Enfield rifles, 6,000 rounds of ammunition, and firing ports in its many walls. It even came complete with a dungeon for housing captured trespassers and underground tunnels in case everything went wrong. It even has multiple heating systems using coal, oil, or solar power. Rainfall is designed to run off the castle and be collected into underground cisterns. It truly is a survivalist dream home.
“I’m on orders from General Grant. The South keeps threatening to rise again, and I’m here to make sure it never does,”the Pennsylvania native joked.
Final Construction
By the time construction was complete on the indestructible castle in 1999 (as planned). However, his family had fallen away. His daughters and son moved on with their lives. His wife, Barbara, left in 1997. Miller lived alone in the castle for six years until 2005, operating it as a bed and breakfast – probably the first B&B to withstand a sustained artillery barrage.
“I would say we hated working when we were doing it,” daughter Natashia Gueffroy said. “But now I appreciate it because I’m restoring a Victorian myself. And there isn’t anything I can’t do. And that’s because of my father.”
“I taught my kids how to work,” Miller said. “My kids didn’t go to college. They didn’t need to… The best thing I got going for me is that I never went to college.”
Miller sold the castle he’d built with his hands over two decades for around $1 million in 2005. He then moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, to spend days with an old flame he hadn’t seen in 51 years. The castle used to be open for tours but stopped operating as a tourist attraction in 2009, but Miller believes Bull Run Castle will still be standing in 200 years, with or without a nuclear war.
