Nicole, 13, from Fox River Grove, wrote:

I have to past this castle on my way to my grandmas. The castle I always bright with lights. Its a nice shade of gray and is very stable looking. In the day its not very wonderful looking but at night like I said its like looking in a hole into a nether world of splendor. I love to castle so much when we come home I stay awake just to see it. I'm not sure about whets in side it. I never realized it was a real castle until now.

F. Gardini, 50, from Atlanta Georgia, wrote:

The Vianden Castle of Fox River Grove. Its builder is Teddy Bettendorf, born 1899 in Vianden, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. He emigrated in 1916 in the midst of World War I. Teddy was a bachelor and had a mind of his own. He bought a property on top of the hill in Fox River Grove, built himself a shack and henceforth drove every morning with the same train to Chicago and back in the evening. He who lives in a hut yearns easily for a castle. Back home he had spent his childhood and youth facing the most imposing castle ruins this side of the Rhine River. Now he owned land on his mountain. Who could prevent him from building his own castle? Teddy inspected the grounds he had bought. There were enough rocks there for ten castles. Definitely no slate and no real rocks, but boulders, actually not suitable for building, but Teddy collected boulder after boulder from the loose alluvial soil and embedded them with a sure hand deeply into the stiff mortar. Later he had the idea to mass-produce building blocks using mortar and the smaller pebble stones. He toiled every evening. He looked his model up on postcards and photos that were sent to him from home. The castle took twenty-eight years to build. (Extract from a forthcoming publication: "Luxembourgers in America."

Harold A. Miller, 62, from Spokane, Washington, USA, wrote:

As long as I can remember this charming little privately owned castle dominated the entrance to the town of Fox River Grove, Illinois. I believe it was built by the owner over a period of years.