Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 21, 1993 TAG: 9309210090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: AMY SATTERTHWAITE THE FREE LANCE-STAR
DATELINE: GILBERTS CORNER LENGTH: Medium
It doesn't bother him too much. He once threatened to fight a neighbor who complained publicly about the unusual domicile going up amid the refined estates in Loudoun County in Virginia's horse country, but then burst out laughing in the neighbor's doorway. He says the two have become friendly since.
Miller is a man on a mission - his own, and the Lord's. He began building the castle in 1986 as a gimmick - something to grab the attention of travelers in search of antiques and a bed for the night. But as he finishes off room by room, or dungeon by tower, he has become convinced that "God wants this place built."
He'll tell you what a deal he got on the double doors. Or how he bartered for enough firewood to keep a castle cozy for at least two winters.
"It's not just luck. These are blessings," said Miller, a self-described fundamentalist Christian, gun collector, ex-soldier and builder.
Miller's Bull Run Castle is a jarring sight along U.S. 15, a few miles from the Prince William-Loudoun County line. He's not yet pleased with the outside; the west wing is unfinished, so it's not the symmetrical castle it will be.
But the details are amazing. Holes in the fortress-like walls are firing ports designed for protruding guns. Medieval portcullises are made to drop like steel jaws. There are underground tunnels, a dungeon and a place to go in case nearby Washington Dulles International Airport is ever hit by nuclear bombs.
"This castle is entirely defendable from attack - small arms or otherwise," he said. "I could fire at anybody at any point. It's a real castle. I hate phony things and phony people."
Is he expecting a battle?
"I'm 97 percent sure I wouldn't have to defend it," Miller said. He claims the dungeon, complete with bed of nails and old bones, has held only "a couple of attorneys who wouldn't mind their own business."
Miller loves to show off the castle and loves to tease his visitors. A Pennsylvania native who fell in love with Virginia's rolling foothills, he claims he settled near the site of the Civil War Battle of Bull Run "on orders from General Grant. The South keeps threatening to rise again, and I'm here to make sure it never does."
Fit and tanned at 64, Miller built the castle from scratch with the help of his family and one paid worker. He hasn't used one contractor.
"If I don't know how to do something, I start it anyway," he said.
Before the castle was livable, Miller and his wife, Barbara, slept in a tent on the property on weekends. They graduated to a tiny, circular stone hut and then a cabin before moving into the castle.
It was a far cry from their house near Fort Belvoir. Miller was an engineer with the Army for nearly 14 years.
He said his wife, two daughters and a son never protested, devoting seven years to something people would whisper and point about.
"They wouldn't complain. I'm the head of my household, and I run things my way," Miller said. He wasn't teasing this time. "That's right, I'm a male chauvinist pig, just like most men - only I'm not ashamed to admit it."
Barbara Miller, who came to the United States 27 years ago from England, said she has little choice but to support her husband's vision. "It's become sort of his dream to finish this," she said.
There were times when the castle was just starting to take shape that were very difficult, she said. Barbara Miller feels somewhat isolated in rural Gilberts Corner and has wished more than once that she was back in Alexandria.
Miller said he hopes to eventually sell the castle for "a million and a half, at least," and enjoy a relaxed retirement.
He took out a small loan to help finance construction, and has paid for the rest as he sells items from a crowded antique store in the castle's east wing. He also offers tours for $2.
Sometimes when he catches sight of it, especially at night with the floodlights aimed on it from the grass, "I'm just awed. I've created a monster."
by CNB