The Castle On The Hill

Part 2

Part-2

Roy spent the rest of the afternoon phoning his relatives to give the news. They all assumed he was inviting them to attend the funeral but he had to clarify that the body was not released yet. He just called to inform them for now. His throat hurt from shouting so much. Most of his relatives lived in the small countryside in Northern Ireland so their signal was spotty at best. So, he had to have a strong signal. That's why he was on the roof of the room above the bar. Curiously the strongest cell phone signal he could get in this area was on this small sixteen-square meter space on the roof- which was the dimension of the room below.

Sam was helping Mary set up chairs and tables on the bar below and Mary was explaining to him the history of the castle seeing Sam's interest as they were working. Apparently, Roy's great grandfather was a distant relative of King Charles I who managed a small area in the Ulster. After the Irish rebellion in 1641 and following the aftermath of the War of Three Kingdoms, King Charles I and his descendants were executed. But Roy's Great-grandfather somehow managed to sneak away with his family and was able to set sail for America. America was the hot item then; everyone was sailing for America.

Their ship was hit by a bad storm about halfway into the journey. The hull was destroyed but they made the shore here somehow. This was a relatively untouched area because of its unusual geography features. Even the native Indian people chose not to live here. The sea covered the northwest and the other sides were surrounded by rocky mountains separating a tiny piece of land from the mainland California. Well-to call them mountains would be an exaggeration but they were very big hills. The European explorers saw no benefit to reform such area as it was only hills and forest then. The tiny piece of land that was flat was also under water. They named the area Talus hills for being rocky and white like bones. They saw no value taking such a land.

But it was the perfect place for a man in hiding. Not only that, he found an even more remote and secluded place atop a hill to build his castle. They had to dump half of treasure to make shore so only half remained. That was more than enough to build the castle. But then the main problems were adequate supply of materials needed to build the castle. Because there were no roads connecting the mainland to the place, they had to use the roundabout way via the sea. Even after spending twice the amount of money, the materials came up short. But they had to make do with what they had.

Then came the Spanish reign. They also left the place alone. In the Spanish-Mexican war however, some Mexican rebels took refuge in the castle. The man who was in charge of the castle at the time was a kind man so he allowed them to stay. The Spanish warships bombed the castle but couldn't finish them. But, due to the lack of supplies it wasn't built sturdily from the start so where the shells hit-those areas broke down. Even then it was lucky in a way. Because the castle was built on the top of a hill, very few shells actually got there. After the Mexicans won the war, they granted him the formal ownership of the land. Even after they signed the treaty to give the California to the US- the papers were valid so the US government just let him be.

The water receded and the flat land became habitable. The settlers came soon after. They named the place Oakside Ridge for the trees that grew on the hill forests. Because the vast majority of trees in the forests were Oaks and hills pretty much encased the whole area. In a blink it became a small city. They carved a road out through the mountains, connecting the mainland so transportation became relatively easy.

"My Great-grandfather tried to restore the castle but there were not enough funds. And it broke down even more. More importantly most of his family decided to go back to the Ireland. Because of the potato blight, lands were cheap there so they took the advantage and took most of the remaining treasures -precious jewels and such to purchase land in Ireland. He had five sons and three daughters. But only my grandfather's father decided to stay. He felt it was stupid going back to Ireland en-masse amid such a crisis. And as you can see, the sentiment toward our relative was carried over to my grandfather. From what grandpa told me he was also very stubborn." Mary wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeves. She finished setting the last chair and sat down to catch her breath a little.