Ephemera: Bob's Castle

So much for a legacy made of stone and concrete...

More Recent Version of the Castle

“Even if a forest fire sweeps through, for the next hundred years this pile of stone will still stand here.”

I wrote that in 2002 in reference to the castle built by a man named Bob Nippolt. Bob died in 2015, but for years I toyed with the idea of buying his place on the White Salmon River. Begun in 1988, Bob’s dream house amounted to a sort of Playboy Mansion in the woods. Fur comforters covered the beds. Tasteful ’70s-era erotic art hung on the walls. Bob had arranged nude female mannequins on the balconies overlooking the river, so as whitewater rafters sped past all they got was the impression of a castle occupied by lithe, naked women.

Bob’s castle was the site of Gatsbyesque Halloween parties and weddings… And now it’s been torn down. It’s gone. A scion of the Walton family—Walmart—is building a large, conventional home on the land.

Earlier Version of the Castle

The legacy Bob built to stand forever, it lasted about forty years. So I guess I read that one wrong.

Rest In Peace, Bob. Or better yet, come back to haunt whoever pulled down your dream.