ozark medieval fortress

Largely abandoned, September 2014. Three main varieties of structures remain: Improvised wood huts and shelters for staging of the construction work, conventional construction visitors' center, and, of course, the marvelous re-creation of medieval mortared-rock fortress walls and door frames, at least the foundations of such structures, several feet thick and maybe eight to ten feet high in places, a long ways from finished, but well-begun, or so it appears. The fortress work will be part of the landscape here for thousands of years. Made of mortar and rock quarried just a few hundred yards away, this human-creation could outlast the freeways. I'd like to check back in a few thousand years and see. A commercial failure, perhaps, but the Ozark Medieval Fortress is a wonderful work of art, on par with "Spiral Jetty", "Lightning Fields", and other works of ambitious macro landscape art. As such, currently abandoned and closed to the public, it is difficult to rate as an attraction.

Ozark Medieval Fortress will reopen as a permanent festival site and a place for artists and musicians to create! CastleLandProject.com is the new website. Open for tours July 1 2014.

We were here a few years ago and planned to visit every five years to see the progress. What an amazing place! They actually made their own tools and materials just as they did years ago, and the children were able to make rope, etc. as they did back then. None of today's machinery was used, they made their own and even used donkeys to pull. I've heard that they shut down, but if so, what a loss that will be to our children and g'children...what a wonderful history lesson will be missed!

I hate it that I was not able to go to see the Ozark Medieval Fortress before it closed. I only hope that it will reopen when the recession is over. It was a magnificent display of building using original Middle Age methods, right in the middle of the Ozarks. Here's hoping!

Our guide was an incredible historian who educated us about that time period. He was full of information and knew his facts and I was with some very educated people and he could answer and explain all of their questions and correct their information. Seeing how they made rope and the walls was history in the making. Was named one of the state's top 10 tourist attraction. Unfortunately, it is closed for 2012 due to looking for new investors.

I went with my child on a field trip for school. Not knowing what we were about to discover, the trip was way worth it. It's been showcased on Larry The Cable Guys show also. It was closed earlier this year by the owner for not enough support from people visiting. So sad.

I went to the castle, found it completely unlike any tourist experience I'd ever had... but sadly, financial woes have beset the castle and it is now closed. According to a blog post at Arkansas Times, it is unlikely to reopen unless a new investor or owner surfaces... and how likely is that, now that it's just sitting up there with no employees, no advertising, and no income?It was amazing, educational, odd, and unique... but you missed it.

My husband and I took our son and grandson to visit the Ozark Medieval Fortress and although I did not check out the reviews before we purchased tickets, some are worth reading but most are very judgmental in my opinion, they seem to forget that back then it took longer to do just about everything and the whole idea for the castle is... to build it the way it would have been built way back then. I originally just purchased tickets for the tour and had noticed the "Wall Builders" option and will say the cost slowed my decision some but our son is an Medieval fan in so many ways and being he hardly ever asks for anything and had showed interest in the "Wall Builder" we decided to chance it and go for it. Well we are very pleased with our tour and our "Wall Builder" experience. I would recommend it to all who are interested in the past, present & future history....sure it may look like they are not progressing very quickly but come on guys they aren't using any tools or machinery unless it was used back then so its going to take much longer... If you decide to take the "Wall Builder" for a spin .....I'll give you a head's up here..... maybe we were naive or lost I don't know but we thought that it would be something like we would tell them what we wanted on stone and get some kind of map telling us were it should be etc....... NOT .... MUCH BETTER .....we went through tour with James and like the other reviews stated he is very informative and we learned so much and that place would be lost without him. After tour we got to check out the town and castle in the making WOW...we were taken to the wall for our stone and we learned that our son who we were getting this for got to actually carve his marking in the stone himself once they taught him how to carve into the stone he was on his way, he had an idea what he wanted and started carving.... it turned out really well....we thought that would be it.. that the masons would set stone but NOT... our son got to actually set it and he was just thrilled. The experience is what your buying here not the tour... We can't wait to go back over the years to watch the progress of this "HISTORY IN THE MAKING" this will be here for many many years.

The Ozark Medieval Fortress is the site of a real castle being built using Medieval methods. It began in 2009. It is scheduled to be finished in 2030. A costumed guide met us and took us on a tour to the castle construction site all the while telling us about the Medieval period. On the site we were able to talk with the stone masons and stone worker and watch them split and set large blocks of limestone by hand. We also spoke with a weaver in her open-air hut. She was so joyful sharing her craft. We learned about Medieval gardening from the woman tending the garden remnants (It was November and the roaming goats and sheep were eating the leftover plants.). There were also 2 rope-makers. A school group was visiting so we got to watch the staff's interactions with them. Every single person we spoke to was in costume, an artisan of their Medieval craft, extremely knowledgeable, and dedicated to making the site as realistically Medieval as possible. Be sure to talk with them or you will miss a great deal. The construction site there is rough terrain strewn with rock, so if one is unsteady on the feet or using a stroller, it would not be wise to go to down into it. It can be viewed from afar. The other dirt paths are easy hiking through a wooded area. There is a gift shop with Medieval items, books, and souvenirs. When we first approached the site we were a little uneasy that maybe the admission price was not worth it. The place is not fancy. But after spending 2-3 hours there, we felt we had seen something very unique. Don't let the first view fool you.

$18 each and then they would have charged $2 more each for tour. Should charge less til there is more to see, we were in and out in 30mins and that was walking slowly! There were 3 people working and the walls are only 4 feet high. Save your money and go in 2020 when more is done

Our initial reaction - not worth the money. There were VERY few people actually working. I realize it was October and a week day, but there were not many people working - two stonemasons, a blacksmith, a kid acting as rope maker, a tool maker, and a weaver. They were all very nice and answered questions, but there were lots of empty stations. The sheep were big pets. The stone mason was great to talk to and the castle itself will hopefully one day be amazing. The "hamster wheel" crane was cool. But by far the best part of the entire day was James the tour guide. I think I learned more about medieval hisory in one 45 minute tour than in any high school or college class I had. HE was extremely knowledgeable. Expensive. And I imagine it could be miserable if the weather were very hot or cold - fortunately for us it was a very pleasant day. The reality of the visit didn't quite live up to our expectations.

We were a little nervous after reading the previous reviews but we went in with open minds. We agree that there should be more people at each of the work stations but this did not detract us from seeing the true marvel that is being built. We were able to ask the other people there about things that are done at the non manned work stations and they were all able to answer our questions. We had a tour with James who was very, very informative. My husband actually bought two of the books he sells because he was so impressed. We look forward to coming back in future years and seeing the progress!

Having visited several european castle, I found this fascinating. There were about a dozen workers there involved in setting stone and associated crafts. In fact, they outnumbered the visitors. All were quick to stop and talk about what they were doing. We took a quick tour which explained a bit about the period and the evolution of the castle. While they dressed in a style that mimicked the 13th century, no one tried to do the hokey old english speech or ignoring the century they were in. It was a great way to spend an afternoon away from the glitz of Branson.

Like the other latest poster, this was my second visit. I looked SO forward to the return visit with great expectations, only to be completely let down. The place might as well have been deserted! Think I actually saw about 5 people working and the teenagers that were with us were bored in 20 mins.It is a real shame to see a project like this already failing! Hold off on your visit until the owners get their act together as the ticket price for a family will likely leave you feeling shafted…. At a minimum, call before you show up so that you can find out what huts will be manned for that day! Other than a castle wall being very very slowly built, on the day we were there, only two artisans were working or demonstrating anything. Save your money, it just isn’t any longer worth the door charge!!!I left the place feeling sad and frustrated!

My family & I visited the fortress last year & had a great time. My boys learned archery, got to break stones, make rope, talk to knights, talk to the bread maker, blacksmith...it was awesome! We talked about it all year & were so excited about coming back this year. Unfortunetly our expectations were not met, not even a little. There was no archery, no one breaking stones, no rope maker, no breadmaker, & no pottery maker. When I asked the lady I paid in the gift shop she told me the archery was a special event & there should have been someone at the other places. There may have been 5 people working including the tour guide & gift shop cashier. Three people for 10 stations is a joke. The knight & yarn maker were very nice & imformative though. I would have liked her to tell me there was no archery & there may not be anyone at a station especially since we spent 15 minutes talking about our trip last year. It was a complete waste of time not to mention the $59 for admission & the gas money we had to spend to get there. We will not be back anytime soon. If we remember it is still there in 19 years we may come to see the finished product.