National Park Service (NPS) and DVNHA Grant: Documenting Scotty’s Castle Rehabilitation through Web Videos

During the flood, mud and debris up to four feet thick filled two buildings, patios and courtyards. Eight miles of roadway were washed out, as well as water, power, telephone, and internet lines. The waste water treatment system was destroyed, and heating, cooling, and fire sprinkler systems were severely damaged. The site is now closed to the public, and park managers have embarked on a course of action intended to repair all the damage and reopen the site in 2019.

Operating and maintaining a historic this historic complex is costly and presents many logistical challenges. DVNHA has had a long history of supporting the operation and maintenance of Scottyâ¿¿s Castle and its unique collection of museum objects. Each year, DVNHA hosts a series of organ concerts in the music room at Scottyâ¿¿s Castle as a benefit. Proceeds from concerts fund annual maintenance and repair of the 121-pipe Welte theater organ (the organ typically used as accompaniment during the silent film era) as well as a team of six interns that conduct an annual cleaning under the direction of the park curator. DVHNA typically funds four interns that support operation of Scottyâ¿¿s Castle. Additionally, DVNHA raises funds for special curatorial projects such as the repair and cleaning of the hand-made leather draperies and other textiles.

Although Scottyâ¿¿s Castle has now been closed for over a year, there continues to be keen public interest. Park staff field calls and questions about Scottyâ¿¿s Castle daily, and have found it difficult to convey the enormity of the flood and the process of rebuilding.

The park has found that utilizing video shorts is a highly effective method for communicating these unimaginable events and activities. Soon after the flood, DVNHA sponsored the development of two video shorts describing the flood and its immediate aftermath, posted on YouTube with links from the parks official website and facebook. Park managers constantly refer stakeholders to these videos to help them gain an understanding of the flood, and these videos have been viewed over 50,000 times.

NPS and DVNHA would like to continue to engage and inform visitors, stakeholders, and potential donors of the progress on the Scottyâ¿¿s Castle renovation through a series of additional video shorts. Proposed topics include: moving the Scottyâ¿¿s Castle museum collection; water for the Castle complex and utility repairs; building repairs and historic preservation; treatment of the museum collection in storage; cultural landscape repair and preservation; returning the museum collection to the site; the grand reopening.