Route 1 - Big Sur Coast Highway
Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument, CA

The Enchanted Hill

In the Santa Lucia Mountains of California on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Ocean, craftsmen labored nearly 28 years to create a magnificent estate of 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways. Rooms were furnished with a magnificent collection of Spanish and Italian antiques and art. Called La Cuesta Encantada (The Enchanted Hill), it is better known as Hearst Castle, once the home of newspaper publisher, art collector, and builder William Randolph Hearst.

La Casa Grande

The main house itself, "La Casa Grande," is a grand setting for Hearst's collection of European antiques and art pieces. It was also a most fitting site for hosting the many influential guests who stayed at Hearst's 250,000-acre San Simeon ranch. Guests included President Calvin Coolidge, Winston Churchill, George Bernard Shaw, Charles Lindbergh, Charlie Chaplin, and a diverse array of luminaries from the show business and publishing industries.

From Campsite to Castle

Hearst Castle, high above the ocean at San Simeon, was the creation of two extraordinary individuals, William Randolph Hearst and architect Julia Morgan. Their collaboration, which began in 1919 and continued for nearly 30 years, transformed a rugged hilltop campsite into the world-famous Hearst Castle -- a magnificent 115-room main house plus guesthouses, pools, and 8 acres of cultivated gardens.