William Warden, a partner of Henry Fagler and John D. Rockefeller, built his winter home in the up-and-coming neighborhood of Abbott Tract in 1887.

Abbott Tract was the first area developed outside of colonial St. Augustine. At the time, the building was the largest private residence of Moorish revival and poured concrete, an architectural style made popular in the Flagler Era.

The house included stables, a greenhouse, and tennis courts. It cost upwards of $50,000.

After Warden died in 1895, Castle Warden continued to be a family home until the early 20th century. Mr. and Mrs. J.L. Ketterlinus lived in the home and donated land down the road for a local school.

It lay vacant for several years until Norman Baskin and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, the author of The Yearling, bought the home. They opened the Castle Warden Hotel in 1941.

In April 1944, a fire burned the third and fourth floors of the hotel, killing Ruth Pickering and Betty Richardson, both locals.

Local lore says that they haunt the upper floors of the building.

The hotel changed hands in 1946 and continued to be a hotel until 1951 when it opened as the original Ripley's Believe It or Not. Today, Ripley's Believe or Not still resides in the rebuilding drawing many tourists, like the hotel it was before.

Narrative written by University of West Florida Public History student, Kelcie Lloyd.