With so much rich history, it’s no surprise that Manresa Castle might have more than a few “permanent” residents…













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History
Charles Eisenbeis, who immigrated from Prussia, settled in Port Townsend in 1858. A prominent business man and entrepreneur, Charles became the town’s first mayor – and held the position for three terms.
In 1892, Charles and his wife, Kate, built Manresa Castle (then known as Eisenbeis Castle) to accommodate their ever growing family. The two had four children of their own in addition to the four children Charles had had in a previous marriage. A.S. Whiteway was the designer and builder of Eisenbeis Castle; a three story, thirty room masterpiece that had twelve inch thick walls. Throughout, it had hand-crafted woodwork and oak paneling and three main coal-burning fireplaces. Eisenbeis Castle’s turrets and towers are very European, giving it the look that Charles was wanting – a tribute to his home country, Prussia. The castle not only provided space for his large family, but it was also the biggest mansion in Port Townsend.
Kate remarried soon after Charles had died in 1902 and moved away from Port Townsend, leaving only a caretaker to watch over the castle. After 20 years, a Seattle lawyer bought Eisenbeis Castle hoping to turn it into a vacation destination for nuns who were teaching in the Seattle area schools. Likely because of cost and location, the idea was scrapped, and the castle was sold a couple of years later to The Society of Jesus as a place to teach their students who were studying to be priests. The Castle was renamed Manresa Hall by the Society to honor their founder, Saint Ignatius Loyola. In 1968, the castle was converted into a hotel and was renamed the Manresa Castle.
Hauntings & Lore
Legend has it, a young English woman named Kate stayed at Manresa Castle in the early 1920s to wait for her beloved to return from the sea. She could have been a relative of the lone caretaker left to watch after the Castle after Kate had left. Stories have said that disaster struck when her lover’s ship sunk, and it was feared that all on board had perished. Being overwhelmingly distraught, she jumped out of the window in room 306, not willing to live without him. However, it was later learned that he had actually survived and had been rescued up by a passing ship.
Another haunted tale of the castle is of a wayward student of the Jesuits who was in training to be a priest. He was accused of having scandalous visits with one of the nuns who lived in town. The scorn, punishment, and threat of expulsion that came when he was caught led him to become distressed and unhinged. Because of this, he was said to have hung himself in the attic above room 302. There is no record of this suicide, but if it did happen, it would have been something that would have possibly been kept quiet as it would be a very unsightly blemish on the reputation of the Jesuit College of Manresa Hall.
Location
651 Cleveland St, Port Townsend, WA 98368, USA