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Castles in the United States

105 landmarks in the Castlemap atlas — every one mapped with a photo and its story, 100 with sourced founding dates, ranked by Wikipedia coverage and real readership.

The most famous castle in the United States is Fort Sumter, ranked #105 of 7,738 in the world — followed by Hearst Castle and Fort Ross.

The Castlemap atlas charts 8 castles, 89 fortresses, 4 palaces & châteaux and 4 ruins in the United States. They span more than 4 centuries — from La Fortaleza (founded 1533) to Fort Mose (1994). Every one is plotted with its photo and story on the interactive castle map of the United States.

Map of castles in the United States

The northernmost is Fort Wilkins, the southernmost Fort Frederik.

Planning a visit? Day-trip guides: Castles near Buffalo.

See them on the map →

When they were built

Of the 105 landmarks mapped in the United States, 100 carry a sourced founding date. Most were founded in the 19th century — 55 of them. 88 were built after 1700.

All 105 castles in the United States

Fort Sumter
Fortress · 19th century · #105 worldwide · #1 in the United States
Fort Sumter is an incomplete sea fort at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, where the battle that sparked the American Civil War took…
Hearst Castle
Castle · 20th century · #154 worldwide · #2 in the United States
Hearst Castle, known formally as La Cuesta Encantada, is a historic estate in San Simeon, located on the Central Coast of California.
Fort Ross
Fortress · 19th century · #174 worldwide · #3 in the United States
Fort Ross is a former Russian establishment on the west coast of North America in what is now Sonoma County, California, United States.
Alamo Mission
Fortress · 18th century · #188 worldwide · #4 in the United States
The Alamo is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Catholic missionaries in what is now San Antonio, Texas,…
ʻIolani Palace
Palace & château · 19th century · #338 worldwide · #5 in the United States
The ʻIolani Palace was the royal residence of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi beginning with Kamehameha III under the Kamehameha Dynasty and…
Fort Ticonderoga
Fortress · 18th century · #342 worldwide · #6 in the United States
Fort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in…
Fort Duquesne
Ruin · 18th century · #7 in the United States
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers.
Fort McHenry
Fortress · 18th century · #8 in the United States
Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland.
Boldt Castle
Castle · 20th century · #9 in the United States
Boldt Castle is a major landmark and tourist attraction in the Thousand Islands region of the U.S. state of New York.
Castle Clinton
Fortress · 19th century · #10 in the United States
Castle Clinton is a restored circular sandstone fort within Battery Park at the southern end of Manhattan in New York City, United States.
Fort William Henry
Fortress · 18th century · #11 in the United States
Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George, in the province of New York.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro
Castle · 16th century · #12 in the United States
Castillo San Felipe del Morro, most commonly known as El Morro, is a large fortress and citadel in the Old San Juan historic quarter of San Juan, the…
Fort Monroe
Fortress · 19th century · #13 in the United States
Fort Monroe is a former military installation in Hampton, Virginia, at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, United States.
La Fortaleza
Palace & château · 16th century · #14 in the United States
La Fortaleza, also known as the Palacio de Santa Catalina, is the official residence and workplace of the Governor of Puerto Rico.
Fort Detroit
Ruin · 18th century · #15 in the United States
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit was a French and later British fortification established in 1701 on the north side of the Detroit River…
Montezuma Castle
Ruin · 20th century · #16 in the United States
Montezuma Castle National Monument protects a well-preserved cliff dwelling located in Camp Verde, Arizona.
Fort Caroline
Fortress · 16th century · #17 in the United States
Fort Caroline was an attempted French colonial settlement in Florida, located on the banks of the St. Johns River in present-day Duval County.
Fort Amsterdam
Fortress · 17th century · #18 in the United States
Fort Amsterdam was a fortification on the southern tip of Manhattan Island at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers in what is now New York…
Fort Christina
Fortress · 17th century · #19 in the United States
Fort Christina, also called Fort Altena, was the first Swedish settlement in North America and the principal settlement of the New Sweden colony.
Fort Jefferson
Fortress · 19th century · #20 in the United States
Fort Jefferson is a former U.S. military coastal fortress in the Dry Tortugas National Park of Florida.
Fort Snelling
Fortress · 19th century · #21 in the United States
Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the…
Fort Dearborn
Ruin · 19th century · #22 in the United States
Fort Dearborn was a United States fort, first built in 1803 beside the Chicago River, in what is now Chicago, Illinois.
Fort Niagara
Fortress · 17th century · #23 in the United States
Fort Niagara, also known as Old Fort Niagara, is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America,…
Oheka Castle
Palace & château · 20th century · #24 in the United States
Oheka Castle, also known as the Otto Kahn Estate, is a hotel located on the North Shore of Long Island, in West Hills, New York, a hamlet in the town…
Castillo de San Marcos
Castle · 17th century · #25 in the United States
The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States; it is located on the western shore of Matanzas Bay in St.…
Fort Moultrie
Fortress · 18th century · #26 in the United States
Fort Moultrie is a series of fortifications on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, built to protect the city of Charleston, South Carolina.
Fort Pulaski National Monument
Fortress · 19th century · #27 in the United States
Fort Pulaski National Monument is located on Cockspur Island between Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia.
Russian Fort Elizabeth
Fortress · 19th century · #28 in the United States
Pāʻulaʻula State Historical Park is a National Historic Landmark just southeast of present-day Waimea on the island of Kauaʻi in Hawaiʻi.
Fort Vancouver
Fortress · 19th century · #29 in the United States
Fort Vancouver was an early 19th-century British fur trading post in the disputed region of Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest.
Fort Independence
Fortress · 17th century · #30 in the United States
Fort Independence is a granite bastion fort that provided harbor defenses for Boston, Massachusetts, located on Castle Island.
Fort Matanzas National Monument
Fortress · 20th century · #31 in the United States
Fort Matanzas National Monument is the site where the Spanish built a fort. It was designated a United States national monument on October 15, 1924.
Fort Sumner
Fortress · #32 in the United States
Fort Sumner was a military fort in New Mexico Territory charged with the internment of Navajo and Mescalero Apache populations from 1863 to 1868 at…
Fort Wingate
Fortress · 19th century · #33 in the United States
Fort Wingate was a military installation near Gallup, New Mexico, United States.
Castillo San Cristóbal
Castle · 17th century · #34 in the United States
Castillo San Cristóbal is a fortress in the Old San Juan historic quarter of San Juan, the capital municipality of Puerto Rico, known for being the…
Fort Clatsop
Fortress · 20th century · #35 in the United States
Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of…
Fort Phil Kearny
Fortress · 19th century · #36 in the United States
Fort Phil Kearny was an outpost of the United States Army that existed in the late 1860s in present-day northeastern Wyoming along the Bozeman Trail.
Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site
Fortress · 19th century · #37 in the United States
Bent's Old Fort is a historical fort located in Otero County in southeastern Colorado, United States.
Fort Pitt
Fortress · 18th century · #38 in the United States
Fort Pitt was a fort built by British forces between 1759 and 1761 during the French and Indian War at the confluence of the Monongahela and…
Washington Place
Palace & château · 19th century · #39 in the United States
Washington Place is a Greek Revival palace in the Hawaii Capital Historic District in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Fort Stanwix
Fortress · 18th century · #40 in the United States
Fort Stanwix was a colonial fort in present-day Rome, New York. Its construction commenced on August 26, 1758, under the direction of British General…
Fort Morgan
Fortress · 19th century · #41 in the United States
Fort Morgan is a historic masonry pentagonal bastion fort at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama, United States.
Fort Michilimackinac
Fortress · 18th century · #42 in the United States
Fort Michilimackinac was an 18th-century French, and later British, fort and trading post at the Straits of Mackinac; it was built on the northern…
Fort Brown
Fortress · 19th century · #43 in the United States
Fort Brown was a military post of the United States Army in Cameron County, Texas, during the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of…
Fort Mackinac
Fortress · 19th century · #44 in the United States
Fort Mackinac is a former British and American military outpost garrisoned from the late 18th century to the late 19th century in the city of…
Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park
Fortress · 19th century · #45 in the United States
The Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, also known simply as Fort Taylor, is a Florida State Park and National Historic Landmark centered on a…
Scotty's Castle
Castle · #46 in the United States
Scotty's Castle is a two-story Mission Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival style villa located in the Grapevine Mountains of northern Death Valley…
Fort Point, San Francisco
Fortress · 19th century · #47 in the United States
Fort Point, known historically as the Castillo de San Joaquín is a masonry seacoast fortification located on the southern side of the Golden Gate at…
Fort Mandan
Fortress · 19th century · #48 in the United States
Fort Mandan was the name of the encampment which the Lewis and Clark Expedition built for wintering over in 1804–1805.
Fort Bridger
Fortress · 20th century · #49 in the United States
Fort Bridger was originally a 19th-century fur trading outpost established in 1842, on Blacks Fork of the Green River, in what is now Uinta County,…
Fort Mason
Fortress · 20th century · #50 in the United States
Fort Mason, in San Francisco, California is a former United States Army post located in the northern Marina District, alongside San Francisco Bay.
Fort Mose
Fortress · 20th century · #51 in the United States
Fort Mose is a former Spanish fort in St. Augustine, Florida. In 1738, the governor of Spanish Florida, Manuel de Montiano, had the fort established…
Sutter's Fort
Fortress · 19th century · #52 in the United States
Sutter's Fort was a 19th-century agricultural and trade colony in the Mexican Alta California province.
Fort Robinson
Fortress · #53 in the United States
Fort Robinson is a former U.S. Army fort and now a major feature of Fort Robinson State Park, a 22,000-acre public recreation and historic…
Fort Le Boeuf
Fortress · 18th century · #54 in the United States
Fort Le Bœuf was a fort established by the French during 1753 on a fork of French Creek, in present-day Waterford, in northwest Pennsylvania.
Fort Washington
Fortress · #55 in the United States
Fort Washington was a fortified position near the north end of Manhattan Island, at the island's highest point, within the modern-day neighborhood of…
Fort Christian
Fortress · 17th century · #56 in the United States
Fort Christian is a Dano-Norwegian-built fort in Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Fort Stevens
Fortress · 19th century · #57 in the United States
Fort Stevens was an American military installation that guarded the mouth of the Columbia River in the state of Oregon.
Fort Crown Point
Fortress · 18th century · #58 in the United States
Fort Crown Point was built by the combined efforts of British and Colonial troops from New York and the New England Colonies in 1759 at a narrows on…
Castle Williams
Fortress · 19th century · #59 in the United States
Castle Williams is a circular fortification of red sandstone on the northwest point of Governors Island, part of a system of forts designed and…
Fort Kearny
Fortress · 19th century · #60 in the United States
Fort Kearny was a historic outpost of the United States Army founded in 1848 in the Western United States during the middle and late 19th century.
Fort Pickens
Fortress · 19th century · #61 in the United States
Fort Warren
Fortress · 19th century · #62 in the United States
Fort Laramie
Fortress · 19th century · #63 in the United States
Fort Fisher
Fortress · 19th century · #64 in the United States
Fort Hays
Fortress · 19th century · #65 in the United States
Fort Mifflin
Fortress · 18th century · #66 in the United States
Fort Oswego
Fortress · 18th century · #67 in the United States
Los Adaes
Castle · 18th century · #68 in the United States
Fort Hall
Fortress · 19th century · #69 in the United States
Fort Knox, Maine
Fortress · 19th century · #70 in the United States
Fort Stanton
Fortress · 19th century · #71 in the United States
Castle Pinckney
Castle · 18th century · #72 in the United States
Fort Negley
Fortress · #73 in the United States
Fort Barrancas
Fortress · 18th century · #74 in the United States
Fort Saint-Frédéric
Fortress · 18th century · #75 in the United States
Fort Abercrombie
Fortress · 19th century · #76 in the United States
Fort Hancock
Fortress · 19th century · #77 in the United States
Fort St. Joseph (Niles, Michigan)
Fortress · 17th century · #78 in the United States
Cove Fort
Fortress · 19th century · #79 in the United States
Fort Rice
Fortress · 19th century · #80 in the United States
Fort James Jackson
Fortress · 19th century · #81 in the United States
Fort Boise
Fortress · 19th century · #82 in the United States
Fort Frederik
Fortress · 18th century · #83 in the United States
Fort Gibson
Fortress · 19th century · #84 in the United States
Fort McClary
Fortress · 19th century · #85 in the United States
Fort Saint Louis
Fortress · 17th century · #86 in the United States
Fort Reno
Fortress · 19th century · #87 in the United States
Fort Delaware
Fortress · 19th century · #88 in the United States
Fort Loudoun
Fortress · 18th century · #89 in the United States
Fort Keogh
Fortress · 19th century · #90 in the United States
Fort Nez Percés
Fortress · 19th century · #91 in the United States
Fort Charlotte (Mobile)
Fortress · 18th century · #92 in the United States
Fort Wayne, Detroit
Fortress · 19th century · #93 in the United States
Fort Jesup
Fortress · 19th century · #94 in the United States
Fort C. F. Smith
Fortress · 19th century · #95 in the United States
Fort Washakie
Fortress · 19th century · #96 in the United States
Fort Klamath
Fortress · 19th century · #97 in the United States
Fort Armstrong
Fortress · 19th century · #98 in the United States
Fort Wilkins
Fortress · 20th century · #99 in the United States
Vieques Fort
Fortress · 19th century · #100 in the United States
Fort Pitt Blockhouse
Fortress · 18th century · #101 in the United States
Cranston Street Armory
Fortress · 20th century · #102 in the United States
Fort Vasquez
Fortress · 19th century · #103 in the United States
State Armory (Springfield, Massachusetts)
Fortress · 19th century · #104 in the United States
Lynn Armory
Fortress · 19th century · #105 in the United States

Frequently asked questions

How many castles are in the United States?

The Castlemap atlas maps 105 landmarks (8 castles · 89 fortresses · 4 palaces & châteaux · 4 ruins) in the United States — a curated selection of well-documented landmarks from Wikidata, not a count of every fortification ever built.

What is the most famous castle in the United States?

Fort Sumter, ranked #105 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's fame ranking, founded in the 19th century.

What is the oldest castle in the United States?

The oldest dated landmark in the atlas in the United States is La Fortaleza, founded 1533. Earlier structures may have existed — this is the oldest with a documented founding year.

Which castles in the United States are UNESCO World Heritage Sites?

Per Wikidata, 3 of the mapped landmarks hold a UNESCO World Heritage designation — inscribed in their own right or as part of an inscribed ensemble: Alamo Mission, Castillo San Felipe del Morro, Castillo San Cristóbal.

How many castles are there in the United States?