Pipe Spring National Monument - Virtual Tour - Winsor Castle (U.S. National Park Service)

To begin your tour, choose a room name from the top of the page or on the list to the left. The Winsor Castle tour will take between ten and fifteen minutes to complete. Just press the "continue" or "back" arrows at the bottom of each page to navigate between pages. You may also click on the names to the left to go directly to a room.

In 1870, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons) began construction of a fortified ranch house at Pipe Spring. The ranch house/fort was designed as both a headquarters for a tithing cattle ranch and as protection from Indian attacks. The Mormon settlers did not particularly fear the Paiute tribe, which at that time inhabited much of the Arizona Strip, but the Navajo, who would cross the Colorado River at low water and raid both the Paiutes and the settlers.

The fortified ranch house was constructed directly over Pipe Spring. The Mormons were only the latest group to be drawn to Pipe Spring, which had attracted people for centuries. The Ancient Puebloans (Anasazi) inhabited the area from approximately 1 A.D. to 1200 A.D. The Paiute tribe followed the Anasazi, and had lived in the Pipe Spring region for nearly three centuries by the time the European settlers began moving into this area.

Click to begin tour in the courtyard