Porter Media Group and Imagination Theater, co-producers of a new "Dracula" stage spectacle debuting in 2010, spent a weekend in April filming at Preston Castle. The Travel Channel also filmed an entire episode of "Ghost Adventures" there in early March. Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch Preston Castle is drawing new movie and television fame. Photo by: Scott Thomas Anderson Mike Danen, a professional photographer from Santa Cruz, spent the first-ever Preston Castle Photographer's Day on April 11 shooting models inside Ione's historic landmark. Two models pose for Danen in period garbs on the building's second floor. Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch A model poses for Danen and other photographers in the hallway to the castle's infirmary. Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch More than 100 professional and amateur photographers bought tickets for Photographer's Day, which ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and saw great spring weather for outdoor shooting. Photo by: Scott Thomas Anderson

Preston Castle's fame is reaching new levels.

For as long as young people in Ione can remember, they've stopped and looked up at Preston Castle to see a lonely megalith of history decaying on the hill. But recently, this ominous structure has been filled with life again: Television and movie crews have wheeled their cameras around its elaborate stone archways, while professional models in ballroom gowns and wedding dresses have lingered in its rotted doorways and struck their poses in its abandoned halls.

On April 11, the Preston Castle Foundation held its first-ever Photographer's Day, which offered professional and amateur photographers a chance to shoot one of the only examples of Richardsonian-Romanesque architecture still standing on the West Coast.

The event drew some of California's top photo masters and a number of professional models. Kelly Freitas, a PCF board member, felt the day's activities made for an impressive addition to her group's fund-raising repertoire, which includes tours, music concerts, an annual crab feed and an annual golf tournament.

"I think this new event is unique because we've always had interest from photographers who see the castle on tours and wish they had the time and space for an actual photo shoot," Freitas said. "This offers them a chance to really capture the beauty of the castle."

For photographer Harvey Wilson of Pioneer, the morning's gorgeous spring weather was the icing on the cake. "I've been wanting to shoot here for 12 years," said Wilson, who describes himself as a photo hobbyist. "But this is the first opportunity I've had. It's been fantastic. These grounds have great photo opportunities for framing different textures and amazing architecture."

Professional photographer Justin Mina of Roseville was also satisfied with the shots he was getting as the day warmed up. "This location is great," Mina remarked, honing his lens on a female model, who was dressed in a hip get-up of post-modern Gothic attire, as she leaned back across the castle's veranda. "The place has a look that's really old and mysterious."

Another photographer working with a professional model was Mike Danen of Santa Cruz. "This castle is unbelievable for photography," he said. "It has incredible light and unique interior textures. I also think it's really nice to capture the juxtaposition between a beautiful girl and a big, crumbling building."

Preston's "crumbling" romance is the one element of the its famous ambiance - its haunting presence and strange vibrations - that the PCF actually wants to make into a fading memory.

For the past several years, the organization has been tirelessly fund-raising to restore Preston Castle to something beyond its original glory, thus presenting the grand old monument with a second life. The PCF is currently working on that mission with Garavalgia Architecture, a firm from San Francisco with 20 years experience in rehabilitating national historic treasures. While the sums needed for a full restoration of the castle are still daunting, the PCF's stellar record for generating money - which amounted to $33,000 in contributions in 2005, $41,000 in 2006, $78,000 in 2007 and $170,000 in unreconciled gross income in 2008 - has gained the respect and support of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Jerry Sherman, a former Ione mayor and PCF board member, is optimistic that 2009 will be the best year yet. "The tours, especially, have been going great," Sherman remarked the morning of the photography shoot. "They seem to get more and more popular with the public."

In just four hours, the new Photographer's Day added $2,000 to the PCF's cause, with all 100 tickets for the event selling out at $20 apiece. The PCF is now planning an evening time photo event for May 23 from 3 to 9 p.m.

Another way the PCF has boosted the 2009 coffers is by attracting the attention of Hollywood and cable television. On March 10, the Travel Channel filmed an entire episode of its "Ghost Adventures" in and outside of Preston Castle. TV host and Executive Producer Zak Bagans interviewed members of the PCF about reports of paranormal activity at the former prison school for troubled boys, as well as witnesses and journalists who spoke about a murder that happened on the castle grounds in 1950.

At the end of March, Caroline Taylor, a film studies major at University of the Pacific, paid a loving homage to her hometown of Ione by shooting her film project "Engagement to Murder" at Preston Castle and other Ione landmarks. Taylor cast Argonaut High School student Stormy Sergent as her star in the project, while allowing a host of Ione personalities to appear as extras. The film is set to debut at Clark's Corner in Ione on May 10 at 7 p.m., following the closing of Ione Homecoming.

On April 7 and 8, a much bigger film crew descended on the castle, as Co-producers Porter Media Group and Imagination Theater shot scenes for the upcoming play, "Dracula," which will open in Sacramento Feb. 26, 2010. The production will attempt to seamlessly weave its video footage of Preston Castle into the live stage performance. As with the Travel Channel's filming adventure, the PCF was able to collect a location fee from the "Dracula" production that will go toward ensuring that a timeless landmark, which has cast its haunting shadow over Ione for more than 120 years, will continue down the road to recovery.