Death Valley Academy Death Valley Academy Death Valley Academy, also known as Death Valley High Academy, is a public high school located in the town of Shoshone in Inyo County, California. It is part of the Death Valley Unified School District. It is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, most recently in April 2013. The school mascot is the Scorpions. In the 2012-2013 school year the academy had 16 students in grades 7-12, down from 38 in 2010. A typical graduating class may consist of three seniors. It is supported under California's "Necessary Small Schools" funding program, being the only
Death Valley National Park winter destination. Other facilities started off as private getaways but were later opened to the public. Most notable among these was Death Valley Ranch, better known as Scotty's Castle. This large ranch home built in the Spanish Revival style became a hotel in the late 1930s and, largely because of the fame of Death Valley Scotty, a tourist attraction. Death Valley Scotty, whose real name was Walter Scott, was a gold miner who pretended to be owner of "his castle", which he claimed to have built with profits from his gold mine. Neither claim was true, but the real owner,