I've traveled along the Hudson River many a time on an Amtrak train while passing from Albany, NY to New York, NY, however it wasn't until today that by chance I poked my head up out of the magazine I was reading and caught a glimpse of the ruins of a fantastic structure standing out on a small island just off the river's east coast. In awe of this castle-like structure which might as well have been ripped out of a page of a Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, I gaped out the window as it speedily passed away, out of site in the setting sun which now barely illuminated the valley. My love of New York State, its vast and important history, and of medieval adventures and stories inspired me to do a little research to find out what this building was, how it came to be, and why now it was largely in a state of mystery and decay.
The structure's name is Bannerman Castle named after its architect and creator, Francis Bannerman VI (1851-1918) and is situated on Pollepel Island, ~50 mi north of New York City near Cold Spring, NY. Francis was an army surplus provider and began construction of this fortress in 1901 in order to house the stores of surpluses he purchased after the Spanish-American war. Before finishing the site, he passed away in 1918 and construction was halted. By 1969, after years of tourists coming to the island to see the castle, a series of fires and explosions had rocked the island and its main attraction to the point of closure by New York State due to safety purposes. It's owned today by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreations, and Historic Preservations and is officially closed to the public (although with a handy kayak or motor boat one can give oneself an impromptu self-guided tour as long as one stays out of plain site of any law enforcement personnel who may be passing near by).
Bannerman Castle is the last remaining building in New York State that can officially be called a "castle" and is easily seen from the Metro North and Amtrak train lines running between New York, NY and Poughkeepsie, NY. It has a spooky, broken appearance now due to its years of neglect, natural wear and tear, and the fires et al that wreaked havoc on the edifice in the mid 20th century. When I saw it crawl around the corner of the river bend as the train was advancing along its steely course towards the Big Apple, my jaw dropped in disbelief because I've only ever seen a site like this one while traveling throughout Europe. Memories of my trip to the Loire river valley in southern France sprang to mind and I wondered what fantastic things must have happened there when it was functioning. I was saddened to find out that the building was only ever a storage facility for the armaments of war and that in fact it was never truly finished at all. I was partially consoled, however, when I discovered that at the very least the structure as it stands (barely) today has inspired several stories by fellow writers and if not in reality, at least in another world of fantasy and illusion this castle lives a much different life than it has here and a much different life than its creator originally intended.
Cheers from New York City!
M@
(Sources: Pollepel Island - Wikipedia, as seen on 10-Mar-08, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bannerman's_Castle and Eyebeam's reBlog, post dated 13-Nov-07, http://www.eyebeam.org/.../rebloggers/mandiberg.html. Images source from Bannerman Castle Trust, as seen on 10-Mar-08, http://www.bannermancastle.org/photogallery.htm)
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