4/12/2023 0 Comments Abandoned castle new york![]() At a time when Hudson River Mansions were designed by firms such as McKim, Mead and White and Carrere and Hastings, a design as amateur as Bannerman's surely led many of his neighbors to look at him as something of an eccentric. Thom Johnson doesn't hesitate to point out that there isn't a single right-angle anywhere on the island. All of these structures were designed by Francis Bannerman himself.īANNERMAN was not a licensed architect, and the most official plans are in some cases sketches he made on the backs of envelopes. THE BUILDINGS on the island include a lodge for visitors and resident-employees, a smallish residence for the Bannermans, and of course, the castle, which actually was simply a warehouse for Bannerman's vast stock of munitions. After the ordeal of getting our canoe over the old footbridge, we launched and paddled the one thousand feet to Pollepel Island. WE MET just after 6:00 near the Break Neck Ridge whistle-stop on the Hudson's east shore. For me those circumstances came together with a little help from Rob Yasinsac and his friends Jim Logan and Thom Johnson of the Bannerman's Castle Trust, an organization dedicated to stabilizing the ruins for preservation as an exterior structure. Once on the island, snakes, deer ticks, an unbelievable amount of poison-ivy, regular patrols by the New York State Parks Police and the Putnam County Sheriff and now security cameras complicate matters further.īUT SOMETIMES, circumstances can come together and make a trip to Bannerman's possible. Obviously, one needs a boat (except on the rare occasions when the river is covered with ice). GETTING TO BANNERMAN'S is a complicated affair. ![]() Finally on April 1, 1999, that day finally came. (More on the island's history can be found at this site, and this one, and by searching the Internet.) For years it had been my goal to visit the island. THIS IS ONLY the tip of the iceberg that is Bannerman's history. In 1969, a "mysterious" fire - whose light could reportedly be seen from as far as 25 miles away- reduced the castle to its present condition. By the 1960's the place was abandoned, and was eventually acquired by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. THE CASTLE was built in 1908 by Francis Bannerman to house his private arsenal. The setting could not be more appropriate. To the east stands Break Neck Ridge, while on the Hudson's western shore Storm King Mountain looms over the Island. THE WATERS surrounding the island are rumored subject to swift currents which it is said can make it very difficult to access Bannerman's even by boat. In recent years, limited public access has been allowed through the Bannerman's Castle Trust. The island is owned by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and is closed to the public. Bannerman's is the perfect ruin, right down to its location- on Pollepel (or Polopel) Island, which is fabled for eerie happenings going back to the 1600's. It is widely known and often written about. ![]() BANNERMAN'S CASTLE is without a doubt the Hudson Valley's most renowned ruin. ![]()
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