#Inside abandoned castle plus

Neil Caplan, a Beacon resident, founded the organization-today, he’s one of several guides who lead regular tours of the island, and has a hand in planning the special events that take place there.

#Inside abandoned castle plus

Decades of decline, plus a huge fire in 1969, left the structure in ruins by the 1990s, when the Bannerman Castle Trust was established. Bannerman died in 1918, and a massive explosion damaged the edifice in 1920. (There’s also a smaller, less decorated building, which was used as an office and residence.)Ĭonstruction began in 1901, and was never quite finished. But once Bannerman arrived, he set about building a grand structure there, inspired by the design of Scottish and Moorish castles. Before he came along, the island had been largely uninhabited tall tales about it being haunted persisted and kept would-be settlers away. Bannerman, who was born in Scotland but raised in Brooklyn, accumulated and sold surplus military goods from a young age, and began his catalog business following the war.īannerman needed a place to store his cache of retail goods-which included weapons, uniforms, and gunpowder-and thus, the storehouse on Pollepel Island was born. In the decades following the Civil War, it was the center of entrepreneur Francis Bannerman’s northeastern retail empire. Though the structure may look like it was once a rich family’s enormous estate, its origins are actually a bit more humble. (Of note: Tours are not wheelchair accessible, unfortunately.) And while Pollepel Island and the castle itself are largely cut off from the public, they’re accessible for tours throughout summer and fall, and a fantastic reason to take a day trip upstate. This is Bannerman’s Castle, a 19th-century relic that has been slowly crumbling into its surrounding environs. Known as Pollepel Island, it measures just 6.5 acres and isn’t home to much: There’s just one structure, a decaying building that’s hidden amid the trees and other foliage that have overtaken the island.

Today, the ruins of Bannerman Castle are officially off-limits to the public, though guided hardhat tours are available through the Bannerman Castle Trust.If you’ve ever taken the Metro-North along the Hudson line, you’ve likely noticed a petite and desolate land mass in the middle of the Hudson River, just a few miles north of Cold Spring. In 2009, approximately thirty percent of the castle’s front wall collapsed. In 1969, a fire destroyed more of the building.

In 1920, a large ammunition explosion destroyed a portion of the complex. In 1918, Bannerman passed away. Misfortune befell the castle soon thereafter. The massive structure served as a surplus storage facility-the Bannermans owned millions of rounds of ammunition, having bought up mass quantities of military weaponry in the wake of the Civil and Spanish-American Wars. The eccentric Scot moved forward with his purchase, designing a Medieval castle that eschewed right angles. Whether he knew it or not, Pollepel possessed a sinister reputation Native Americans believed the island to be malevolent and avoided it at all costs at night. Scottish immigrant and army surplus businessman Francis Bannerman VI purchased Pollepel Island on New York’s Hudson River in November 1900.