Abandoned castle on a river in us8/3/2023 ![]() ![]() While there, you’re also encouraged to explore the gardens, which are maintained by volunteers and feature all manner of lovely native plants. Guides give a brief history of the island and circulate photos of Bannerman’s old storehouse before bringing visitors to the old residence, which recently reopened after an extensive renovation. (The structure itself is not stable enough to allow tourgoers inside, alas.) the castle went into steep decline and it was effectively abandoned by the. (Note for the thrifty: There’s also a Metro-North package that bundles the price of a tour with a train ticket to Beacon or Newburgh.) Visitors are whisked to Pollepel via ferry from either Beacon or Newburgh, which deposits them at the bottom of a long staircase leading to a bluff overlooking the castle. Barnard Castle has sat on a dramatic site above the river Tees since the late. Touring the island is an anachronistic experience and well worth the price of admission, which is $35 for adults and $30 for kids. 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. 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. Hanging Rock, in Emory, is another abandoned Pony Express Station.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. The active though small community soon boasted a railroad depot, section house for railroad workers, gas station, store, water windmill, and schoolhouse. Attracted by the hope of trading with travelers through the canyon, a number of families homesteaded the land and began a town. Named for the surrounding castle-like sandstone cliffs, Castle Rock was a Pony Express and stage station. ![]() Hundreds of workers lived on the treeless divide at the head of Echo Canyon during the railroad construction of 18. Wahsatch is an abandoned railroad division point for crew and engine changes. Eight years later the transcontinental railroad reached the Weber Canyon on its way to a meeting with the Central Pacific on Promontory Point near the Great Salt Lake. It was abandoned when the transcontinental telegraph was finished in the fall of 1861. The cost for a 10 word message from Salt Lake City to New York City was $5 (equivalent to $85 today). Pony Express riders carried the mail on the Mormon Trail down Echo Canyon to Echo, Henefer, and Salt Lake City for 18 months starting in 1860. Luckily, they were never needed, but the stone relics can still be seen. Bannerman Castle Trust offers a guided 1.5-hour walking tour of the island, where visitors will see the castle’s ruins and gardens and will learn about the history of the Bannermans. ![]() A Mormon militia dammed the creek with a rock wall at the Narrows, and built other fortifications to deter the soldiers. I began to look for a safer way to learn more about this abandoned castle. Army was sent to Utah to quell the Mormon Rebellion and enforce laws prohibiting polygamy. My nerve rushed away like a Hudson River tide. ![]()
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