Undeterred, Bannerman purchased the island for $1600 (about $50,000 today). When Bannerman spotted Pollepel Island and decided it was the perfect home for his new storage facility, Helen, citing the island’s rocky terrain, replied, “I think you’re crazy.” Bannerman’s Island Arsenal in the 1940s. In 1900, millions of people traveled upstate either by boat or passenger train along the Hudson, and Bannerman and his wife, Helen Boyce (whom he married in 1872), were two of them. According to our tour guide, Pat, the city wasn’t too thrilled with Bannerman’s new acquisition, telling him: “Don’t even think about bringing this stuff within city limits.” A sketch on scrap paper He was fond of saying that “Bannerman’s could outfit an army in a week-10,000 rifles, 10,000 saddles no problem,” and had the inventory to prove it.Īfter the Spanish-American War, Bannerman purchased 90 percent of the Spanish arms, including 30 million rounds of live ammunition. In 1897, he opened a seven-story military surplus store on Broadway in New York City the bottom floors were for his retail business and the top floor housed a museum. | Photo: Alexandra CharitanĪlthough Bannerman was a shrewd businessman, he was really a collector at heart. Bannerman would eventually break off from his father and open a competing store nearby, but the father admired Bannerman’s business sense, acknowledging that competition was good for both businesses. | Photo: Bannerman Castle Trustįour years later, Bannerman’s father-who had been wounded in battle-joined his son’s burgeoning business. Visitors approaching from the north can still make out the words “Bannerman’s Island Arsenal” cast in concrete on one of the castle’s remaining walls.įrancis Bannerman VI. In fact, it was built for a rather banal purpose: as a storage facility for a New York City-based military surplus business. Despite its fantastical appearance and isolated location, no pirates or princesses were involved in its construction.
The origins of this fairytale-like structure are surprisingly humble. Visitors aren’t allowed to get too close to the castle now for safety reasons, but we aren’t missing out on much-even when the castle was complete, the inside was downright boring compared to its flashy exterior.
#Airsoft abandoned castle movie#
The Trust gives weekend tours, hosts movie nights, and other events on the island from May through October.Īfter finally docking, we walk up 72 steps to the island’s original walkway, and the castle ruins rise stoically to our left.
Since 1994, nonprofit Bannerman Castle Trust has worked in conjunction with the Parks Department to maintain the castle. New York State bought the island in 1967 and it currently belongs to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation. People scramble to take photos and our boat slows down as we approach, stopping entirely for 20 minutes as we wait for kayakers to paddle away from the dock (in 2015, a man died when his kayak overturned near the island and his fiancée pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide). The views of both sides of the Hudson are beautiful but mostly uneventful-until I spot the remains of Bannerman’s Castle rising like a decorative, concrete Phoenix from the lush vegetation on its island home. The 30-minute boat ride to Pollepel-often referred to as Bannerman’s Island-is a blissful respite from the afternoon heat. Our destination is not so much the island itself-which is rocky and wild-but a site that is familiar to anyone who has ridden the Metro North’s Hudson line, hiked a trail in the Hudson Highlands, or kayaked in the brackish waters of the Hudson: Bannerman’s Castle. In less than two hours, I’m boarding a small boat filled to capacity with 40 other people headed to Pollepel Island, located 1,000 feet from the eastern bank of the Hudson River. I escape the hot and humid city early on a Sunday morning in August and hop on a Metro North train bound for Beacon, New York. City dwellers have always found solace just north of New York in the Hudson River Valley. It’s no mystery why people flock to water when temperatures soar. The city of asphalt and glass towers is a greenhouse without the green skyscrapers suffocate, sidewalks sizzle, and the subway feels (and smells) like a dog’s mouth. No one writes love letters about August in New York City.
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