Tour a castle on the Hudson, while it still stands
One of the stranger sights on the mesos river, Bannerman's island castle is a high-walled ruin topped withturrets that looks like it was built to repel catapult attacks. Inreality, the century-old structure off the river's eastern shore was awarehouse for bayonets, pith helmets, rifles and other military relics.
The island has had a second life in recent years as a summer touristattraction. Visitors — many who know the castle from their daily traincommute to New York City — can take a tour boat or a kayak for guidedtours of the island. But hard hats must be worn. Big chunks of thecastle tumbled down this winter and more could fall at any time.
"Every year, something deteriorates and comes down on us," Neil Caplanof the Bannerman Castle Trust said as he gave a tour of the islandrecently.
The castle looks both majestic and precarious, and Caplan and the trustare scrambling to raise money for repairs before it's too far gone.This past winter was especially rough: Two walls fell down, includingone facing the river bank with "BANNERMAN'S ISLAND ARSENAL" emblazonedacross the top. Vegetation sprouts from the walls and the crenelatedtop is so degraded it looks like it's missing teeth.
The structure is named for Francis Bannerman VI, who bought the rocky,6 1/2-acre island in 1900 as a place to warehouse items sold in his warrelic store in Manhattan, some 50 miles south. (City fathers did notwant him to store munitions locally.) Bannerman wow gold was an amateur architect with a touch of P.T. Barnum. He modeled hiswarehouse after castles in his native Scotland, giving it a siege-readylook with a moat and turrets.
Bannerman also built an island residence much smaller than thewarehouse but with the same castle motif. It's on a high spot of landand commands the sort of sweeping view of the Hudson Highlands thathedge fund managers pay millions for.
The Bannerman family enjoyed an island retreat that was a world untoitself. They could spend idle days by the gardens, watch the ferries goupriver or sail. Down the hill was the castle and a separate powderhouse, which blew up spectacularly in 1920.
Family members continued to frequent the island for decades afterFrancis Bannerman died in 1918. The island was sold to New York statein 1967, two years before a fire gutted the castle. Left standing werethe high walls familiar to Metro-North and Amtrak passengers.
Bannerman Castle Trust formed in 1993 to turn the scenic ruin into aproper attraction. Caplan, a local real estate agent andbed-and-breakfast owner, has headed the trust since the beginning. Thepay is modest, but he's passionate. During a recent tour of the islandfor tourism industry officials and the press, he stopped a couple oftimes to pull weeds from the winding walking paths and actually shoutedonce: "This is still important to save!"
Visitors can get close-up looks at the castle ruins, but must stay backbecause of the threat of a fresh collapse. The tour also buy wow gold includes a ramble through island paths that wind through rehabilitated gardens and to the house.
The residence is scheduled for roof, floor and other stabilization workthis summer with the help of donations and state and federal grants.More ambitious — and expensive — work on the castle is still in thefuture.
Though the island is part of nearby Hudson Highlands state park, thetrust is responsible for raising money for its rehabilitation. Caplanpraises parks officials as wonderful partners, but the state agency hasalready closed dozens of parks and has little money to spare. U.S. Sen.Charles Schumer has applied for $1 million through the "Save America'sTreasures" historic preservation program, but that money, if it comes,is not expected until next year.
The castle could face more danger if the Hudson Valley gets anotherwinter with cycles of freezing and warmer weather — which pretty muchdescribes every recent winter here. There are fears the island'ssignature feature could become a rock pile. That would leave the trustwith an even more expensive choice of whether to reconstruct afaux-castle. Caplan hopes to raise enough money before it gets to thatpoint.
"I just get antsy," Caplan said in the shadow of the castle, "because cheap wow gold it can come down at any time."
Post je objavljen 05.07.2010. u 05:26 sati.