Pollepel Island (Island week 2)
Friday, 31st August 2007 by James Turnbull
(It's Island Week 2 here at GSS, which means we'll mostly be posting about Islands. For about a week.)
Pollepel Island is located in the Hudson River, New York. A characterless lump of rock, it would have been completely uninteresting had Francis Bannerman not decided to build a castle on the island, and then fill it with weapons...
This was in the late 1800s and Bannerman, a Scottish immigrant, and the world's largest buyer of surplus military equipment was doing a roaring trade in munitions. When he purchased most of the captured goods from the Spanish American war he needed somewhere to store it all, preferably somewhere where large amounts of gunpowder would be safe.
So he purchased Pollepel Island and set about building an imitation Scottish castle of his own design, complete with lookout turrets and a moat. The buildings took 17 years to complete and feature giant concrete text across the side which reads "Bannerman's Island Arsenal".
Years later, the family sold the island back to New York State who for a short time operated tours around the castle. Although all the munitions had been removed, in 1969 a fire of "unknown origin" destroyed the building's interiors, making it too dangerous to visit. Today, a trust group hope to stabilise the castle and re-open it for tours.
More info on the castle at its official website, the Hudson river site, and of course Wikipedia.
Thanks to Marc Cohen and Bill Parco.
actually, unlike the Wikipedia explanation, “pollepel” means as much as wooden spoon in Dutch. Strange name for an island, especially as it isn’t quite spoonshaped…
“complete with lookout turrets and a moat” – Surely the moat was a bit over the top, it is surrounded by the Hudson river after all.
Thanks for posting this site. I’ve allways enjoyed sailing past the island especially in fall. A true Hudson River jewel.
As for the island name “Even the name Pollepel (Polopel) originated with a legend about a young girl named (Polly) Pell who was romantically rescued from the breaking river ice and landed on the island shore, where she was promptly married to her sweetheart, who rescued her and her companion. The island was thereafter called Pollepel.”- Bannerman Castle Trust
Enjoy!
I read while staying at the Hudson House and working on the remediation design of the Marathon Battery Superfund EPA site in Cold Spring, in the Foundry Cove between the village and Constitution Island across the Hudson River’s westside, West Point Military Academy that the author Harriet Beecher Stowe (when introduced to then President Abraham Lincoln, he remarked it’s said, “So here’s the little lady that started the war” or something like that) was inspired by the legend and used it in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” though differently. The Stowes were noted abolishionists especially in Brooklyn, NY. The scene later recreated in early silent film.
Just in case you’re curious… Tours have resumed, and will be open again in May 2009…