[Leica] Castles on the water

[douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp)]

Larry,

I'm sure I've seen it before in a Hollywood movie, but I can't for the 
life of me remember which one.

Looks to be a fascinating place.

To be honest, I never really liked the Rhineland - I much prefer the 
Harz Mountains with narrow gauge steam railways, old mines and mining 
towns. I always did find industrial archaeology much more interesting 
than straight history.

Cheers
Douglas

On 22.02.2010 19:37, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:
> You don't need to travel to Europe to see castles. This one is on the 
> Hudson
> River, Americas's Rhine.
>
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/Bannerman_s+castle.jpg.html
>
>
> Pollepel Island, just north of Cold Spring, holds the massive ruins of
> Bannerman's Castle. Bannerman was an arms dealer who bought up all the
> surplus military supplies after the Civil War and the Spanish American War
> and stored them in a warehouse in New York City. He and his sons published 
> a
> catalog of his holdings and became the Sears Roebuck of munitions. Most of
> the world's rebellions from 1880 through 1910 were fought with Bannerman
> supplied arms. Eventually New York's city fathers became uneasy about 
> having
> a munitions store in mid-town and convinced Bannerman to move. He relocated
> his warehouse to Pollapel Island, about 60 miles up the Hudson, and nearly
> across from West Point, figuring that the locals would be more tolerant of 
> a
> few hundred tons of explosive in the basement. The warehouse was 
> constructed
> to look like a medieval castle, although it was made of conventional brick
> and concrete. Bannerman and his family moved there.
>
>
> I know the arms business continued into the late 1930s because my father 
> had
> a Bannerman catalog from that era. Unfortunately the area is no stranger to
> lightning and the warehouse was largely destroyed by fire and explosions. 
> In
> the mid 60s my kids and I used to canoe the short distance to the island 
> and
> hunt for Civil War memorabilia in the ruins. All we found was a few belt
> buckles and minnie balls, but a more fortunate neighbor got a couple of
> single shot breech loading rifles and a small field cannon. The whole place
> is now a state park.
>
>
> In my opinion, even though it has few castles, the Hudson is far more
> picturesque than the Rhine, which, except for short stretches, is largely
> bordered by industrial sites. After the 1880s industrial development in the
> US tended to move elsewhere, leaving the Hudson between New York City and
> Albany a fairly depressed but still attractive waterway. Sailing up the
> Hudson is like sailing a century and a half back in time.
>
>
> Larry Z
>
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