Pollepel Island castle welcomes visitors once again as restoration efforts expand
Volunteers with the Bannerman Castle Trust ran the first trip of the season to show how they are making more parts of the Bannerman Castle Property accessible.
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A giant castle on an island in the Hudson River that commuters often see from Route 9D or from the Hudson line train is open for the season.
News 12 hopped on a boat to Pollepel Island to find out more about how a non-profit is turning this castle into a destination for historical tourists and those commuters.
Volunteers with the Bannerman Castle Trust ran the first trip of the season to show how they are making more parts of the Bannerman Castle Property accessible.
They have raised funds to clear out walkways, stabilize part of the structure with metal beams and install basic facilities like restrooms.
Frank Bannerman started building the fortress in 1900 to store weapons, ammunition and other military goods.
"He basically is the father of the Army-Navy store," Thom Johnson, a Bannerman Castle Trust volunteer, told the group of about 40 journalists and state employees who arrived at the island. "Sadly, we don't have many Army-Navy stores anymore."
The volunteers are constantly improving something on the island.
"We are able to create beautiful trails," a tour guide told the group. "We have gardeners coming every Wednesday. So you can see the gardens that are enhancing this six-acre island."
After decades of sitting vacant, the state of New York bought the property in 1967, only for a fire to gut it in 1969.
Eventually, the state received help from volunteers.
The Bannerman Vastle Trust started running tours in 2004 and expanded from there. Now, they hold movie nights, special dinners and theater productions.
Johnson said the island was not always so accessible. It took the volunteers and the state years to reach this point.
"When we first started here, you couldn't land on the island. It was so overgrown," Johnson said. "The first couple years, it was just cleaning up the trails so we could make it ready for tourism."
As the Bannerman Castle Trust begins another season of trips on its 40-passenger boat, volunteers are still raising funds to be able to show more people more parts of the island.
