5 Abandoned New York Structures You’re Actually Still Allowed To Visit
Bannerman Castle
Falling squarely into the category of “insane shit rich people do with their money,” this castle was built on Pollepel Island (upstate, near Beacon) in the early 1900’s as a residence and a sort of advertisement for Francis Bannerman’s then-booming military surplus business, the so-called “Bannerman’s Island Aresnal.” Construction never quite finished (work on the place halted after his death in 1918), and over the years a series of fires and explosions of old material from the arsenal have destroyed most of the architecture. Still, the shell of a pretty cool-looking castle remains, and the Bannerman Castle Trust now offers tours of the place. Failing that, you can at least take the Metro North a little ways up the Hudson and peer out the window at it. You’ll get the idea.