Today Karen, the kids, and I along with our friends Elisa and Jon took a tour of Bannerman’s Island. Also known as Pollepel Island, it was bought by Francis Bannerman VI in 1900. Here he built an arsenal to house his inventory of military surplus and also a residence for his family. Last winter I took some pictures of the island and its ruins, and we passed by on our trip up the river in July, but this was the first time we actually set foot on the island.
The coolest thing about the tour was that we had to wear hard hats:
This warning sign was also cool, if a little scary:
Bannerman was not an architect, but he was rich, so he designed the castle himself, taking design elements from various castles he had seen:
He also invented a coat-of-arms for himself and a Latin motto, which used to appear over the entry:
Bannerman was fond of carving words in cement. These are the steps that lead down to Wee Bay on the south side of the island:
Also on the south side are the ruins of the Bannerman family residence:
This tower:
reminds me of this painting:
The image carved here refers to the story (probably false) that Bannerman told about how his ancestor carried the banner of Scotland back in the days of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce and was called the “banner man.” Hence the name.
Here’s one last view of the arsenal as we boarded the boat back to Beacon:
OH, what great photos! ha! LOVE the Munch juxtaposition! (ps – alas, I did not catch the destination of Ocean Atlas!)
Thanks for a beautiful post!
i too love the munch painting association; it’s perfect. maybe munch did a deal with banner man–friend of meow man–some decades back?