Pollepel Island sits like a sentinel in the gap between Breakneck Ridge and Storm King Mountain. Local Indians suspected the place was haunted, daring to visit only during daylight. Early Dutch settlers noted that the island marked the end of the difficult navigational passage through the Hudson Highlands.

During the American Revolution, the island anchored one end of a navigational obstruction, meant by the Americans to keep the British from gaining control over the strategic Hudson-Champlain corridor.

At the beginning of the 20th century Francis Bannerman VI's son David noticed that Pollepel's isolation made it a likely candidate for the relocation of the family's burgeoning military surplus business. The elder Bannerman purchased the island in 1900 and began construction the following year.

From the start the castle served as a gigantic advertisement. First, the north side of the #1 warehouse was whitewashed, then painted with the address of Bannerman's retail store. Later Bannerman cast in cement letters 4-1/2 feet tall the words "Bannerman's Island Arsenal." This was on both north and east facing walls, in plain view of the major transportation routes of the day: Hudson River steam ships and the New York Central Railroad.

Today the castle is a property of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. A fantastic ruin, the castle, harbor, and island is off-limits to the public. The Bannerman Castle Trust Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the remaining structures on the island through a combination of volunteerism and fund raising. We welcome your involvement and your financial support.