Aug. 19 - Singer Castle

“We take photos as a return ticket to a moment otherwise gone.” – Anonymous

We left Brockville yesterday and spent the day relaxing in a quiet anchorage in Chippewa Bay. This morning we decided to stop at Singer Castle for a tour. We visited the larger Boldt Castle on Heart Island when we were here in 2012. This castle (home...hunting lodge is much smaller). This home was actually lived in until the mid 1960's.

History Lesson:

Singer Castle is the only remaining/existing castle on our river to be completed, fully furnished and resided in during the heyday of the great builders and industrials in New York. The Castle remained in the possession of the original owners, the Bourne family, from its construction in 1905 until the mid 1960’s. Frederick Bourne was the fifth President of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, which is where the name “Singer Castle” came from. When the Bourne family summered there, it was called “The Towers” which comes from the inspiration that Ernest Flagg, the architect who designed this structure, had after reading the book Woodstock by Sir Walter Scott.

Tons of granite quarried from nearby Oak Island were brought over ice and water from 1903-1905 to construct Singer Castle. The Bourne family also had a 1,000-acre summer estate in Oakdale, Long Island. Mr. Bourne wanted to surprise his wife Emma and their children with an island hunting retreat. He purchased Dark Island in 1902 and had designed and built the castle for a cost of $500,000. Italian stonemasons were engaged to shape the granite for the 4-story, 28-room castle, 4-story Tower, and an elaborate boathouse (one of three) which housed a workshop and powerhouse and one of Bourne’s steam-powered vessels, the tunnels, turrets and other curious architectural details including a 2-story ice house – essential for fine entertaining at the turn of the century, dungeons and underground passageways. Over 2,000 loads of topsoil were brought from Canada to cover the eight seven acres of rock.

South boathouse that is used as a gift shop and tour check in.

We actually docked by the north boathouse so our boat was more protected from the wakes of passing ships.

 Views of the exterior of the castle 

Pictures of some of the interior rooms of the castle.

A view of Canada from the breakfast (sunroom). Sunrises over the US and sunsets over Canada.

Looking into the breakfast room from one of the verandas. 

This was the original owners suite when the house was built

The new owners' suite when the castle was enlarged in the 1920's.

Bathrooms in the castle were pretty nice for the time it was built.

Sports therapy room close to the owners suite. They had a full time massage therapist on staff that lived at the castle.

 Women staff dormitory on the top floor. It housed nine people.

There are hidden passages throughout the castle...mostly used by the servants so they wouldn't be seen or under foot. We learned that each closet was attached to these passages so servants could collect dirty clothes during the night and return them clean by morning.