The Syracuse Post-Standard October 13, 2002
"Quick Lesson in 19th Century Castle Exploration", by Jordon McCarron
Nothing is as it seems. Push on all the walls and check behind the pictures - there may be more there than meets the eye. So it is on Dark Island, where the granite walls and turrets of Jorstadt Castle rise five stories above the St. Lawrence River, and a labyrinth of rooms conceals secret passageways and metal grates for spying on visitors. Soon, however, the hidden world behind those walls may be revealed to anyone willing to pay for the secret. Dark Island and its historic castle, to be renamed Singer Castle, were purchased in August by American Castles Holding Ltd., a German investment group. American Castles bought the 28-room, 7-acre property – lock, stock and dungeon – for $1.8 million. After repairs estimated at $2 million are completed, the castle and Dark Island will open for guided tours next summer, said David Brown, attorney for the group. "We saw this purchase as an opportunity to do some good for the area, make some money and fix up this beautiful castle," Brown said. The castle, then known as The Towers, was built in 1896 for Commodore Frederick G. Bourne, president of the Singer Sewing Machine Co., for his summer home and hunting lodge. It was planned by renowned architect Ernest Flagg, who later designed New York City's Chrysler building, and modeled on Sir Walter Scott's Woodstock Castle in Scotland. After Bourne's death, the castle was bequeathed to the LaSalle Military Academy on Long Island, which couldn't find any use for the property. The castle was sold to the Harold Martin Evangelistic Association in 1965, and Martin, whose family name was Martin-Jorstadt, changed its name to Jorstadt Castle. For the first time, the castle was opened to the public, as the Martins invited their neighbors to the chapel for Sunday religious services. "Week after week the lovely channel-view chapel often overflowed with people who came to worship," Patricia Mondore, the pianist at those services, wrote on her Web site about the castle. The services continued for more than 30 years. Now, a walk through the musty darkness of the castle's secret passageways is like being transported back in time. The carved stone arches, 5-foot-wide stairway and Gothic windows are just as they were a century ago - all that's needed is a little imagination. So, imagine it is early October 1910. Commodore Bourne is entertaining guests in his second-floor living room. Fire blazes in the pink marble fireplace. Elk, caribou, deer and moose heads adorn the walls - testament to Bourne's hunting prowess. A great iron chandelier hangs from the 20-foot-high beamed ceiling. A feather quill and ink jar sit on one desk, a book of poetry on the other. In the sun room, children lounge on white wicker furniture, telling jokes and swapping stories. The notes from a baby grand piano drift softly from the stone-and-walnut music room. Bourne excuses himself. Just out of sight, he pushes back a wooden panel in the wall and steps into complete darkness. Up a narrow stone spiral staircase, the spine of the castle, he comes to a corridor behind the upper walls of the living room. He passes a metal grate and peers down at his guests. Rounding the corner, he pushes on the wall where a large oval portrait hangs. The picture tilts backward, so Bourne can listen in on the conversation below. This was not an unusual scene in the days of the castle's first owner and builder, said Thoralf Baecker, project manager for the restoration of Dark Island. More than a century after it was built, the wallpaper inside the castle curls at the edges from old age. The carpets are dirty and faded, and the smell of dirt and mildew emanates from almost every room. But despite its need for repair, the castle maintains a certain mystique and splendor. A 10-minute boat ride off Schermerhorn Landing, the castle rises from the St. Lawrence as a fortress – its maroon terra-cotta roof and gray stone walls towering over the island. The complex includes two stone boathouses, an indoor squash and basketball court, and a clock tower with Westminster chimes. Approaching from the mainland, the chimes echo across the water, a keeper of time and recorder of history. A red-brick walkway winds up a grassy hill to the castle's front door. A few raps on the iron doork nocker ring loud across the island. Inside, the lights are dim; beams of sunlight stream through the windows, making patterns on the dirty red brick floor. The walls and ceiling, pillars and arches are made of gray granite quarried on nearby Oak Island and brought over on barges. Three lanterns sit on the fireplace mantel. Baecker believes they might have been used by Bourne on hunting trips. Off the main hallway, the library smells of aging leather chairs, and the shelves are crowded with novels and biographies: "David Copperfield," "The Biography of Napoleon Bonaparte," "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" – reflecting the taste of long-departed readers. The walls are brown walnut panels, several of which push back to reveal a secret passageway down to the wine cellar and up to the closets on the third floor. On the second, or main floor, where Bourne once spied on guests from his lofty perch, were most of the public rooms: a dining room - linked to the kitchen below by a dumbwaiter - three living rooms and two sunrooms. On the ceiling of the smallest living room, a compass connected to a weather vane on the roof tells those inside the direction the wind is blowing. The third, or upper floor, was more private, with bedrooms and a circular bath in a turret. Off the master bedroom, with its black marble fireplace, is a private sauna - the first of its kind - and communal shower, now unused and collecting mildew. From the windows, the view stretches out to the Thousand Islands, Alexandria Bay and Boldt Castle - Dark Island's more famous neighbor. Although Boldt Castle, on nearby Heart Island, has opened its doors to the public since 1977, Brown said he doesn't believe the two will compete for tourists. "Singer Castle is a much smaller castle that was actually lived in," Brown said. "Boldt doesn't offer guided tours, and we will, so these are two very different attractions." Brown said a gift shop will be built into the front boathouse for tour groups. Once completed, he said, the castle will be able to host weddings and conferences as well as guided tours. The castle will attract boat tours on the St. Lawrence River in addition to running its own tours from Schermerhorn Landing or other nearby ports. Brown said the castle also may offer an immigration service for Canadian citizens who want to enter the United States after visiting Dark Island. Singer (Jorstadt) Castle, on Dark Island in the St. Lawrence River, has 28 rooms and a secret passageway behind the walls connecting the wine cellar and most of the third-floor bedroom closets. Other highlights include: Ground floor: Massive 39-by-33-foot entrance hall with stone arched walls and ceilings. Library with secret panel to passageways inside the walls. Main floor: Music room now used as a chapel. Dining room with marble fireplace and walnut-paneled walls. Drawing room or trophy room with a picture that can be removed for viewing from the secret passageway. Tower room: Map room with winding stone stairs leading to it. South boathouse: Has 30-inch-thick stone walls. One can proceed from this boathouse into the castle, and then through a long tunnel cut into the island to the North boathouse. North boathouse: Constructed for a 100-foot steam yacht. Screw jacks are used to raise the yacht for winter storage. One of the secret passages at Jorstadt Castle, a portrait opens up in the wall to view one of the dining rooms below. Several wall panels in the library push back to reveal a secret passageway down to the wine cellar and up to the closets on the third floor. A fireplace made with Italian marble dominates one of the dining rooms at Jorstadt Castle in the Thousand Islands. In the early 1900s, Commodore Bourne, the owner, would entertain guests here and in his second-floor living room, with its pink marble fireplace. The machine at the left is a gasoline-powered generator; in the background at right is a diesel-powered generator. The Post-Standard. Copyright, 2002, The Herald Company