** “POLLEPEL – AN ISLAND STEEPED IN HISTORY” by Jane Bannerman (Granddaughter-in-law of the builder of the castle, Frank Bannerman VI) A tiny jewel in the setting of the Hudson Highlands is called Pollepel, now familiarly known as Bannerman Island. Once an uninhabited place, accessible only by boat, it was considered haunted by some Indian tribes and thus became a refuge for those trying to escape them. These superstitions and others promoted by later Dutch sailors make for many fanciful tales. Even the name Pollepel (Polopel) originated with a legend about a young girl named (Polly) Pell who was romantically rescued from the breaking river ice and landed on the island shore, where she was promptly married to her sweetheart, who rescued her and her companion. The island was thereafter called Pollepel. History reveals a connection to the American Revolution in an attempted defense of the Highlands against the British fleet in 1777 using the famous “chevaux de frise”. These were devices constructed of wooden cribs sunken in the river, filled with metal-tipped, pointed logs to obstruct the passage of ships up the river by damaging their hulls, built by men commandeered from the local prison. The attempt was, however, unsuccessful as the British took to flat bottom boats and avoided the chevaux de frise. One of the “points” is now on display at Washington’s Headquarters in Newburgh, New York. Since the time of the revolution there have been only five owners – William Van Wyck of Fishkill, Mary G. Taft of Cornwall, Francis Bannerman of Brooklyn, New York, and The Jackson Hole Preserve (Rockefeller Foundation), which donated the island to the people of the State of New York (Hudson Highlands State Park, Taconic Region, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.)**
