UNKNOWN CASTLE

I received E-Mail that said:

A friend I grew up with in Croton-on-Hudson New York lived in a castle built by her father. It was never completed when she was a child, but I spent some time there. Her father was from Scotland and the castle was built of stone. It was on Mount Airy Road, near the corner of Colabaugh Pond Rd. in Croton and I don't know whether he had a name for it or not, but to me it qualifies as a castle..

Later, I received E-Mail that said:

As I continued scrolling down through the list, and noticed one called "unknown castle" in Croton-on Hudson, NY. I don't know if this is the same one I'm thinking of, but there is a "castle" set back way in off of the road (I think it was on Rt 133, but it's been a long time since I lived in that area) near Ossining, NY, on about 40 acres of woods. The road it's off of was between Rt 9 and the either the Taconic State Parkway or the Sprain Brook Parkway, but I'm pretty sure it was the Taconic.

The place was built in the 1920's, IIRC. At some point there was a gas explosion, taking off a big section of roof. It sat empty for years, then was bought in the 1960's by some people named Harrick. They were told by an architect that it would be too expensive to replace the roof in the section where the explosion had been, so they turned it into an open courtyard in the middle of the house.

The father of a guy I used to know worked for the owner, who ran a scientific supply company. My friend mowed the lawn there sometimes. I knew Michel through the local (Westchester and Putnam Counties) chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and we held our group's first event there, with a small tournament, a quest (there were deep ravines on the property near the house, with a bridge over at least one of them), gaming in the gazebo attached to the main house by a covered walkway, a picnic on the lawn, and dancing in the 20x30 foot ballroom. We hung a banner from the turret, and had a reporter show up from one of the local newspapers (there was an article on the front page of the next day's edition of every Rockland-Westchester Gannett paper, but I don't think they had any pictures of the castle itself.

Later, I received E-Mail that said:

Here's a picture of the house on Mt. Airy. It's got a nice half-tower with crennelation, and a matching stone wall Other than that, it's not very castle-like. I don't know of any others in that vicinity which are more likely candidates.

On 2-9-09, I received e-mail that said:

I am the daughter of the builder of the “unknown castle” in Croton, NY on the corner of Mt. Airy and Colabaugh Pond Rd. I think they bought the 11 acres in the early 50's. Many weekends were spent hauling cobble stones up from NY City streets in an old Ford to build the tower and below it is the front doorway with flagstone steps starting at 16-18 feet length across graduating up to about 3 foot landing with a hand hewed front door with huge hand fired and hammered hinges, brackets and handle. Same kind of medieval door is on basement to the right and below.

Entire first floor is cobble stones and whatever rock fit the spot. Huge mantled fireplace in a great room. He made shields with swords crossed that hung at the top of the main staircase. 3 stories,1 1/2 baths,4 bedrooms. All of this was to resemble the castles of Scotland. He died in 1976, my Mother sold the house about 1979 and moved to Fla.

I'm not sure this is really what Think of as a castle. I love the look of the tower, but as far as I can see, the rest of the building looks pretty much like a normal house.

On 5-2-09, I received e-mail that said:

Appreciate your including our home in your list. A few days ago the daughter of the man who built this “castle” came to visit after communicating with my wife. We were happy to show her around the house and we both knew about her name inscribed in the cement under the welcome mat when she was a child. The builder’s name was Macky (or perhaps Mackay) and he never finished the house. We are the third owners and when my wife bought the house about 25 years ago she finished it. We have not named the place although we have often thought that it was time it had one. “The Cairns” is the one most often in our thoughts.

On 4-23-15, I received e-mail that said:

Hi, With reference to the link http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/ny_unk15.htm. The Castle in the photo is located on the corner of East Mt. Airy Rd., and Colabaugh Pond Rd. in the Town of Cortlandt.

We are the owners of this "castle" and find that there are several inaccuracies in the listing. If you are still active and interested please find corrections below.

The second email beginning "As I continued scrolling down" does not refer to our property at all. There have only been two owners other than us and neither was named Harrick.

We are particularly disturbed by the mention of a gas explosion since that never happened at our location. The lot was never 40 acres, at least since the late 40's or early 50's when Mackey bought the property. The Route 133 mentioned is at least 3-6 miles as the crow flies from our house and the description of Route 133 being between Rt. 9(A) and the Taconic Parkway is correct but, again, is no where near our castle.

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Photo courtesy of David.