Bannerman's Island

Bannerman's castle - front and side view

I was hoping to relax this Sunday but we went on a tour to Bannerman's island in the morning. I was looking forward to it since it was a castle we'll be visiting, that will be interesting. But I was still dreading going on the boat ride to and from the island. I woke up very early, had some breakfast, and took some medicine for the motion sickness. And I did not expect the ride to be about and hour and a half, well, at least I would get some time to sleep in on the way there.

Bannerman's castle - lateral view

The boat ride wasn't so bad since the waters were calm. And when we got to the island The first thing I noticed was parts of the castle was gone and there was a piece of the tower floating in the water behind the rocks. At first I initially thought that it might have been part of the castle at one point.
Our tour guide gave us lots of background history about Frank Bannerman and why he purchased the Island. I know in one of the books we're reading, he purchased the island to store extra ammunition after the Spanish-American war. He began building the castle in 1901 and resided there ever since with his family. He hoped that his collection of arms would be known as "The Museum of the Lost Arts." His wife, Mrs. Bannerman, was a gardener who planted flowers and shrubs along the paths and terraces on the island and the family used the house on the island as a summer residence. But Frank Bannerman also built cannons on the side of his house and castle to protect himself and his island from any intruders. He bought bricks from many companies to build his castle except the one that was close to island since they did not want to sell him a ton of bricks at a low price. Our tour guide also told us about the story when he accidentally shot a cannon at a farmer's barn and he offered to rebuild the barn as an apology.

View of the castle from the boat

I really wish the entire castle was still intact so I could have seen what the inside looked like. We learned that years ago there was a great fire that started in the castle and went on for 3 nights. That caused the floors and the walls to collapse which is why parts of the castle remain to this day. I think it's great that they had beams put up to help hold what's left of the castle because it's part of an important history on the island that people will want to continue to visit and learn more about.

Bannerman's house