Sitting
high on a dark hillside
outside of Roscoe, Dundas
Castle looks like it
escaped from the pages
of Grimm’s
fairy tales. Complete
with Gothic windows,
turrets, towers, steep
parapeted roofs, crumbling
walls, and a courtyard
overgrown with shrubs
and trees, the castle
has been a landmark
and a source of stories
both real and romantic
for almost 100 years.
Dundas
Castle is the former estate
of Ralph Wurts-Dundas.
Wurts-Dundas, a grandson
of William Wurts of the
Delaware and Hudson Canal,
was a wealthy and socially
prominent New Yorker.
The Dundas side of his
family were wealthy, landed
gentry from Scotland.
They added to the holdings
in America by marrying
into the Philadelphia
Wurts family, which had
major coal holdings in
northeastern Pennsylvania
and had built the Delaware
and Hudson Canal to carry
their coal to market.
The
castle is located in what
locals know and some maps
identify as Craig-e-C1air
(also Craigie Clair).
The almost thousand acres
of land surrounding the
castle was amassed in
the late 1880s by Bradford
L. Gilbert, a noted New
York City architect. Gilbert
built an estate known
as “Beaverkill Lodge” on the property. The hamlet of Craig-e-Clair was named after an Irish fishing village and translates as “Beautiful Mountainside.” Gilbert’s wife was a native of Ireland and chose the name because the Catskill scenery reminded her of home. The property was sold in 1903 to Morris Sternbach. Wurts-Dundas purchased the land and buildings from Sternbach in 1907.
Like
many wealthy men of his
time he wanted a mountain
hideaway for his family
and friends. In 1907,
he purchased 964 acres
of forestland with a view
of the Beaverkill near
Roscoe. The land had been
a fishing retreat complete
with a “Swiss” style country house. Not satisfied with the existing structure, Wurts-Dundas set out to build the finest mansion possible incorporating the wooden country house. The design of the castle is thought to have been inspired by late nineteenth century interpretations of medieval European castles constructed in Scotland.
The
castle had 36 rooms and
legend passed down from
generation to generation
says that each room had
steam heat and electricity
long before any home in
the township had them.
According to Richard Barnes
a student who researched
the construction of the
castle for his English
Class, the only native
product used in the construction
was stone from the Beaverkill
River. The roofing slate
came from England, the
marble for the floors,
fireplace and staircases
from Italy and the iron
gates from France. The
fireplace in the reception
room was valued at over
$5000 in 1910. Gold leaf
was used to cover it.
Construction
on the castle was begun
in the early years of
the First World War, and
ceased in 1924, three
years after Wurts-Dundas’ death in 1921. Never fully completed, the building represents an impressive example of the romanticized medievalism that emerged in American culture at the turn of the twentieth century. Although they visited during the construction period, neither Wurts-Dundas and his wife, Josephine – nor anyone else since – has lived in the castle.
When he died in 1921, Wurts-Dundas, who had dropped the hyphenated surname in favor of Dundas, left a fortune of more than forty million dollars. Legend says that Josephine Wurts-Dundas died in a sanitarium not long after Wurts-Dundas died. The castle, property and fortune passed on to their daughter Murial. Murial married James R. Herbert Boone of Baltimore in 1930, but never returned to the Catskills to complete the family fortress.
Buildings
on the property include
the castle, tall ornate
iron gates with stone
piers, a one-lane stone
bridge on the service
road, several “service” buildings along Berry Brook Road and a farm complex in the southwest corner.
In
1949, the Prince Hall
Grand Lodge of the Masonic
Order, a membership organization
of African-American Masons
headquartered in Manhattan
purchased the property
from Murial Wurts-Dundas
Boone for $47,500. The
initial plan for the property
was to establish a Masonic
home for the aged and
indigent. This never happened
and for many years the
property was used as a
rural vacation retreat.
The
Masons converted the barn
at the farm complex into
a recreation center and
remodeled the old farmhouse
for an administration
center. The castle was
used in the 1950s as a
hunting and fishing resort.
By 1964, the masons had
built a swimming pool,
dining pavilion and several
new buildings and established
Camp Eureka, a summer
camp for inner-city youth.
Camp Eureka is the property’s primary use today.
In
July of 2005, the Masons
and the Open Space Institute,
Inc. (OSI) announced a
cooperative agreement
to protect 929 acres of
the Camp Eureka/Dundas
Castle property.
Through
the Open Space Conservancy,
OSI acquired a conservation
easement from Prince Hall
Temple Associates, Inc,
a non-profit corporate
affiliate of the Most
Worshipful Prince Hall
Grand Lodge in the Beaverkill-Delaware
region of the western
Catskills.
The
conservation easement
limits future development
of the property and prohibits
residential subdivision.
It will also establish
new programs for Camp
Eureka which for close
to 50 years Prince Hall
has operated to serve
youth from inner cities
throughout the state,
such as Buffalo, Rochester,
Albany and, of course,
New York City.
This
historic agreement between
the Masons and the Open
Space Institute not only
preserves the property
and the castle, it insures
that generations of inner
city youth will continue
to enjoy Catskill summers
and learn about the environment.
Perhaps most important,
the agreement preserves
and perpetuates the stories
and legends of the great
mysterious castle on the
hillside.
Note:
Although the Castle is located within the district that the Friends of Beaverkill Community are dedicated to preserving both historically and culturally, Dundas Castle is on private property and due to privacy and security reasons the owners do not allow access to the Castle.
PLEASE NOTE: The Friends of Beaverkill Community have no contact information for the owners. We do not respond to requests for contact or further information.
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