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YAASHA MORIAH

EXPLORE FANTASTIC WORLDS
Welcome to the pages of my Traveler's Journal!

Real-life Castles and Fantasy Worlds

5/27/2016

2 Comments

 
Recently, I had the privilege of visiting a real-life castle. For a fantasy author like me, the adventure was a treat. Behold, Boldt Castle!
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Wait, my bad. That's just the power house.

​So let me tell you a bit about this historic New York castle and the adventures I had there...
Note: Special thanks to my awesome photographer sister, Acacia, and to my friend Esther Thompson, who contributed their photos for this post. Check out Acacia's Instagram for more of her photos.

THE HISTORY OF BOLDT CASTLE

George Boldt lived at the turn of the twentieth century and he managed hotels. Swanky hotels. We're talking the Waldorf hotel--literally. After he made his millions, he decided that he wanted to treat his wife Louise to an extra-special Valentine's Day present: a 127-room castle on a heart-shaped island.

A month before George planned to present his wife with his expensive gift, she passed away at the age of 42.

Devastated, George Boldt abandoned the castle.

As far as we know, he never set foot on the island after Louise's death.

Weather, time, and vandals eroded and scarred Boldt Castle. And then, one day, the Thousand Islands authority decided it would be the perfect tourist attraction and began to renovate.

​And here it stands today.
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Photo credit: Acacia Wheeler - (That's the "play house" on the left, with the castle on the right.)
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Photo credit: Esther Thompson
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Photo credit to me

TOURING THE INSIDE OF THE CASTLE

Everything about Boldt castle is incredibly detailed. The mahogany paneling on the wall is carved with intricate designs, and every bit of molding or ceiling is an opportunity to add another artistic dimension to the lavish surroundings. From the stained-glass dome to the shining floors, everything speaks of luxury.
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Photo credit for these 3 photos: Acacia Wheeler
I was particularly excited about the library. Check out what I found. A book! Carved into the wall! In a library! In a castle!

If you're a bookworm and that doesn't make you freak out with nerdy glee, are you sure you're feeling okay?
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Photo credit: me
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Photo credit: Acacia Wheeler
Also, since every fantasy author is a romantic at heart, no matter how prosaic their writing style, I admired the staircase. What young lady has not dreamed of her own fairytale, in which she descends a curving staircase to meet the waiting prince, her stunning gown drawing admiration from all onlookers? Seriously, if you're a gal and you've squelched your inner princess all these years, check out the stairs. (Took this with my phone, but it's better than nothing!)
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While the lower floors were filled with lavish detail...
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These 4 photos are from my friend Esther Thompson, who, like my sister, spent the whole trip behind a camera.
...the upper floors still needed work, and will be renovated in the future. They bore the graffiti of decades, from declarations of newlywed love to "Joe was here." As I walked through the long corridors and mounted the creaking stairs, accompanied by the echo of my own footsteps, the fairy-tale castle turned ghostly.
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Acacia Wheeler
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Esther Thompson
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Acacia Wheeler

touring the castle grounds

Once I had explored every room available to tourists like myself, I made my way to the tunnels underneath the castle. This was so exciting to me, because my castle in The Dying Prince was built on a hill atop a maze of subterranean corridors, hiding-places that then become very important in the story.
The prince led them through the garden and down a flight of steps toward a high stone wall covered in dark green ivy whose leaves were just beginning to brown. The prince unlocked a small iron-bound door and ushered his guests inside.

​The path beyond the door led them between two tall walls about five lengths of a man in distance from one another. In this narrow space of slivered light, a forest had grown up along the walls and on either side of the path, spreading a green canopy overhead.

"This is called Prince's Way," Calthorn said in a hushed voice. "Over the centuries, the royal family has built a labyrinth of secret paths and stairways and vaults, to conceal the king and the firstborn son from the eyes of the people and protect those rare and precious moments of privacy. There are also many natural caverns and corridors beneath the city, many of which have been broadened for secret use."

"And you show them to us?" Trann raised his eyebrows. "Prince, I am flattered!"

The prince laughed. "This way is not so secret, though it is very seldom used and most prople forget it exists. Nay, my friend, even Edric will never know a tenth of the ways I know throughout the city."
​
“Green,” muttered Rory the Dwarf under his breath. “These sun-lands favor green a great deal and everything is soft with vegetation. What I wouldn’t give for some decent rocks… and a little more orange or blue…”
(Click here to read more about The Dying Prince.)
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Photo credit: Acacia Wheeler
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Photo credit: Acacia Wheeler - (The tunnels even led to a pool.)
It was a beautiful day for combing Heart Island, visiting the dovecote, the powerhouse, the archway, the yacht house, and the building amusingly called "the playhouse," whose bowling alley is being restored now.
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The Power House - Acacia Wheeler
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The yacht house - Esther Thompson
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The yacht house - Acacia Wheeler
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The door to the "Play house" - Acacia Wheeler
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The "play house" - Esther Thompson

The conclusion of the adventure

I could tell many more stories, of how we sang in the powerhouse because the acoustics made our voices sound like a choir in a chapel, of the things we read in the writing on the walls, of the fascinating facts we learned about George Boldt and his family. It was a day of many merry memories. (Ha. Alliteration! I love doing that.)

I am glad that I came too early see the castle in all its splendor. The mingling of sparkle and shadow exactly touched at the heart of those things which people seek in stories of castles and heroic deeds: the peculiar marriage of pain and purpose, of victory and defeat, of exultation and tragedy. All the stories that I have most enjoyed have been like this castle, pulling me through light and shadows and revealing both the past and the present, with ghosts of the possibilities for the future.

​The castle became, for me, what every best speculative fiction story embodies: the powerful contradictions of human life.
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Photo credit: Acacia Wheeler
If you like something I wrote here, you are free to share/quote it with credit and a link back to the original page on my website.
2 Comments
Allison link
5/31/2016 10:37:54 pm

Wow! I have not heard of this castle! What a cool trip and amazing photos.

Reply
Yaasha
6/2/2016 08:52:40 pm

If you get a chance to go sometime, I think you'd love it. Then share your pictures with me--I'd love to get a glimpse of your adventure! ;-)

Reply



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    I write YA/adult fantasy & sci-fi that explores fantastic and interconnected worlds, with stories that burn through the darkest realities with hope and redemption.
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