The Masons converted the barn at the farm complex into a recreation center and remodeled the old farmhouse for an administration center. This never happened and for many years the property was used as a rural vacation retreat. The initial plan for the property was to establish a Masonic home for the aged and indigent. 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. Herbert Boone of Baltimore in 1930, but never returned to the Catskills to complete the family fortress.īuildings 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.
The castle, property and fortune passed on to their daughter Murial. Legend says that Josephine Wurts-Dundas died in a sanitarium not long after Wurts-Dundas died. 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. Although they visited during the construction period, neither Wurts-Dundas and his wife, Josephine – nor anyone else since – has lived in the castle. 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. Gold leaf was used to cover it.Ĭonstruction 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. The fireplace in the reception room was valued at over $5000 in 1910. The roofing slate came from England, the marble for the floors, fireplace and staircases from Italy and the iron gates from France. 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 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. The design of the castle is thought to have been inspired by late nineteenth century interpretations of medieval European castles constructed in Scotland. Not satisfied with the existing structure, Wurts-Dundas set out to build the finest mansion possible incorporating the wooden country house. The land had been a fishing retreat complete with a “Swiss” style country house. In 1907, he purchased 964 acres of forestland with a view of the Beaverkill near Roscoe. Like many wealthy men of his time he wanted a mountain hideaway for his family and friends. Wurts-Dundas purchased the land and buildings from Sternbach in 1907. The property was sold in 1903 to Morris Sternbach. 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. Gilbert built an estate known as “Beaverkill Lodge” on the property. Gilbert, a noted New York City architect. The almost thousand acres of land surrounding the castle was amassed in the late 1880s by Bradford L. The castle is located in what locals know and some maps identify as Craig-e-C1air (also Craigie Clair). 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 Dundas side of his family were wealthy, landed gentry from Scotland. Wurts-Dundas, a grandson of William Wurts of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, was a wealthy and socially prominent New Yorker. 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.ĭundas Castle is the former estate of Ralph Wurts-Dundas. "Sitting high on a dark hillside outside of Roscoe, Dundas Castle looks like it escaped from the pages of Grimm’s fairy tales.
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