Dark Island isn't just a spooky name. It’s a literal seven-acre hunk of granite sitting in the middle of the St. Lawrence River, and right on top of it sits a hunting lodge that got way out of hand. Honestly, when people talk about Singer Castle New York, they usually lead with the "castle" part, but it’s the weird, paranoid architectural choices that make the place actually interesting.
It wasn't built for a king. Frederick Bourne, the guy who ran the Singer Sewing Machine Company as its fifth president, just wanted a place to hide out and hunt. But when you have late-19th-century wealth, "hiding out" involves hiring Ernest Flagg—the same guy who designed the Singer Building in Manhattan—to build a 28-room fortress inspired by Sir Walter Scott's novel Woodstock.
The Weird Logic of Bourne’s Secret Passageways
Most "secret" passages in modern tourist traps are fake. They’re added later to drum up ticket sales. At Singer Castle, they are structural. Bourne was a man who clearly valued his privacy, or maybe he just liked the idea of being a ghost in his own home.
The castle is riddled with hidden grates and narrow hallways tucked behind the visible walls. There’s a specific spot in the drawing room where a painting slides back, allowing someone in the secret corridor to peer out and listen to the guests below. It’s creepy. It’s also brilliant. Imagine being a servant or a host in 1905 and having the ability to literally vanish from a room without using a door.
These passages weren't just for Victorian-era eavesdropping, though. They served a functional purpose for the servants, allowing them to move coal and supplies through the house without cluttering the grand aesthetic of the living spaces. The craftsmanship is staggering. We’re talking about Italian stonemasons who were brought over specifically to hand-cut the local granite. The walls are four feet thick in some places. It’s built to survive a siege that was never going to happen.
The Royal Connection and the $500,000 Price Tag
Let’s talk money for a second. In 1905, Bourne dropped $500,000 on this "hunting lodge."
Adjusted for inflation? That’s roughly $17 million today.
For a place you only visit a few months a year.
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The Bourne family owned it for decades, but eventually, the castle took on a second life. In the 1960s, a religious group called the Harold Martin Evangelistic Association (later the Christian Heritage Corporation) bought it. They renamed it "Jorgenson's Castle" and used it for retreats. This is why, if you talk to some of the old-timers in Chippewa Bay or Alexandria Bay, they might not call it Singer Castle at all.
It wasn't until Dr. Darko Kandiic, a Pentecostal minister and businessman, took over that the massive restoration efforts really kicked into high gear. He saw the potential for tourism that surpassed the "other" castle nearby.
Why It’s Not Boldt Castle
You can't talk about Singer Castle New York without mentioning Boldt Castle on Heart Island. They are the two heavyweights of the Thousand Islands. But they couldn't be more different.
- Boldt Castle is a tragedy. It was never finished because George Boldt’s wife died, and he abandoned the project in a fit of grief. It’s beautiful, but it’s a shell that was mostly completed by the Bridge Authority for tourists.
- Singer Castle is lived-in. It was fully completed, fully furnished, and occupied for over 60 years by the original family.
When you walk through the doors at Singer, you’re seeing the original walnut carvings, the original leather-bound books in the library, and the actual clocks that Bourne wound. It feels heavy. It feels like someone just stepped out of the room to go grab a drink in the library.
Getting to Dark Island
You can't just drive there. Obviously.
Most people hop on a tour boat from Alexandria Bay or Clayton. Uncle Sam Boat Tours is the big player here, and they’ve been running shuttles out to the island for years. If you’re feeling fancy, you can take a private boat and dock at the island’s marina.
The approach is the best part. From a distance, the red roof tiles and the square towers look like something ripped out of the Scottish Highlands. As the boat gets closer, you realize the scale of the granite blocks. It’s imposing. It’s meant to look like it grew out of the riverbed itself.
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The "Royal Suite" Experience
Here is the thing most people miss: you can actually stay the night.
Most historic castles are "look but don't touch." Singer Castle has a Royal Suite that takes up an entire wing of the house. It’s pricey—usually around $800 to $1,000 a night—but it includes a private catered dinner and the run of the island after the tour boats leave.
Staying there is an exercise in isolation. Once the last boat disappears toward the mainland, it’s just you, the caretakers, and the sound of the St. Lawrence lapping against the stone. It’s arguably the most unique Airbnb-adjacent experience in Upstate New York. Just don’t think too hard about the secret passages behind your bedroom wall while you're trying to sleep.
Technical Marvels of 1905
The castle was surprisingly high-tech for its era.
- The Squash Court: Bourne had one of the first private indoor squash courts in the country.
- The Power House: They had their own generators. While the rest of the world was still messing with kerosene lamps, Dark Island was glowing with electricity.
- The Breakfast Room: It features a massive circular table with a "lazy susan" built directly into the floor/structure so servants could rotate food to the guests without ever entering the room.
A Ghost Story or Two?
Look, every old building claims to be haunted. It’s basically a marketing requirement at this point.
However, the stories at Singer Castle are a bit more subdued. Staff members have reported seeing a "lady in white" (classic, right?) and hearing the sound of footsteps in the service corridors. Given that there are literally hollow spaces behind almost every wall, it’s more likely that the building’s unique acoustics just carry sound in weird ways. Or, you know, it’s ghosts. You decide.
Practical Tips for Your Visit
If you're planning to head out there, don't just show up at a dock and hope for the best.
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The castle is technically open from May through October. The weather in the Thousand Islands is notoriously fickle. You can have a sun-drenched morning and a torrential downpour by 2:00 PM. Wear comfortable shoes; the tour involves a lot of stairs, and the stone walkways can be slick.
Also, bring a camera with a decent zoom lens. The view from the top of the towers looking out toward the Canadian border is one of the best photo ops in the entire state. You can see the shipping channel where massive lakers—those giant cargo ships—pass so close to the island you feel like you could throw a rock and hit them.
The Logistics of Preservation
Maintaining a stone castle in the middle of a river that freezes solid every winter is a nightmare.
The humidity alone tries to eat the wood paneling. The current owners and the Friends of Singer Castle non-profit do a lot of heavy lifting to keep the place from crumbling. When you pay for a tour, that money is going directly into pointing the masonry and restoring the tapestries. It’s a constant battle against the elements.
Actionable Insights for the Traveler
If you want to do Singer Castle right, follow this sequence:
- Book the "extended" tour if available. The standard tour hits the highlights, but the deeper architectural tours get you into the nooks and crannies that explain the engineering.
- Check the freighter schedule. Use an app like MarineTraffic to see when a large cargo ship is passing Dark Island. Seeing a 700-foot ship glide past a medieval-style castle is a surreal visual contrast.
- Visit in September. The crowds of Alexandria Bay thin out significantly, the humidity drops, and the light hitting the river is much more dramatic for photography.
- Combine it with the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton. If you're already in the area, the museum provides the necessary context for the "Golden Age" of the Thousand Islands that produced mansions like Singer.
- Pack light. If you are staying overnight, remember that everything has to be hauled up from the dock. There are no elevators.
Singer Castle New York isn't just a monument to old money. It's a preserved piece of a very specific American era where the line between "summer home" and "fortified island" was incredibly thin. It’s quirky, slightly paranoid, and completely beautiful. Whether you’re there for the secret passages or just to see how a sewing machine tycoon spent his weekends, it’s one of those rare places that actually lives up to the hype.