Highlands Castle Highlands Castle was born from a father's promise to his young son...
“Someday I’ll build a house where we both will live. Someday Jason, I will build you a castle."
The promise had more to do with a desire to build a better life than an actual castle.
It would be almost 5-years before the ideal property presented itself, a mountaintop in Bolton Landing, NY. While clearing the land for the foundation, a picture was being painted. Within a matter of weeks, the most spectacular view in the world was uncovered. It seemed as though this majestic vista had been waiting to be unveiled. How was it, that I would be the one to settle here? Was it simply luck? I believe it was something greater and that I was led to this specific spot for a reason.
Once the foundation was completed, the wood framing construction was to the roof in a few months and the structure began to find its outward appearance.
I met Yvonne, the woman who 'turned a pile of rocks into a home'. Six years later, my parents officiated our ceremony. Two more family ceremonies were also officiated in the castle, as my sister Carol was married here in 2002, and my son Jason was also married at Highlands Castle in 2008.
"Jason, I promised that I would build you a castle, I didn't say you wouldn't be helping me!"... So, when Jason was a teenager, he joined in the stonework. Naturally resourceful, he recruited his football teammates to lend some muscle over the summer months. Their daily mantra was "Let's rock!" and they took great pride in their accomplishments while working together again as a team.
The stonework was a slow, tedious process and the labor of laying up more than 1,000 tons of local granite would take decades. Over the past 40 years, the property would evolve into what it is today... a series of three castles where families & friends from all over the world gather to create their own special memories.
We hope you'll also have an opportunity to visit us one day!