According to the Poughkeepsie Journal:

Newly opened to the public, the residence that was once the summer home of Frank Bannerman and his family on Pollepel, or Bannerman Island, is now a visitors center.

For the first time, visitors are now permitted to go inside the Bannerman home and explore the island’s history through an exhibition of photographs, artifacts and newly created display panels of documented information. The professional interpretive panels were made possible through a grant from the Hudson Valley Greenway Conservancy.

…

Neil Caplan, executive director Bannerman Castle Trust Inc., the not-for-profit group which manages the island, said it took nearly six years to stabilize and clean up the former residence.

“There was nothing in there, trees and poison ivy were growing in there; all kinds of junk; we stabilized it by putting in a roof and a floor,” he said, noting that the sunporch was also cleaned up and is in need of a new roof. “It all takes time and lots of money.”

Caplan said some 65-70 percent of income generated from the tours goes toward repairing and maintaining the site.

Tours of the island are offered through October with access either by passenger tour boat or as part of a guided kayak excursion. Tours depart from Beacon (kayak or passenger boat), Cold Spring (kayak), Cornwall (kayak) and Newburgh (passenger boat). Reservations are required for all tours. Special events are also held during the season, including dinners, theater and films.

Netting around the outside of the residence, presumably to stop crumbling stone from falling on the heads of the unsuspecting tourists.

A nearby board describes this as follows: “Foundation stone from a house of the massacred Macdonalds. Glencoe Scotland 1692. Erected by a descendant of the clan 1914. Franck Bannerman VI.”

The way to the dock. From the residence you follow this path back down to the dock, board the boat and return to Beacon.

Taken with a Sony A77II and Tamron A18 AF 18-250mm f3.5-6.3.