Highlands Castle was born from a father's promise to his young son...

“Someday I’ll build a house where we both will live. A place where you can bring your friends and create special memories… Someday Jason, I will build you a castle."  Looking back to 1978, my 3-year old son would likely have never remembered these words. 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 much greater and that I was led to this specific spot for a reason. Throughout my life, I have experienced 'evidence of things not seen' and hope you recognize each one in yours.     

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. Finally, I was able to graduate from my tent to a mattress-on-the-floor of what was essentially a large plywood box at the time. I was happy to be sleeping in my own home. Yvonne with Max & ChelseaIn 1986, I met Yvonne, the woman who 'turned a pile of rocks into a home'. Six years later, my parents who were both pastors officiated our ceremony. Mom & Dad would perform other family ceremonies over the years, 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 High School 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. (Jason was an impressive stonemason who went on to earn an Architectural Engineering Degree at Penn State and is now raising two children with his wife Mary).

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 share our story with your family & friends and that you'll have an opportunity to visit us one day!