Duncan Rawlinson photographed Singer Castle on Dark Island from above, the Gilded Age stone retreat rising from a seven-acre island in the St. Lawrence River near Chippewa Bay, New York. Designed by architect Ernest Flagg for Frederick Gilbert Bourne, president of the Singer Manufacturing Company, and built between 1902 and 1905, the castle was modeled on the fictional fortress in Sir Walter Scott’s novel Woodstock and originally named The Towers. This elevated vantage point gathers the terra-cotta roofs, crenellated towers, and five-story clock tower against deep sapphire water, with arched arcades, a stone waterfront promenade, and manicured lawns revealing the estate’s scale and craft. Mature evergreens and deciduous trees frame the scene and add seasonal depth. Built alongside nearby Boldt Castle and laced with the hidden passages it is famous for, Singer Castle endures as one of the last great castles of the Thousand Islands, here rendered in rich color and crisp clarity with a timeless sense of place
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