HUDSON RIVER: Take the train to the ferry for Hudson Valley dayhop

The Hudson River in all its moods - sometimes bright and shining, sometimes brooding and mysterious - has tantalized travelers for almost 400 years, ever since Hendrik Hudson sailed upriver in 1609.

For many seniors who experienced youthful outings on the Hudson, the strange castle rising on Bannerman Island in the middle of the river, was one of the Hudson's continuing mysteries. For Neil Caplan, a Brooklyn boy who discovered Bannerman Island in a book called "Day Hops to the Hudson Valley," it became an obsession.

He finally abandoned Brooklyn, moved his real estate business to Beacon and set out to restore the island. "People thought I was crazy," said Caplan, 51, founder and head of the Bannerman Castle Trust. One who didn't think so was Bernadette Castro, former New York State Parks commissioner. A Long Islander with a strong sense of history, she encouraged the restoration of the castle as a landmark in Hudson Highlands State Park.

Today, the castles - there are two of them - are far from completely restored, but they're no longer mysteries. Guided tours of the island depart from Beacon or Newburgh every weekend through October.

For seniors who prefer not to drive into the hills 60 miles north of Manhattan, particularly in these days of soaring gas prices, a sensible alternative is to take Metro-North's Hudson Line from Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The ride ends at the Beacon waterfront, steps from the ferry dock. A half-hour cruise on the Hudson is followed by a 90-minute walking tour of the island. Onboard the 46-passenger tour boat, called the Pollepel, a video narrated by actress Jane Alexander clues you in on the island's "history," more legend than reality. Originally called Pollepel Island, it was considered haunted by Indian tribes and later by Dutch seamen who reportedly dropped off misbehaving sailors to spend a scary night on the island.

In the shadow of West Point, the island had a connection to the American Revolution in 1777, when the American forces ran a chain across the river in an unsuccessful attempt to obstruct the passage of British ships.

No one did much building on the island until Frank Bannerman, a Scottish-born munitions dealer with a love of castles, came along in 1901. Forced to find a refuge for his huge black powder collection when his Brooklyn neighbors feared an explosion, he bought the island and began building castles. In his heyday, he had seven buildings and 40 workers on the island. But a black powder explosion shook the island and a massive fire destroyed the interior of his great castle in 1969. For safety reasons, the island was off limits to the public until 1995, when Caplan's Bannerman Castle Trust began fundraising expeditions.

Hard hats are provided for all visitors. Personally, I didn't find the trails too rigorous and would have preferred to go without a hard hat on a warm Sunday in May, but that's the rule.

The Castle Trust has cleared away the overgrown brush from the trails and built a wood dock with 68 steps to the tip of island. The tour is not recommended for seniors who have difficulty walking.

Husband-and-wife volunteers Wes and Barbara Gottlock divided up our large group. We went with Wes, a knowledgeable, entertaining and overprotective guide who constantly warned us of dangers on the trails, which didn't turn out to be all that dangerous. A real hazard is the interior of the three-story castle where the mysterious fire caused all the floors to collapse. Visitors are not allowed inside, but the intricately carved walls are sights to behold - and photograph.

Another pleasure of the visit, particularly for garden lovers, is the re-creation of Mrs. Bannerman's gardens by the Cornell Extension Service's master gardeners. Helen Bannerman had a cutting garden, a woodland garden, herb and vegetable gardens, all of which have been reconstructed true to the period, if not exactly with what she planted, which is not known.

Bannerman, a munitions dealer almost from boyhood during the Civil War, when he collected scrap at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, until World War I, was developing a Museum of the Lost Art of War, truly believing that World War I would end all wars. He died in 1918.

Returning to Beacon, we spent some pleasant hours having lunch and touring Main Street. The once-gritty river town now blooms with art galleries and picturesque shops and restaurants.

Once the hat-making capital of the region, Beacon went into free fall when people stopped wearing hats. The opening of Dia: Beacon, one of the world's largest modern art museums, in a former Nabisco cracker-box factory on the riverfront in 2003, accelerated the town's revival, which had begun in the late 1970s. The huge art museum is a short walk from the railroad station.

Artists' studios and galleries followed. Caplan's Castle Keep Realty also doubles as the Bannerman Island Gallery. It will be showing the works of Hudson Valley artist Seth Nadel through Aug. 11.

The Pollepel, run by Hudson River Adventures, normally departs from the Newburgh waterfront on Saturdays and Sundays at noon and from Beacon at 1:30 p.m., but changing tides affect the departure time so visitors should check by calling Hudson River Adventures, 845-220-2120. Or check bannermancastle.org.

Tickets are $40 for adults, and $35 for children 11 and younger, with proceeds going toward restoration of the castles. There also is a reduced railroad-island tour package if ordered at least two weeks in advance.

RHODA AMON gladly accepts letters from fellow senior travelers. Write to her at Newsday/Travel, 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville, NY 11747-4240, or e-mail her.

Related topic galleries: Melville, Grand Central Terminal, Gardens and Parks, New York, American Revolutionary War, Manhattan (New York City), Navy Yard