Spiritual Disciplines
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Updated
March 10, 2009
If you travel to Canada’s Thousand Islands region you can visit Boldt Castle, or what is left of it. In 1900 George Boldt, millionaire owner of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, decided to build a castle for his wife, a replica of a castle one might see in Europe’s Rhineland. He bought Hart Island and renamed it Heart Island.
When he had already spent 2.5 million dollars, his wife died suddenly in 1904. Stricken with grief, he ordered construction halted immediately; and the castle was left open to the elements. In 1977, the Thousand Island Bridge Authority became owners of the castle and gradually restored it. The exterior is restored, but the interior is just as it was in 1904, partly finished and badly damaged by time.
What is significant about our lives is not the external but the internal.
When he had already spent 2.5 million dollars, his wife died suddenly in 1904. Stricken with grief, he ordered construction halted immediately; and the castle was left open to the elements. In 1977, the Thousand Island Bridge Authority became owners of the castle and gradually restored it. The exterior is restored, but the interior is just as it was in 1904, partly finished and badly damaged by time.
What is significant about our lives is not the external but the internal.