About the Owner

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 another 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 these majestic vistas had been waiting to be unveiled. How was it, that I would be the one to settle here? It was not simply luck, rather something much greater. HE heard the promise and would lead me to this specific spot.

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. I was finally able to graduate from my tent to a mattress on the floor… And I was quite happy to be sleeping in my own home.

In 1986, I met Yvonne, the woman who 'turned a pile of rocks into a home'. We were married here in 1992, and my parents who were both Methodist pastors officiated our ceremony. My parents performed two more family ceremonies over the years, as my sister Carol was married here, and my son Jason was also married at Highlands Castle.

"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 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 not only an impressive stonemason, but he also went on to earn an Architectural Engineering Degree, and achieve anything he put his mind to).

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 38 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 you'll have an opportunity to visit us one day!

Kind Regards,
John A. Lavender II and Yvonne Lavender,
owners of Highlands Castle in Bolton Landing, NY

'Our Story' continued...
Often times, good things come out of bad experiences. In 2010 we began sharing our home with others. This was the good that came out of bad. Two years earlier, a fall from the roof resulted in a shattered right ankle and 4-operations. I would spend over 8-months in a wheelchair and on crutches before I could begin taking a few steps again. What emerged from a serious accident was an awareness of how fragile life is. It was time to reinvent myself and start a new chapter... One that I was grateful to have been given.

"If you build it, they will come" was a significant line in one of my favorite movies 'Field of Dreams'. My son volunteered to build a website in 2010... And they did come! Although I never had any plan or intention to rent our home, doing so has given me an opportunity to meet some wonderful and interesting people from all over the world who would share personal stories of how and why they were drawn to travel here. Tales that would make you smile, stories that were very heartwarming. while others were even heartbreaking. Countless visitors would find exactly what they were searching for... sharing precious time and laughter with their loved ones. Many would find peace and relaxation here, others would take time to rejuvenate or heal. And I would find something we all need, a sense of purpose.

When I think back to my words "Someday I will build you a castle", there was always a plan and a purpose. It just wasn't my plan.