Van Slyke Castle transitioned through multiple owners until vandals burned the mansion in 1959. William Porter, a stockbroker, built the place in the early 1900's. He named the property "Foxcroft" as it was built on Fox Hill. Porter died in a car crash in 1911 while his wife, Ruth, was traveling home from a European vacation. Ruth later married Warren Van Slyke, an attorney who served as an assistant to the higher naval command of intelligence during WWI. The couple changed the name to "Van Skyle Castle" and used it as a vacation home. Ruth retreated there permanently after Warren passed away in 1925. Ruth died in 1940, leaving the castle without an owner for nine years. It was purchased by a couple who subsequently resold the property 2 years later to Suzanne Christie who later abandoned it. What remains is now part of Ramapo Mountain State Forest in Wanaque.
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