Thousand Islands
Shanty Island – Anchorage
A cool front blew in last night and it was a very rocky
night tied to the dock in Clayton, and it was still windy when we left for
Boldt Castle this morning. We are in an area of the St. Lawrence known as the
Thousand Islands. There are literally thousands of little islands...everywhere.
Many of them have homes on them; some small and some very large, like Boldt
Castle. We arrived at the castle just
before they were scheduled to open and had plenty of space to dock, but it was
very crowded by the time we left, with boats waiting to dock as we pulled away.
At the turn-of-the-century, George C. Boldt, millionaire
proprietor of the world famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, set out
to build a full size Rhineland castle in Alexandria Bay, on picturesque Heart
Island. The grand structure was to be a
display of his love for his wife, Louise. 300 workers including stonemasons,
carpenters, and artists fashioned the six story, 120 room castle, complete with
tunnels, a powerhouse, Italian gardens, a drawbridge, Alster Tower (children’s
playhouse) and a dove cote. Not a single detail or expense was spared. In
January 1904, all construction was stopped because of Louise's sudden death. A
broken hearted Boldt could not imagine his dream castle without her and never
returned to the island, leaving behind the structure as a monument of his love.
For 73 years, the castle and various stone structures were left to the mercy of
the wind, rain, ice, snow and vandals. In 1977 the restoration of this wonderful
place began and still continues till this day. Every year a new room is restored
and opened to the public.
After visiting the castle and boathouse we made our way
through more of the islands to Rockport, where we checked into Canada. We docked
and Stan went ashore to call the custom office. It was an easy painless
process…they asked him a few questions and then assigned us a number to display
on our boat. We are now free to move through Canada, as we want.
We are anchored
tonight in a beautiful cove between Shanty and Grenadier Islands. The water is
amazingly clear and a gorgeous shade of green. The whole area is unbelievably picturesque. We took the dinghy down and rode through some of the smaller
islands that were close by. We couldn’t ask for a better place to be or a better
night.
The Thousand Islands constitute an archipelago that
straddles the Canada-U.S. border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from
the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about 50 miles
downstream from Kingston, Ontario. The Canadian islands are in the province of
Ontario, the U.S. islands in the state of New York. The islands, which number
1,864 in all, range in size from over 40 square miles to smaller islands
occupied by a single residence, to even smaller uninhabited outcroppings of
rocks that are home to migratory waterfowl. The number of islands was
determined using the criteria that any island must be above water level all
year round, have an area greater than 1 square foot and support at least one
living tree.
Boldt Castle
The Power House
The Yacht House
You need an island :)
ReplyDeleteJudy