1000 Islands

Hello from Canada.  We crossed the St. Lawrence River on Tuesday, June 28 and officially checked into Canada.  Now we are wandering through the Canadian side of the 1000 Islands enjoying Canada's St. Lawrence Islands National Park.

The 1000 Islands have been a revelation.  It is a gorgeous area; many of the islands have homes on them ranging from fishing shacks to outright castles.  The area was "discovered" in the late 19th century by the nouveau riche of New York City, millionaires who earned their money instead of inheriting it.  Because they were in business they were not considered part of New York society, so they weren't welcome in the usual summer playgrounds of New York rich.  They came up here, bought islands, built homes and hotels, and made this a summer destination for many New Yorkers.  At the turn of the 20th century there were 12 trains a day from New York City to Alexandria Bay.  George Pullman (railroad cars) invited President Ulysses S. Grant to visit him here in the 1870s.  The resulting publicity put the 1000 Islands in the American mind.

Singer Castle Hunting Lodge

Boldt Castle

Many of the late 19th century homes are gone, but two remain as tourist sites:  Singer Castle and Boldt Castle.  Singer Castle was a "hunting lodge" for the president of Singer sewing machines.  We took a tour boat ride out to it and toured it.  It isn't nearly as ostentatious as the Providence Rhode Island homes from the same era, but it gives a new meaning to the idea of a hunting lodge.  We took our own boat to Heart Island to see Boldt Castle.  This house was built by George Boldt (hotelier) for his wife.  Unfortunately, she died before it was finished and he abandoned the project.  It sat empty, falling apart from 1904 to 1977.  In 1977 it came into the possession of the St. Lawrence Seaway Authority.  They have been rehabilitating it ever since, using the funds from visitors to cover the costs, working from the original architectural drawings.  Before 9/11/2001 they had over 250,000 visitors a year (in just five months); now they have only 150,000 a year because the U.S. insisted that Canadians now have to clear Customs first before visiting.  Even though the U.S. maintains a Customs office on Heart Island, it is still a hassle.  BTW, George Boldt is credited with introducing Thousand Island salad dressing to the world.  The local story is that the dressing itself was created by local fishing guides who served it to their clients when making lunch or dinner from their catch.  George Boldt managed the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City and took the recipe back to the hotel after one of his visits here.  In the Islands they called it Guide's Dressing, but in New York George renamed it Thousand Island dressing.

Although you can anchor in the U.S. islands, there aren't any facilities, you are just anchoring in front of someone's house.  On the Canadian side, there is the St. Lawrence Islands National Park, series of islands that can only be reached by boat.  Each island has one or more small docks, toilets and walking trails.  The islands are covered in trees and wildflowers, with voles, squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits, no big mammals.  We're at our third island now and each of them has been charming.  As the Canadians we have met have been.  Canadians are just nice people.  The park rules are that you can stay no more than three days on any one island.  Jim has asked people at each of our stops what happens if you stay more than three days.  No one knows, because no one has ever stayed more than three days.