The Thousand Islands - August 2007
The
Thousand Islands is an area of considerably more than one thousand islands that
is located at the head of the St. Lawrence river where it starts it's journey
from Lake Ontario up through the French Canadian province of Quebec and
eventually out into the Atlantic ocean. It is one of the few north-flowing
rivers on the north-American continent.
The area was popular in the early 1900's as a summer playground for wealthy New Yorkers, many of whom purchased islands in order to have their own private island estate. One of the most famous was George C. Boldt, manager of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, who built a replica of a castle on one of the islands.
The U.S. - Canadian border runs pretty much through the middle of the islands - so, to avoid having to check into U.S. or Canadian customs multiple times, we followed the recommendation of traveling up on the U.S. side before crossing over into Canada at the city of Rockport - then traveling back down the Canadian side of the islands. We eventually made our way to Kingston and the entrance to the Rideau canal.
We left Oswego early one morning with light winds blowing. Lake Ontario, like all of the Great Lakes, has a reputation for kicking up rough without much provocation - so we felt lucky to have good weather and a calm crossing.
Our first port of call was Sackets Harbor, a pretty little town, and a great place to stop either on the way into the islands, or, as in the case of our friends Roy and Leslie - a great place to stage the boat to watch for a good weather window to jump down to Oswego and the Erie Canal.
Roy and Leslie, shown in the picture to the left below with Jeremy, also have an American Tug 34. We met them last year during our Great Loop Trip. We had hoped to hook up with them somewhere along the way this year, so we were delighted to see them in Sackets Harbor. They had gone in the reverse direction of our trip - heading north up the Champlain and then down through the Rideau before coming to the Thousand Islands. We had a wonderful dinner together that evening, exhanging cruising info with them on where to go and what to see as we headed north into the islands and they headed south into the Erie.
Our first stop after leaving Sackets Harbor was the town of Cape Vincent. Also a charming small town - with a great local historical museum and (you gotta love it!) a free town dock. Despite the sign that said that the local restaurant Captain Jacks has both soft serve ice cream as well as worms, we risked it and were rewarded with an excellent lunch. And no, we didn't have either the ice cream or the worms.
Our next stop was the town of Clayton, which is known for having one of the best antique wooden boat museums in north America. We arrived in Clayton only a couple of days before the annual Antique Boat Show. We had hoped to stay and see the show, but since we hadn't made reservations in advance, there was no place for us to stay and we were asked to 'move along, please' to make room for those boats that had the forethought to reserve a spot during the show.
Since we were there so close to the show, however, we did get to see many beautiful wooden boats coming into town - such as those shown below in the photo to the left. The photo to the right is of the inside of the museum. It was absolutely packed with many beautiful antique wooden boats. We loved this museum - not only for the fact that it had such a wonderful collection, but they also had lots of docents around who were happy to tell you the history of many of the boats.
One
such boat, 'La Duchesse,' is a two-story houseboat which is, to say the least, not much to
look at from the outside.
She was built in 1903 for George C. Boldt, the aforementioned manager of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. She is 106 feet long with a beam of 22 feet, and was built without an engine. A tug was used to move her when needed.
She remained in the Boldt family until after George Boldt' death, when she was sold along with much of his estate to Edward. J. Nobel, owner of the Beechnut Fruit Company and inventor of the Lifesaver candy. Nobel rented out various properties that he had purchased from Boldt's estate throughout the 1920's and 30's, but 'La Duchesse' spent most of the time in her slip in the boathouse on Wellesley Island. Tragedy struck in 1943 when she sank in her slip after a broken pipe allowed her hull to fill with water. When she finally settled on the bottom, she had punched a hole in the deck on a submerged pile and her entire lower deck was filled with water.
A few months after the sinking, Nobel agreed to sell the boat to Mr. and Mrs. Andrew McNally III (of Rand-McNally), for a nominal sum of $100 and the agreement that the they would remove the boat from the boathouse. A bill of sale was drawn up on September 15, 1943, and after a diver went down to repair the hole in the hull, 'La Duchesse' was towed to her new home on the McNally estate. Fortunately, she did not have to go far - as their estate was also located on Wellesley island
The McNallys commenced repairs a few years later including bleaching the woodwork on the lower level to remove the water stains, replacing all of the plumbing and wiring, and replacing the wooden hull with a new and stronger steel one. In the late 1980's Andrew McNally bequeathed the houseboat to the Clayton Antique Boat Museum, which passed to them a few years after his death in 2003. The houseboat was finally brought to the museum in May of 2005, and they were able to open it up for guided tours to the public in July of that year.
La Duchesse, may not be very pretty from the outside, but she is quite a grand lady once you step inside. The upper deck has a beautiful paneled salon with gold-leaf stenciling on the canvas ceiling. Perhaps one of the most striking elements in the upstairs living area is the stained-glass skylight.
The living room leads out onto an expansive open deck that is labeled in the original architectural plans as the "dancing deck," but which must also served as a delightful spot for breakfast or afternoon tea.
Downstairs, in the formal dining room, is a brass fireplace bedecked with shells, starfish, and sea serpents, which the late McNally once pointed out as one of his favorite things on the boat.
We found the 'Pardon Me,' shown in the picture to the left, docked out in the museum's new boathouse.
She was built by Hutchinson Boat Works in 1948 and exemplifies the streamline styling popular during the WWII period. At 48 feet, she has sometimes been called the world's largest runabout.
She is powered by a 1500HP supercharged Packard PT boat engine which uses nearly 100 gallons of high octane fuel per hour when she is up and running at speed.
While she may be beautiful to look at, I'm SO glad we don't have that sort of fuel bill to contend with!
'Sweetie,' shown in the pictures below, is a 21-foot runabout that was built in 1931. She was one of the new line of boats introduced by Dodge in 1930 to coincide with the opening of their new factory in Newport News, Virginia. Most runabouts at the time had flat rectangular windshields. Dodge engineers designed a striking V-shaped windshield with a full chrome frame and wings for both the forward and rear cockpits. The windshields also folded flat, for a full 'wind in your face' experience. Sweetie also sports a wonderful winged 'Sea Nymph' cast figurehead, a trademark of this line of runabouts. .
Another beautiful boat at the museum is the Genie. She was built in 1890 for an exhibition at John Wannamaker's department store in Philadelphia. Originally a sailing as well as a rowing skiff, she was later converted into just a rowing skiff. I could imagine myself, parasol in hand, sitting on the back seat while Jeremy gently rowed us down a quite river somewhere. Ah well, dream on....
The museum has a separate building on the property that is dedicated to antique wooden speedboats. The hall is filled with boats that have competed in the 'Gold Cup Challenge' races over the years.
We also saw some interesting boat equipment in the museum. I especially liked this anchoring setup that we found on a small boat.
I also liked this Owl bow navigation light with the red and green eyes for port and starboard. The museum also has a good collection of antique outboard motors, including this one shown in the photo to the right below. This is a 1938 Clark Troller which was designed with it's power head underwater. To start it, you tip the motor up out of the water, wrap a line around the propeller hub and pull. When the engine starts, the operator lowers it into the water and is rewarded with a nice cool shower as the spinning propeller hits the water on the way down. The even more exciting part is that the engine had a bad habit of stalling out as it hit the water, so you'd need to repeat the process several times before it started and kept running. Not sure who came up with this idea, but there are no prizes for guessing why it's no longer sold.
In addition to the boat museum, Clayton is a wonderful small town with lots of interesting shops and nice restaurants. It even has it's own Opera House! The photo to the right below is of a lovely bed and breakfast in town.
Leaving Clayton, we headed into the heart of the Thousand Islands, where there are lots and lots of tiny islands, each sporting a house - some large and some small, but all very nice.
This part of the islands is known as 'Millionaire's Row' - and with good reason...
Slowly weaving our way through the islands, we finally came upon Boldt Castle standing proudly on Heart Island. George C. Boldt set out to build a full size Rhineland Castle in Alexandria Bay as a tribute to his wife, Louise. Work on the castle started in 1900, when an estimated 300 workers, stonemasons, carpenters, and artists descended on the island to work on the six-story, 120 room castle, complete with tunnels, a powerhouse, Italian gardens, a draw bridge, and a dove cote. Not a single detail or expense was spared. The Boldt family spent their summers on the island during that time, overseeing their dream of a castle on the island coming true.
In 1904, tragedy struck when Louise died suddenly. Boldt sent a telegram to the island and commanded the workers to immediately "stop all construction." A broken hearted Boldt could not imagine his dream castle without his beloved Louise. He never returned to the island after that time.
For 73 years, the castle and various stone structures were left to the mercy of the wind, rain, ice, snow and vandals. The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired the property in 1977, and it was decided that the castle would be opened as a park to the public, and the net revenues from the Castle operation it would be used to repair and complete the castle for the enjoyment of future generations. Since 1977, several million dollars have been applied to rehabilitating, restoring and improving the Heart Island structures.
The first building that you see as you approach the island from the south-east is the castle's playhouse. This structure was built as a place for Boldt's children to put on plays and also contained a miniature bowling ally on the first floor.
The boat house shown in the photo to the left below was actually built on nearby Wellesley Island. This is the boathouse where the houseboat 'La Duchesse' sank.
Jeremy is welcoming us into his 'little place in the islands' in the picture on the right below.
The ground floor has been completely restored by the Thousand Islands Bridge authority. They are slowly working their way through the upstairs rooms, although they are still in pretty bad shape, the walls having been covered by 70-plus years of graffiti.
They have installed a beautiful stained-glass skylight in the top of the castle. The skylight was never completed during Boldt's time, but the original plans for it had survived allowing the Bridge Authority to built it as it had been designed for the Boldts.
The castle is full of hearts and stags, the two symbols that Boldt loved. It is said that when he purchased the island, it was called Hart island and he had it renamed to Heart.
Pictures of the gardens.
The picture to the left is of the power house building. It housed the generators and switching system needed to provide power to the castle.
The picture to the left is of the archway near the front of the castle.
Even more interesting than the castle, is the life of George Boldt. His is one of the 'rags to riches' stories that describes many of this countries early entrepreneurs.
George Charles
Boldt was born in 1851 in Prussia. Determined to make something of his
life, he made his way to New York City as teenager sometime in
1860's. Virtually penniless when he arrived, the only work that he could
find was as a dishwasher at the Merchant's Exchange Hotel. Hearing claims
that others were striking it rich by heading west, he packed up and headed out
to Texas to try his hand at cattle ranching for awhile. He built up a
successful cattle ranch in Texas, but, so the story goes, he lost it all after a
particularly nasty storm swept through destroying his ranch and killing all of
his cattle. He packed up and returned to New York with even less money
than he had when he left and took another kitchen job. He was able
to gain a promotion to working as a cashier, where his industrious nature and
attention to service got the notice of an upstate hotel owner who offered him
the position of a hotel manager. In time, Boldt managed to work his
way up to managing the 24-room hotel Bellevue in Philadelphia, turning it into
the best hotel in Philadelphia at the time.
There are many stories about Boldt that have been written about him - some of which are true, but many of which are only partially true. One is the story of how he met William Astor. The story is that Astor entered the Bellevue one blustery evening looking for a room for himself and his wife. There were no rooms to be found in all of Philadelphia as there were several conventions in town and all of the hotels were full. Boldt, not wanting to turn a guest out on a stormy evening, offered to move out of his suite of rooms in order to make them available to the Astors for the night. This act of kindness, so the story goes, is how Boldt came to meet William Astor and how their friendship started. When Astor built the Waldorf hotel in New York City and was in need of someone to manage his hotel, he remembered this act of kindness and asked Boldt to take the job.
While William Astor did hire Boldt to manage his new hotel, they did not meet in the way described by the story. It was not the Astors that Boldt gave his rooms to on that blustery day. I found a newspaper article written by A. S. Crockett for the New York Times at the time of Boldt's death. In it, Crockett describes Boldt as a man unconcerned with stories about his past that had no real bearing on his current situation. He recounts a conversation he had with Boldt a few months before his death regarding an article in the Times which described Boldt as having worked as a waiter - a job which Boldt never actually had. The writer asked Boldt to tell him the real story of his life, so that he could publish a correct account. "What's the use?", asked Boldt. "They would still make me a waiter when I am dead and gone. My dear boy, when some people get an idea fixed in their head, it is futile to attempt to correct them. It doesn't hurt me. It's like that story of me giving up my bed to William Waldorf Astor. Mr. Astor's name sounds better, or at least more familiar to the public, than the name of the actual person in the case. Don't worry over such matters."
What is true is that Astor came to know Boldt and his reputation as a manager of hotels - so that when he built his Waldorf hotel in New York in 1893, he hired Boldt to manage it. Four years later, Williams's cousin, John Jacob Astor, built the Astoria hotel next door. Boldt connected the two hotels, and opened them under the name Waldorf-Astoria in November of 1987. Under Boldt's management, the Waldorf-Astoria became 'the place' to stay in New York.
For those of you that like the famous Thousand Island Dressing, you might be interested to know that that Boldt is credited with popularizing that as well as the Waldorf Salad during his time at the Waldorf-Astoria. And all this time, I though the name came from the fact that there are thousands of bit floating in the creamy dressing that gave it its name.
After leaving Boldt castle, we crossed over to the Canadian side, checked into customs, and made our way to Georgina Island, which is part of Parks Canada. We really like staying at Park's Canada sites. They are well maintained, there are usually docks or moorings, and they are reasonably priced - especially once you've purchased a seasonal mooring pass. Plus you never know who you're going to meet - like this pirate on one of the Canadian boats in the harbor...
The island has some wonderful hiking paths. Taking a wander across the island, we came across Heart Tug and our friends from Canada that we met last year in the Trent-Severn.
We took our dink out one day for a little spin around the islands. Jeremy is trying to figure out where we are on the charts! No color GPS on the dingy. Good thing we still know how to navigate the old fashioned way....
We did manage to find the town of Gananoque, where we stopped for lunch before heading back to the boat. The picture below is of a church we found in town. We've seen several buildings in northern New York and in Canada with interestingly patterned tiled roofs, but this was one of best I've seen so far.
Updated Nov 20, 2007