Clayton, Thousand Islands and Boldt Castle

Kim’s Korner:
We left Oswego and headed out into Lake Ontario which is a large body of water yet again and can get ugly without the right weather. We felt like we were on the Atlantic again as we had swells, kept life jackets handy and used the three touch rule when moving from the pilothouse to the cabin and back. It wasn’t calm but it definitely wasn’t the worst we’d seen either. Be sure you notice the picture of the depth reading we saw on Lake Ontario – far deeper than anywhere else we’ve been. After about four hours, we entered the St. Lawrence River, the swells stopped and we actually found ourselves hungry for lunch after a while.
We were now in an area where the US is on the right and Canada is on the left. The rule is – as long as you are moving, you may cross the US-Canada boundary without having to report to customs. But once you drop anchor or tie down in a marina in Canada, you have to report to Canadian Customs soon or there are consequences – expensive consequences. We stayed in the channel but tried to stay on the US side, just to avoid any issues. We came to the area that is called the Thousand Islands – absolutely beautiful! Second only to Alaska that I’ve seen. I’ll come back to them. One thing we noticed was the water was an emerald blue again and very clear. A funny thing happened that I’ll share – I was driving and noticed this lighthouse in the distance. As you know, I’ve been having fun with the lighthouses in trying to find the names and information about each. I kept googling for a lighthouse near us and there just wasn’t one – even as we got closer and closer. I finally looked through my binoculars – YIKES! That’s not a lighthouse – it’s a freighter! I quickly got out of its’ path and later found out that I was not the only one who had thought it was a lighthouse. We arrived at Clayton Harbor Municipal Marina and walked into town to check it out. I really liked the town – small but quaint. A lot of the buildings had murals painted on their side. We checked out a few really nice gift shops, made a purchase at the local cheese shop and ate at Bella’s restaurant. That night was the prettiest sunset I’ve ever seen – the pictures do not do it justice.
The next morning, David joined a few other guys and went to the Antique Boat Museum. I chose to run to the grocery store and do a load of laundry. After that, we all took a tour boat to the Boldt Castle. We had originally planned to take our boats to Boldt Castle where there are docks available for personal boats as well as for tour boats. Well… the water level in Lake Ontario, as well as the St. Lawrence River, are three feet higher than normal and the docks for the personal boats are all underwater. We learned that tours had to stop for two weeks while the docks for the tour boats were temporarily enhanced so that they weren’t underwater anymore. It actually turned out to be a good thing because the tour boat wound us through the Thousand Islands in a way we would not have taken our boats and we got a lot of history and fun facts from the tour guide along the way. Again – these islands are just beautiful! Some are very small and some are very large – just like the houses that are on them. Many of the islands having only one home on them. Boathouses and docks were submerged below the waterline. Rocks – there were rocks everywhere. And we could see strong currents in the water – we were glad we had not brought our boat up this far – but again, we wouldn’t have gone the way the tour boat took us.
We arrived at Heart Island where the building of Boldt Castle was begun in 1900. George Boldt had started building this castle and boathouse for his wife, but she died at 42 before it was completed. It is said that George never returned to the island. After years of neglect, the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired the property in 1977 and began restoration of the castle funded by tours. It is amazing – it reminded me of the Biltmore in Asheville, NC. Parts are still being restored as funds become available. Unfortunately, the boathouse was closed due to the high water level.
One other interesting fact I’ll mention is that Thousand Island salad dressing was created here and named after the Thousand Islands. Who knew?

Pictures!