Thousand Islands

About 90 miles, or about 2 hours from Kayuta Lake lies Alexandria Bay,  gateway to the Thousand Islands.

The Thousand Islands region encompass communities along the St. Lawrence River, on both sides of the US and Canada border and the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. Discovered by vacationers in 1870, the wealthy had built their summer vacation places there. Others stayed in hotels.

A view of some of the islands

Actually composed of 1864 islands that extend for about 50 miles in the St.Lawrence River, the islands range in size from over 40 square miles to smaller islands which could be occupied by a single residence or even uninhabited except for some migratory waterfowl.  To be one of the thousand islands, it must be above water level year round, have an area greater than 1 square foot and support at least one living tree.




Each island has  its own individuality which can best be appreciated by taking the cruise around the islands. And so aboard the Uncle Sam we went.




A mandatory stop on the cruise is Heart Island, so named because of its shape and heart-breaking story.  In the 1890's millinonaire New York City hotel owner George Boldt and his wife Louise frequently cruised the islands on their yacht. Boldt later commisioned the construction of an impressive six-story stone structure with 120 rooms, a replica of a Rhineland Castle,  a dream summer home that was to be a gift to his beloved wife. Construction was however halted in 1904 following the unexpected death of Louise. Boldt never returned to the island.  Boldt Castle was never completed and remained vacant and subjected to more than 70 years of decay, weather damage and vandalism.

The Thousand Island Bridge Authority (TIBA) acquired Boldt Castle and the Boldt Yacht House in 1977.  Since then,  it has spent millions of dollars from the castle's net profit in rehabilitating and restoring the Heart Island structures.  When we first visited it in 2005, most of the rooms were still undergoing repairs and some were not even accessible.  The rooms were similar to the pictures "Before" renovation as seen on the castle's website.  A virtual tour of the castle interior gives one a glimpse of the magnificence of that era.

After learning from the cruise about how the famous thousand island dressing originated from this area, we just had to find a place that sells the dressing based on the original recipe.  Only later did I learn of the conflicting legends on the origins of this condiment.

While on the boat, we had seen the Thousand Island Bridge  system which covers a distance of 8.5 miles providing a direct connection between US Interstate Rt 81 and Canada's Highway 401.  It is actually a series of bridges spanning the St. Lawrence River crossing 4 islands (Wellesley, Hill, Constance and Georgina). Thinking how cool it would be to cross this bridge and see the islands from above, we crossed the border. We did not have time to explore any of the communities nor the look out tower on Hill Island.  Despite our US passports, the quick return trip roused some suspicion with the border patrol.  When we said that we did not have any local lodging (we did not consider Kayuta Lake local), the car was subjected to a thorough search.  Why, he must have thought, would  a car from New Jersey go all the way to this place just for a day trip?  The search was fruitless of course and off we went back to Kayuta with memories and a story to tell.