June 30 – Wellelsey Island SP, NY
Today we followed along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail, consisting of NY-37 and NY-12, to Wellesley Island in the heart of the Thousand Islands. Our first stop was for breakfast at Phillips Diner in Ogdensburg. It was a busy, cozy little place that served up our meals quickly and inexpensively. Recommended!
We had campground reservations at Wellelsey Island SP. With 432 campsites, we were a bit worried about it seeming like a huge parking lot. Not the case at all! There are at least six camping areas spread out over a few miles of mostly wooded landscape. In turn, most of the areas are subdivided into multiple loops and the whole place actually feels pretty intimate.
We explored the park’s various camping areas, its marina, store and the nature center. The nature center is open year round and even grooms several miles of its trails for cross country skiing. Near the nature center are also rental cabins that are fully winterized, essentially small houses. Hmmmm, ski trip?
Leaving the park, we drove some of the rest of the island including its southwestern tip. There we found the hamlet of Thousand Island Park. It is a summer community, of over 300 lovely, turn-of-the-century resort homes now designated as a national historic district. The place is beautiful and exquisitely maintained with damn little peeling paint. It’s a summer community, with fewer than 100 permanent residents.
We prepared an early dinner of lemon chicken sauté with snap peas. Then, following up on a flyer in the campground office, we headed out to a concert at Densmore Church. The solo artist was a blues vocalist, songwriter and guitarist, Rachelle Coba. She lent her beautiful voice and guitar chops to a wide variety of both her own and traditional blues numbers. We very much enjoyed her performance.
Built in 1902, Densmore Church is a lovely, shingle style structure listed on the National Historic Register. Sadly, as the local economy evolved from farming to tourism, the congregation dwindled to the point that they were unable to maintain the building. Today the church has been restored and is owned and maintained as an event venue by a charitable organization.
July 1 – Wellelsey Island SP, NY
During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s the wealthy went on a binge of constructing extravagant places for them to enjoy leisure time in areas far removed from hectic city life. The Thousand Islands area was one those far removed areas.
People built homes, many of which are huge, elaborate places, along the shores and on the islands in the river. Some are so large that they pretty much qualify as castles. We signed up for a river cruise that toured the area, one that actually crossed into Canadian waters.
Many of the homes are fabulous, built by titans of industry.
At the end of the tour the boat makes a stop where passengers can opt to tour the largest home of them all, Boldt Castle. Construction was begun in 1900 on behalf of George C. Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. His wife, Louise, admired a Rhineland Castle and the 120 room castle was to be an expression of George’s love for his wife.
He also renamed the island from Hardt to Heart, reshaped the island to resemble a heart and incorporated a heart shape into the gardens, stonework and woodwork of the house.
Sadly, Louise died about a month before George planned to present it to her. He immediately ceased work on the nearly complete structure and abandoned it. The house was left to the elements and vandals for 73 years. The Thousand Island Bridge Authority assumed ownership in 1977 and began to restore the structure and its auxiliary buildings. While that restoration is still going on, much of the house is on tour today and it was very much well worth the time to tour it.
We also paid the $3 for the shuttle boat to tour the boathouse. Designed to coordinate with the appearance of the house, it is quite a place. The boats on display are not necessarily the actual boats owned by George but may be sister ships or of the same type as his.
Of note is the largest steam powered boat named Kestrel. Of particular interest was its steam engine and its boiler. They were built by the Fore River Engine Co. of Weymouth, MA. The Fore River Shipyard is the subject of a book written by our brother-in-law, Wayne Miller.
As an aside, the area is called the Thousand Islands but there are really more than 1,800 islands. Early geographers came up with different counts of islands partly because they didn’t agree on the definition of an island. Today, our guide told us, that to be an island it must be at least four square feet in area, not periodically covered by water and it must have at least one tree and one other plant.
We wandered the shopping section of Alexandria Bay and finally opted to have dinner at Riley’s by the River right across from Uncle Sam Boat Tours. Bill started out with a Sloop Juice IPA. Their broiled haddock (Sandy) and their sausage, pepper & onion sandwich (the other) were very good.
July 2 – Wellelsey Island SP, NY
Heading west from Wellelsey Island we drove to the town of Clayton. To begin with, Clayton is a pretty, tourist-oriented town that we found quite agreeable.
The reason we were here was to visit the Antique Boat Museum. It is quite a place and has much in common with the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St Michaels, MD, except that the St Michaels is more broadly focused. This place was about boats and there is a very extensive display of water craft from rowing dories to early working craft through the introduction of the internal combustion engine. There were boats from the mahogany bright-work of the gilded age to the extreme hydroplane racers.
One of the important items the museum has is George Boldt’s houseboat, La Duchesse. Included in our admission was a tour of the boat.
Also, included with our admission was the option to take an old fashioned rowing skiff to paddle around the harbor. We took that fun option and it was a reminder of what getting around on the water was like not so very long ago.
Clearly one of the museum’s annual highlights is the Antique Boat Show & Auction held every August for the past 60 years. Here, fans, collectors and wannabe collectors gather to show off their pride and joy antique boats and to participate in an auction for ownership of one of them.
After our visit we crossed the street to the Wood Boat Brewery where we indulged in adult beverages and shared a large, gluten free pizza. Yum!