1000 Islands and a Castle

While in Watertown, NY, we went on a boat tour of the 1000 Islands region out of Alexandria Bay. We had a great ride on a fake sternwheeler.

The tour boats share the St Lawrence Seaway with the big guys.

Many of the 1000 Islands have houses on them.

Some are pretty large -

And some quite small.

This one might be for sale. It's about the right size for me.

If you live on an island and you want electricity, you have to pay big bucks to have it brought over.

We rode under the 1000 Islands International Bridge. At this point, we were in Canada.

They were involved in a big paint job on the bridge.

We then got dropped off at Boldt Castle, where we could do a self-guided tour and stay as long as we wanted, as long as we didn't miss the last boat back to the mainland.

This is the castle itself.

This, believe it or not, is just the Power House.

This little guy at the dock did not pick a good place to do his begging.

The Castle is located on Heart Island, and you see the heart theme in many places.

The tour started off with a movie, then we were free to wander anywhere we wanted.

There were lots of nooks and crannies to explore.

The castle was never finished, and is in the process of being restored after years of neglect. This was to be Mrs. Boldt's bedroom.

And the dining room has also been restored, and furnished with items from the family -

Including this hand-painted china.

This was the castle under construction in 1903. But tragedy struck when Mrs. Boldt died suddenly in 1904. George Boldt was so heartbroken the he instructed the workers to immediately stop construction. He never returned to the island.

For 73 years, the castle remained abandoned and left to the mercy of wind, rain, snow, ice, and vandals.

In 1977, the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority began reconstructing parts of the castle.

Most of it is still in the condition in which it was found.

We also got to wander around the grounds. The structure in the back was going to be the kids' playhouse.

You can also take a boat shuttle over to the Yacht House.

An aerial view of the castle and the other buildings. What a great day!