Embarking on a 2.5 hour boat cruise along the American and Canadian span of the 1000 Islands from Gananoque to Iva-Lea with an added 2-hour stopover at Boldt Castle was splendid.These beautiful wooded islands have been the playground of the wealthy living on or along the St. Lawrence River with their magnificent homes, lovely boat houses, and yachts for a century and a half. Our passports were required getting off on the cruise to visit Boldt Castle on an island in upstate New York. So you might say we made it back to the USA from Canada for two hours before the return cruise back into Canadian waters. Enjoy a few candid snapshots from our voyage of a few Thousand Island homes and Boldt Castle.
 |
| Bungalow on one of the 1000 Islands |
 |
| Just a little cottage |
 |
| Catch the front landscaping |
Of the various luxury residences none was more extravagant than Boldt Castle built by the Austrian owner of New York’s Waldorf Astoria, whose chef, it is said was inspired by sojourns here to invent Thousand Island salad dressing.This was a folly of millionaire hotelier George Boldt that began in 1900. Intended as a summer home for his wife it was abandoned in grief before completion when his beloved Louise died in 1904. Upon her death he ordered all construction on the castle stopped and never returned. It was never finished or occupied. The estate sat empty for 73 years and turned to almost disrepair until it was acquired and has been under restoration by the International Bridge Authority since 1977.The castle estate on its private little Heart Island reflects the whimsical imagination of the wealthy Boldts.
There is Alster Tower(The Playhouse) which the Boldts lived in with their two children while the castle was under construction. A Powerhouse was built as an intent to electrify the castle in an age when gas lanterns were in vogue.
The Dove-Coit housed pigeons as part of their collection of fancy fowl.
A stone gazebo on the front lawn was a place of entertainment while the castle was under construction. The Italian Garden today reflects what the grounds might have been like if the castle had been completed.
Boldt Yacht House just across the waterway is on Wellesley Island. It housed the Boldts three yachts and houseboat with its berthing slips 128 feet long.
 |
| If we sell Buckhollow we could live on Bucktide and cruise the 1000 Islands June-Sept then fly south to somewhere to avoid the cold, cold Canadian winters. Who knows the endless possibilities retirement can bring... |
Embarking on a 2.5 hour boat cruise along the American and Canadian span of the 1000 Islands from Gananoque to Iva-Lea with an added 2-hour stopover at Boldt Castle was splendid.These beautiful wooded islands have been the playground of the wealthy living on or along the St. Lawrence River with their magnificent homes, lovely boat houses, and yachts for a century and a half. Our passports were required getting off on the cruise to visit Boldt Castle on an island in upstate New York. So you might say we made it back to the USA from Canada for two hours before the return cruise back into Canadian waters. Enjoy a few candid snapshots from our voyage of a few Thousand Island homes and Boldt Castle.
