We have spent two delightful days with Carol Sue visiting by car the sights in this part of New York. She picked us up at the marina in Cape Vincent and we visited their home under construction on the St. Lawrence River. It is a beauty...
Perhaps we will return for another visit when Carol Sue and Tom are actually staying in the house and watching all those ships Carol Sue loves so much!!
We then visited the Tibbets Point lighthouse. This very famous lighthouse stands at the source of the St. Lawrence River at the east end of Lake Ontario. It's a real beauty!
Gail and Carol Sue wait for John to tour the light house.
Our next stopping point was the antique boat museum in Clayton, NY. This place has more old wooden boats than you can imagine. We didn't even get to the whole building filled with racing boats. These, however we found fascinating. They are St. Lawrence River Skiffs. They are powered by oars, sail, or gasoline engine. We saw a video on sailing these interesting craft. They use a three part center board, sprit sail..... and no rudder. The techniques they use to tack and jibe are fascinating. I would love to see them race!
John's brother Jim, who has an antique boat, would have loved this place!
This one had a "disappearing propellor.
The next day we visited Alexandria Bay and, of all things, took a boat trip. We decided to take this trip to visit Boldt Castle. This is the site of a very sad love story.
This weather vane high up on the ramparts of the castle are but one small example of the delights to be found on a tour of the castle.
In doing a little research, we have concluded that the "Station Island" that appears prominently in the book "The Pathfinder" by James Fenimore Cooper, is the one pictured above. Station Island is not the name of the present island, and nobody that we asked among the tour guides was even familiar with the book, but we think this "Grenadine" island is the one.
This is a statue of St. Lawrence for whom the river is named. St. Lawrence is known for the fact that he stole from the Catholic Church and gave the money to the poor. His charitable instincts caused him to be burned on a grating, and during the process, he is said to have called out; "I'm done on this side, please turn me over."
One of the more interesting of the homes on the Thousand Islands is this one which reside on two small islands. The international border goes right between them, and this is said to be the shortest international bridge in the world.
We will be taking our leave of Cape Vincent tomorrow, but we haven't decided where we will go. I guess we'll know when we get there, and we'll let you know.
The next day we visited Alexandria Bay and, of all things, took a boat trip. We decided to take this trip to visit Boldt Castle. This is the site of a very sad love story.
Mr. George Boldt came to this country from Prussia in the 1860s, a penniless boy of 13. He ended up managing and profit sharing in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York and the Bellvue-Stratford in Philadelphia, and a very wealthy man. His family vacationed in the thousand islands. He purchased much land there and started farming on Wellsley Island and selling the products to the hotels he managed.
As a testimony of his enduring love for his wife Louise, he built this castle on Heart Island. After four years of construction, and just before it was finished, Louise unexpectedly died. Mr boldt stopped construction, and never visited the island again. It fell into dis-repair and after many years of neglect was restored to it's original opulent condition, and opened to the public. It is really a magnificant architectural masterpiece.
This weather vane high up on the ramparts of the castle are but one small example of the delights to be found on a tour of the castle.
In doing a little research, we have concluded that the "Station Island" that appears prominently in the book "The Pathfinder" by James Fenimore Cooper, is the one pictured above. Station Island is not the name of the present island, and nobody that we asked among the tour guides was even familiar with the book, but we think this "Grenadine" island is the one.
This is a statue of St. Lawrence for whom the river is named. St. Lawrence is known for the fact that he stole from the Catholic Church and gave the money to the poor. His charitable instincts caused him to be burned on a grating, and during the process, he is said to have called out; "I'm done on this side, please turn me over."
One of the more interesting of the homes on the Thousand Islands is this one which reside on two small islands. The international border goes right between them, and this is said to be the shortest international bridge in the world.
We will be taking our leave of Cape Vincent tomorrow, but we haven't decided where we will go. I guess we'll know when we get there, and we'll let you know.
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