Castles in the stream

After almost constant travel for the past three weeks, we’ve decided to stop for a while and give the mice in the engine of the car a rest. We’re in Ogdensburg, New York, on the bank of the Saint Lawrence River and our motel in located on a grassy slope up the hill from wet stuff that also forms the international boundary between the U.S. and Canada. Our room has a balcony which provides us an unobstructed view of the river and the ships and boats that ply their way from world wide ports to many cities on the 5 great lakes. Facing northwest toward Canada, we also expect to have a ringside view of the fabled Canadian sunsets that Steve Lawrence sang so eloquently of a few decades back. Say, … that’s appropriate… we’re sitting on the banks of the St. Lawrence River thinking of a Steve Lawrence song. But I digress. We’ll be here for at least three days, being lazy and not doing too much other than maybe day trips to some relatively local sites.

The past few days saw us drive up the eastern side of Lake Ontario to where the St. Lawrence River begins its 1000 mile course to the Atlantic. The route is dotted with picturesque fishing villages; water sports camps and state parks of all sizes and descriptions. Not too far down the river from its beginning is the 1000 islands area. Because of the number of bits of terra firma of varying size sticking out of the water, the U. S. and Canadian governments got together and tried to agree on just exactly what to count as an island. After much discussion, they agreed on the following. First, it has to remain above water all the time – no going under water with the 3 to 5 foot variation in the level of the water throughout the year. Next, it must be of at least one square foot in size above the water. Finally, it must have at least one tree on it. Not a bush… not just grass….no, a tree. With those qualifying characteristics, they came up with 1864 officially recognized islands.

One hundred years ago, the area was a hugely popular area for the rich of the U.S. and Canada to build “cottages” on both banks of the river and on the islands too. Today, many of the island houses still exist and, to put it mildly, are literally castles… the best known being “Boldt Castle”.

The interesting thing about Boldt Castle is that it was built at a cost of 2.5 million in 1904 dollars but never completed and therefore, never lived in. Is seems that George Boldt was building it as a gift for his wife but when it was about 80% complete, she died. On the day of her death, he telegraphed the foreman of the workers telling him of her death and that they were to stop work immediately. From that day, the place sat incomplete and empty until it was eventually bought for one dollar by the 1000 Island Bridge Authority in 1977. Today you can visit the castle but although it is undergoing constant repair and stabilization work, it will never be “completed”…. in tribute to its sad origin.

One final comment about George Boldt is that he was the manager of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City and owner of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. It was one of his employees at the Waldorf that came up with the 1000 Island salad dressing. I think we can all appreciate the fact that there are so many islands in the river. If there were only exactly 1000, if one of them lost all its trees, it would be rather cumbersome to rename the dressing to 999 Island dressing. Pictures in the gallery.