Boats & Castles in the Thousand Islands (#19S)

We had a number of noteworthy siteseeing adventures in Clayton. The first was the Antique Boat Museum. We were able to learn the history of wooden boats in the area, and most fascinating, was the opportunity to have a small boat trip around the Thousand Islands. This was an amazingly smooth boat, with the same 8.1 Mercruiser engine we have in our boat.

The boat tour local are friend in the jump seat with Ted is actually afraid of swimming, but did great on our trip!

We were able to tour the LaDuchesse houseboat that George Boldt used to stay on while he was building Boldt castle. The boat had actually sank for 2 weeks with the wooden hull rotted, and was replaced by a steel hull.

Our stay in Clayton was extended by weather delays so we took two additional cruised to see Boldt Castle and Singer Castle.

We had a quick trip from Clayton over to Boldt castle. We had some rain so we didn't take as many pictures. But the castle was spectacular. Construction on Boldt castle ceased immediately when Ms. Boldt died at the age of 47. A private foundation uses fees to help rebuild the castle to it's intended glory. We heard from locals that they would go over to the castle to drink and take artifacts. The year 1977 was engraved on the upper floor plaster which coincided with a movement to protest a 1976 oil spill in St. Lawrence seaway. Likely protesters used the castle as a place to stay.

We took this picture to keep track of the different types of barges and tankers we were seeing going past us at our slip in Clayton.

We took a Chug (local taxi) to Alex Bay so we could take the Uncle Sam Boat tours for Singer Island. The Uncle Sam Boat tours have been giving tours to Boldt castle since it opened to the public.

The books in the library are accessible for visitors and hotel guests to touch and use. Our boat tour guide was caught reading a book while waiting for our tour time on the island to end.

The boathouse featured boats in use and this historic ice boat used to collect ice to store for the summer months.

We were able to see Singer and Boldt Castle and tour the Thousand Islands on boats from the Antique Boat Museum, Clayton Harbor Cruises, and Uncle Sam Boat Tours.

For more of our adventures in the Thousand Islands.