Sight Seeing Around the Thousand Islands Region

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We had already seen Boldt Castle on Heart Island two years ago when we were in the  Thousand Islands so we wanted to try out some other tours this time around .  If you are ever in the area I HIGHLY recommend you visit it. All money they make giving tours goes into preservation of the island and the buildings on it. Here are some pictures I took of Boldt Castle last time we were there! Click any image to make it bigger and read a description.

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Back to this years trip! We got to Alexandria Bay just after 10am and the next Singer Castle Boat didn’t leave until 2pm so we got back in the car and headed to the town of Clayton to visit the Antique Boat Museum.    In addition to having many antique boats on display, they also offer a 30 minute guided tour of the 106′ houseboat La Duchesse.  It was built in 1903 for hotelier George Boldt, manager of New York City’s famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel and owner of the Boldt Castle I mentioned above. Click any image to make it bigger and read a description.

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After we finished up at the Antique Boat Museum we headed back to Alexandria Bay and took our 3 and 1/2 hour tour of Singer Castle.  The tour of the castle is only about 45 minutes, the rest of the time you are on the boat getting there and back. Singer Castle was built at the turn of the century by Commodore Bourne, president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company.  He wanted to use it primarily as a hunting lodge.  Yes, your read that correct. He had a castle built as a hunting lodge. Ah lifestyles of the rich and famous eh? It remained in his family for half a century until it was bought by Reverend Martin in the 60′s who established the castle as a religious retreat. In 2005 the castle was purchased by a group of German investors and was opened to the public allowing visitors from all over the world to view a castle that had always been shrouded in mystery and as rumor would have it – haunted.  The tour guide pointed out that Mr. Bourne didn’t want to see his servants so he had spots in almost every room where servants could peek out from their secret passage without being seen. Sometimes guests at the castle would hear a noise, or see someones reflection in the mirror and think it was a ghost, but it was really just a servant popping in quick to check on everything.

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If you missed yesterdays post about all the mishaps we had our first day camping your should check it out!

Check out More Sight Seeing in the Thousand Islands Region

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