Boldt Castle lies on an island in the 1000 Islands region of the St-Lawrence river. We had chosen to take the boat from Rockport, a small but picturesque village on the 1000 Islands Parkway. (Boats also depart from Gananoque.) The tour would take us directly to the castle, give us just two hours to explore, and then take us on a one hour cruise around the area to show us the scenery and the fabulous homes on some of the islands. It would take about 1 hr and 45 minutes to drive to Rockport from our house.
Once we got on the road I realized what almost two hours in the car means for a five and a seven year old: an eternity. While the classic phrase "are we there yet?" was never heard once, they nevertheless could not believe only five minutes had passed since the last inquiry of how much longer we would need to be on the road. We played word games, and once we were on the 1000 Islands Parkway there were things to point out in the river, such as Chimney Island, which contains (wait for it...) only a chimney.
The May 24 weekend is the "first weekend of summer", and the first weekend of the year that the boats run. Arriving at Rockport, the parking lot for the boat line was a beehive of people, all of whom seemed totally oblivious to Barb's van, never mind the huge tour buses trying to park in the smallish space available. We managed to get to the car parking area without injuring anyone, and immediately applied liberal amounts of SPF 30 sunscreen to all exposed skin. Sweaters were left in the car, they were not needed at all. What a gorgeous day!
The brains of these kids absolutely blew me away time and again that day. I just don't expect a seven year old boy to look at the front of the big boxy SUV parked next to us, wrinkle his forehead and say: "well that's not very aerodynamic!" Since we were early and there was also a studio open house going on in the village, he asked to see one of the galleries we had passed on the way to the parking lot. He pointed out immediately and correctly that the artist (who was working on a canvas in his front yard) was very influenced by the group of seven. I own two books on the group of seven and had not clued in yet. Grown-up fail!
The painter in the front yard of his home. The lake is just out of view on the left.
After purchasing some freezies we stopped for a bathroom break before boarding the boat. All over the world there are signs forbidding me to do things I had not even thought of. Why would I want to stand on a toilet?
In line at the dock before boarding we stared out over the gorgeous blue water, while the boys threatened to jump in. We watched pleasure craft pass in the distance on the glittering river surface. We were visited by a goose with some goslings. They clearly came to be fed, but no one had anything to throw at them.
What do you want?
Once on the boat the crew had to count us. Boldt Castle is on an American Island, and so they must pick up exactly as many people as they deliver. One of the crew had a tiny gadget with an even smaller button in his very large fleshy hand. He pointed his outstretched arm very seriously at each of us in turn and pressed the button once. Satisfied with his count, we were underway. The wind on the water was just a balm after having lined up in the hot sun to board the boat.
The boathouse on the shores of nearby Wellesley Island, something else also. This classic wooden boat happened to pass at the right moment.
After a pleasant 25 minute cruise we arrived at Heart Island, the home of the castle. The captain performed an impressive parallel parking maneuver with the boat.
Island approach with the pump/power house in the foreground.
We were at the far end of the dock and all had to clear customs. The poor border officers have a shack that is the size of my garden shed and they must absolutely broil in there with dark blue uniforms, two computers and two open wickets. Once cleared we went on to pay the extremely reasonable $8 admission and we were on the grounds.
The castle behind one of the retaining walls.
Looking for similarities with Hogworth's
So why is this place special? At the end of the 19th century, improved transportation had made the previously rather remote 1000 Islands region an attractive place for the rich to build summer homes. George Boldt, the world's most successful hotelier and part owner of among others the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, built quite the summer "cottage" as a birthday gift for his wife. At 120 rooms he probably never needed to worry where to lodge one or two unexpected guests. (How many can you have?) Construction was stopped in 1904 when his wife died unexpectedly at 45 years of age, and the castle was still unfinished. The building was left to deteriorate, and stripped of much of its metal during World War II, and after that it was a popular spot for vandals until 1977, when the 1000 Islands Bridge Authority took it over and began stabilization and restoration work. They opened the grounds to the public, and the place became a favourite wedding spot.
The wedding was great, but the shoes.....murder!
Like Casa Loma the place is mind boggling. Who really needs a 120 room summer house? Executive excess was just as over the top 110 years ago as it is today. The place has it's own power generating station and pump house. It has a separate tower for a "play house", (with more guest apartments) even though it has a substantial billiards and games room on the castle's main floor. You could possibly shoehorn our whole house in the castle's main hallway. $2.5 million 1904 dollars were spent on this. CPI-indexed this works out to be $156 million today.
This is the third time I have visited the place. The first time was about 13 years ago when all they had restored in terms of interior decoration was the hallway floor and the parquet flooring in the ballroom. They probably spent many years and a lot of money on the roof, windows and the structure in general, doing repairs that are not immediately obvious to visitors. When we returned three years ago, the main floor was largely finished, and one bedroom was completed on the second floor.
This time more furniture was added to the main floor, and one of the guides said they will have the kitchen area complete by 2014, totally recreated as it would have been at the time. Two more bedrooms, three bathrooms and a reception room are now completed and furnished on the second floor, and landscaping and retaining walls have been fully repaired everywhere around the building. Oak strip hardwood floors, walnut wainscoting and ornate plaster ceilings have all been repaired and recreated. In a storage room in the basement are about 25 barrels of tile imported from Europe still packed in their original wood shavings, never having been used.
Unfortunately once we got inside the photographer found out the batteries on his flash were dead. For picture of the inside, check this out.
Most of the second, third, fourth floor and basement is still very damaged. Plaster has fallen off the ceilings, exposing some kind of brick work above it. None of the windows have any trim left around them and seven decades of graffiti still adorn every exposed surface. Sometimes they got it right.
After taking in the scale of it in general and it's every over-the-top detail, we got some snacks and sat down at a pick-nick table on one of the lawns. One root beer float was claimed by gravity, but the other brother immediately offered to share his. (High five kid!) After a stop at the souvenir store we got back on the boat for our cruise of the islands.
We had to go through the counting of heads again, and the same man with the large hands and the small gadget came to make a fist at each of us. Once finished he looked at the total and realized he had neglected to reset the gadget to zero before starting the count. His reaction was almost like a kid who missed the school bus....again. Another round of waiving the fist at us and he got the desired total. Off we went.
The other side of the island with the Alster tower playhouse.
The first thing they pointer out is this house called "just far enough". They tell you that it was the summer house of George Boldt's mother in law. She could not swim, so he dropped her off in spring, and picked her up in fall........sure!
"Just far enough"
Then past some fabulous properties:
Casablanca: Formerly the summer home of an American tobacco and sugar planter, now open to the public, and entirely the way it was back then.
The summer home of Helena Rubinstein, cosmetics empire founder and once one of the world's richest women.
The first operating day of the season. You can see that they only took the flag out of the package that morning.
The anti-climactic part of the tour was when they showed us the place where a shipwreck lies under the water. Maybe for friends who are into diving, but to me the water's surface didn't look any different.
Back on land we went through Canadian customs. No shack, just standing right on the dock....did you buy anything? No the castle was great but the souvenirs were crap, and I can buy Thousand Island dressing in the supermarket at home........thanks.
So what happens when you expose two little boys to sun, water, breeze and let them run on some millionaire's restored sloped lawn? They fall asleep almost as soon as they sit in the car. Big sighs were heard from time to time, but that was it for the ride home. They had no idea how many minutes past since we got back on the road.
Can they re-teach me this skill?
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