4th of July was spent in Sackets Harbor, NY, a quaint town dating back to Revolutionary times with museums and a battlefield from the 1800's. The main street were lined with flowers and hanging baskets of flowers on the light poles. One can "OD" on museums after awhile; however, we do try to see what interests the local town offers.
There were fine fireworks shot over the battlefield after brief afternoon thundershowers threatened the show for the evening.
Clayton was our next stop on the side trip up the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Thousand Islands. We thoroughly enjoyed the Classic Antique Boat Museum here. There was everything from canoes to old motors, fishing boats, to racers, to cruisers and shuttle type boats. The "Woody" is very popular here - beautiful wooden hulls that shine with their exquisite finish.
Alexandria Bay's finest attraction is the Boldt Castle, a magnificient castle built by George Boldt for his wife Louise. She took a sudden illness and died before he could finish the gift for her in 1904. He stopped all work on the castle the day she died and never returned to the property. After many years of decay, areas are now being restored. The tour was awesome. It's hard to imagine such wealth so many years ago. Mr. Boldt, an immigrant from Prussia in the 1860's, became the most successful hotel magnate in America, managing/profit sharing the Waldorf-Astoria in New York and the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia.
There really are nearly 1,800 islands, at last count. In order to be considered an island, it must be above water all 12 months of the year and have at least one tree.
Many of the homes are very elaborate and most of them are summer homes. The cost to have electricity run in a cable below the St. Lawrence Seaway to a new island home today is $125 a foot!
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