Thousand Islands – Travel Guide At Wikivoyage

Understand

The Thousand Islands is one of the most scenic spots in Ontario and northern New York. Some 1,864 islands (defined as anything permanently above water that can support at least one tree) dot this portion of the St. Lawrence River that straddles the Ontario/New York border. During the 18th and most of the 19th century, it was a choke point on the St.Lawrence and therefore of vital military importance for both the young United States and the British colony of Canada. The colonial and military influence is still visible on the Canadian side in towns like Kingston, which was established in 1673 as Cataraqui, a small and then-distant French military outpost which controlled entry of fur trading vessels into the Great Lakes. During the War of 1812, Kingston and Oswego were British and American strongholds in the region.

Passenger rail came to Gananoque in 1856 and to Clayton in 1873. Multiple steamboats left Clayton's docks for elaborate hotels on various islands. At the turn of the 20th century, the Thousand Islands were mainly a retreat for the wealthy, some of whom bought a private island for their summer mansion. Dubbed Millionaire's Row, these lavish homes are visible by taking a boat cruises down the river. For New York City's elite in 1874–1912, the region was close enough to be readily accessible by train and steamship but distant enough to be a welcome break from city life of the era. A similar pattern took place in the Adirondacks, where rail transport from Albany and New York City brought the well-to-do in search of waterfront sites to construct "Great Camps" as a luxury of their era.

The popularisation of the now-famous "Thousand Islands" salad dressing dates to this period; while accounts differ, the dressing appears to have originated in Alexandria Bay or Clayton where New York City stage actress May Irwin requested the recipe from Sophia LaLonde (wife of local fishing guide George LaLonde Jr.) to pass it on to George Boldt of Waldolf-Astoria hotel fame (who built Boldt Castle in the region for his wife, Louise). Boldt brought the recipe back to the chefs of the grand New York City hotel, where it would gain fame and popularity.

On the Canadian side, Garden Island was once a shipbuilding centre; the history of the former Calvin Shipyard is recorded in Kingston's Marine Museum of the Great Lakes. As the current Wolfe Island ferry (unlike its predecessors) has never stopped at Garden Island, the settlement is largely a ghost town. A few cottages remain, accessible only seasonally by private watercraft.

The largest of the thousand islands, the 20-mile (32km) long Wolfe Island, was a primarily-agricultural community once home to many tiny, local dairies; among a thousand regional recipes collected from across Canada by the authors of a Laura Secord Canadian Cook Book is a "Wolfe Island Cheese Soufflé". The cheesemakers are now long gone, as are docks and customs facilities which formerly welcomed ships at what was once Port Metcalfe at the easternmost end of the island. A canal which once took vessels from Kingston across Wolfe Island to Carleton Island (NY) and the US mainland rests abandoned. Many farms and cottages remain; a modern addition to the island are forests of electric generation windmills which stand three hundred feet (100m) above the otherwise-rural landscape. The island is popular among bicyclists because of its easy accessibility by provincial ferry from downtown Kingston.

While air travel allowed New York's jet set to travel the world, the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad (RW&O, New York Central) brought its last rail passengers to Clayton's ferry terminal (now Frink Park) in 1951; Gananoque's 1884 Thousand Islands Railway boarded its final passengers in 1962. Amtrak's closest stop is now Syracuse. While mainline Windsor-Quebec corridor passenger trains still run east-west on the old 1856 Grand Trunk (CN) lines through Gananoque Junction (and a rare few may even briefly stop), the tracks to the waterfront are gone. In some places (such as Carleton Island NY) what were once magnificent mansions built in the era of the Thousand Islands as playground for New York's wealthy now stand as deteriorating ruins. Grindstone Island once housed a small community and a pair of one-room schoolhouses. While the ferry to Clayton (New York) no longer runs and the schools are now closed, a handful of residents remain.

Now, the region is mainly cottage country, extremely popular during July and August holidays. Various state or national parks have been established in the islands by both nations; many are accessible only by cruising on small craft, with Wellesley Island State Park as the notable exception.

Visitor information

• Park website