Boldt Castle is known as the castle that love built on an island aptly-called Heart. It’s a century-old tragic love story that has attracted millions of visitors to Boldt Castle near Alexandria Bay N.Y. in the world famous 1000 Islands every year. http://www.boldtcastle.com George C. Boldt, changed the island’s name from Hart to Heart. He also had it the landscape shaped to resemble a heart. Historic Boldt Yacht House is pictured across from the castle on Wellesley Island. It is also open to tourists. Photo by Kim Lunman/Island Life Magazine. George C. Boldt, the owner of the Waldorf-Astor ..read more

Aboriginals called the 1000 Islands Manitouana or “Garden of the Great Spirit” long before European settlers explored the St. Lawrence River in the 1600s. It is still defined by its natural beauty of rugged granite, windswept pines, enchanted waterways and wildlife. The human species here, known locally as River Rats, is not alone in making this special place home. Spend any time here and you will see Great Blue Herons, Osprey and other winged islanders that share this region’s spectacular shores with us and some of these other familiar creatures. Grenadier Island: The Loon is known for its be ..read more

The Thousand Islands International Bridge between Ontario and New York was built in 1938. Photo by Kim Lunman/Island Life Magazine/islandlifemag.ca   It was the year the world met Superman, the year Howard Hughes flew around the world in 91 days, the year Babe Ruth was signed to coach the Brooklyn Dodgers. It was 1938. Ella Fitzgerald’s tune ‘A Tisket A Taskat’ was a number one hit. DC Comics issued its first edition of Superman. World War II loomed as the Nazis invaded Austria. It was against this backdrop in time that the Thousand Island International Bridge was built 80 years ago. Today ..read more

  The 1000 Islands is home to historic lighthouses that tell the stories of our marine heritage, shipwrecks, pirates and the River we keep. Rock Island Light. Photo by Kim Lunman. Some of the lighthouses are open to the public as museums while others were bought from the government and modernized as private cottages. The Saint Lawrence Seaway was built in 1959 and many of the region’s lighthouses were automated or shut down. Yet they remain as a symbol seemingly stopped in time, shining a beacon on our past. Many lighthouses still standing in the 1000 Islands region were built in the early 1 ..read more

  One in a Thousand sunrise over Kismet Island. Photo by Kim Lunman There’s lots of speculation over how this island near Rockport got its name but it has nothing to do with fate. It has to do with steam yacht named Kismet. The island’s owners, Jos and Melinda Bacon, who own an educational publishing house in Ottawa, bought the island retreat in 1998. Soon they started to make the connection between the island’s name and a steam yacht. There’s a painting of Kismet moored in New York City on the living room wall of the Victorian cottage. They also discovered china and glasses from the Kismet ..read more

  At one time, over a century ago, this tranquil island called Leek Island near Gananoque, was a refuge for war-torn soldiers. It was about as far away as one could get from the battlefields across an ocean in World War I. Today, it is known as Thwartway Island, a Thousand Islands National Park of Canada known for its pristine beauty and sandy shorelines that make it popular with boaters.  Thwartway Island. Photo by Kim Lunman. It is hard to imagine its twists in history from a Gilded Era summer retreat to convalescent hospital for soldiers to a summer public playground today. In fact, rema ..read more

  Paul Island It’s the towering tree that you first notice about this small island just west of Brockville. It almost resembles a palm tree from a distance. But this is nowhere near the tropics not even on this humid August afternoon. The solitary Elm tree looms large over Paul Island in the Amateur Group of Islands in the St. Lawrence River. This island gets its name from its current owners: The Paul family. Inside the little cottage, there’s a sign that says it all: “Bill Paul’s Dream.”  Bill Paul purchased the island in 1985. The pilot, who had flown over the 1000 Islands many times, sp ..read more

  The 1000 Islands is internationally-renowned for its castles and cottages but one cannot overlook another architectural gem: The beloved boathouse. Some are over a century old built as lavish retreats on their own, with bedrooms, dining rooms, fireplaces and even ballrooms. Grand boathouses dotted the River during its Golden Age when wealthy business barons owned fleets of vessels, including steam yachts, skiffs and raced the River in wooden speed boats with names like Snail and P.D.Q. (Pretty Damn Quick). Today some of them have been remarkably restored to the glamour of the Gilded Era, whi ..read more

I love boat watching in the 1000 Islands. There is nothing better than River traffic. It is the only traffic worth watching, a picturesque parade of ships, power boats, sailboats, yachts, skiffs and classic antique wooden boats. Kenneth Grahame, the author of The Wind in the Willows wrote: “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”  Photo by Kim Lunman/Island Life Magazine  Boaters’ Paradise: The 1000 Islands has some of the world’s best fresh water boating.  Photo by Kim Lunman/Island Life Magazine   Hi ..read more

George Wambach, a fruit farmer, discovered Surveyor Island between Rockport and Ivy Lea during a visit to the 1000 Islands 91 years ago. He was charmed by the Canadian island and its Camp Gothic-style cottage with a wraparound veranda overlooking the channel. The first owner, Mathias Donald Horton, purchased Surveyors Island in 1897. Wambach bought the retreat in 1927, starting a family tradition that would span decades. Surveyors Island. Photo by Kim Lunman The Wambach family of Rochester N.Y. has owned Surveyor Island since 1925. Photos by Kim Lunman/Island Life Magazine The Wambachs too ..read more