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New York: Thousand Islands – Visiting Boldt & Singer Castles
🏝️ The Thousand Islands — More Islands Than You Can Shake a Stick At
Straddling the border between Canada and the United States, the Thousand Islands archipelago sits in the St. Lawrence River, right where it flows out of the northeastern corner of Lake Ontario. And before you ask — yes, there really are that many. One thousand, eight hundred and sixty-four of them, to be precise, stretching for roughly 50 miles downstream from Kingston, Ontario. The Canadian ones sit in the province of Ontario, the American ones in New York State. To qualify for the official count, a bit of land has to poke above the waterline all year round and support at least two living trees. So no cheating with a sandbar and a pot plant, then. They range from proper islands of over 40 square miles right down to glorified rocks with a couple of scraggly trees clinging on for dear life — which, frankly, is exactly how I feel on a Monday morning.
⛵ Alexandria Bay — Where the Seriously Wealthy Used to Summer
We headed up to the Alexandria Bay area, which back in the late 19th century had become the fashionable retreat of choice for America’s gilded elite. The Vanderbilts, the Pullmans, the sort of people who didn’t need to check the price of anything, ever — they all descended on this stretch of the St. Lawrence each summer, building elaborate “cottages” that were, in reality, anything but. The area had been drawing well-heeled visitors since the 1870s, when steamboat travel made the river newly accessible and wealthy New Yorkers discovered that upstate summers were considerably more bearable than sweltering in the city.
🏰 Castles, Boat Tours and the Inevitable Dithering
We only had a couple of days, so we did what any sensible person does — booked a boat tour. Specifically, a combo tour taking in both Singer Castle and Boldt Castle, two rather extraordinary piles sitting out on the river. There are several operators running tours in the area, and after the usual amount of dithering, second-guessing, and going down internet rabbit holes, we settled on Uncle Sam Boat Tours, which operates out of Alexandria Bay, New York. As it turned out, a perfectly solid choice — though I’ll reserve judgement on the castles themselves for later.
🚢 Out on the Water — Singer Castle and the St. Lawrence Seaway
The first leg of the tour headed out towards Singer Castle, which took roughly an hour each way. Honestly, that was no hardship at all. The boat wound its way through the Thousand Islands — and there really are a thousand of them, give or take, scattered across the St. Lawrence like someone had dropped a bag of green confetti into the river and couldn’t be bothered to pick it up. Each island seemed to have its own little story, its own peculiar character, and the guides were good at filling you in on the lives people have lived out here on the water. It was, in the most unexpectedly pleasant way, genuinely fascinating.
One word of advice, and do take this seriously: bring a jacket. Even in high summer, it was noticeably chilly out on the river in the mornings. I did not bring a jacket. I regretted not bringing a jacket. Don’t be me.
🌊 The H2O Highway — More Than Just a Pretty River
The St. Lawrence is not some sleepy scenic waterway just sitting there looking lovely for the tourists. It is a serious, working shipping channel, and has been for centuries. The river forms the centrepiece of what is officially known as the St. Lawrence Seaway — a vast engineering system of locks, canals and channels shared between Canada and the United States, which first opened in 1959 after decades of planning and negotiation. The whole thing was quite an achievement, even if it did take an embarrassingly long time to agree on.
What this system does — and it does it rather well — is allow ocean-going vessels to travel all the way from the Atlantic Ocean inland to the Great Lakes, reaching as far as Duluth, Minnesota, at the western tip of Lake Superior. That’s nearly 3,700 kilometres from the sea. Taken together, the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes form the longest deep-draft navigation system on the planet, cutting deep into the North American heartland. The system encompasses all five Great Lakes — Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario — their connecting channels, and the river itself all the way down to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They didn’t call it the ‘H2O Highway’ for nothing.
🚤 Lakers, Salties, and Things That Are Much Bigger Than You’d Expect
As we made our way along the river, we passed a steady procession of commercial ships, which were — and I say this as someone who thought he’d be largely unmoved by large boats — actually quite impressive up close.
There were two distinct types to look out for. First, the Lakers: these are vessels built specifically to operate within the Great Lakes and Seaway System, and they almost never leave it. They’re designed to fit the locks precisely, and their profile is quite distinctive — long, low and flat, like a very large floating barge that takes itself rather seriously.
The second type were the Salties — ocean-going ships that come in from overseas and navigate the Seaway to trade with inland ports. You could spot them easily enough. They tend to have a V-shaped hull and a sharper, more pointed bow, built for cutting through open ocean swells rather than placid lake water. Many of them also carry cranes mounted on deck, which they use to load and unload cargo at ports that don’t have their own lifting equipment. They looked, frankly, like they had seen things. Proper ships, doing proper work.
🏰 Singer Castle on Dark Island
Singer Castle made quite a sight as we approached it by boat. Honestly, it looked like someone had picked up a Scottish castle, given it a good scrub, and plopped it down in the middle of the St Lawrence River. All turrets and battlements, the whole medieval business — though, as we later discovered, those battlements were purely decorative. Nobody was ever going to pour boiling oil on invaders from the top of this one. It was designed to look dramatic, not to repel Viking raids.
And that Scottish impression was no accident. The original owners, the Bourne family, had hired the rather distinguished American architect Ernest Flagg to design the place. Flagg, to his credit, didn’t just make something up — he took his inspiration from Woodstock, a novel by Sir Walter Scott published in 1826, which romanticised the idea of medieval castle life. So there you have it: a Scottish literary fantasy, built in stone in the middle of upstate New York. Very sensible.
📜 Now for the History Bit
We disembarked from our boat and sorted ourselves into tour groups, which is the point at which I normally find myself at the back pretending to read something on my phone. But the history here was actually rather good, so I paid attention for once.
It was around 1902 that the Bourne family acquired Dark Island. This was precisely the moment when the Thousand Islands region was becoming the fashionable summer playground for America’s obscenely wealthy — the kind of people who didn’t so much go on holiday as establish seasonal residences. Frederick Gilbert Bourne was very much one of those people. He had made his considerable fortune as the fifth President of the Singer Sewing Machine Company — at the time, one of the most globally recognised brands on the planet, with factories and offices across Europe, North America and beyond. Hence: Singer Castle. It’s not complicated.
Construction began in 1903 and was completed by 1905. The final bill came to somewhere in the region of $500,000 — which, if you want to feel suitably depressed about inflation, translates to something approaching $17 million today. For that, the Bournes got a four-storey castle with 28 rooms, a four-storey tower, an elaborate boathouse, and a thoroughly impractical island to put it all on. The island itself was largely bare rock, so more than 2,000 loads of topsoil were shipped over from Canada to create what passed for gardens. On top of that, tonnes of granite were quarried from nearby Oak Island and ferried across to form the actual structure of the building. The whole operation was, by any measure, an extraordinary logistical effort — though presumably rather easier when you have essentially unlimited money and a lot of other people to do the hard work.
When the family summered there — and they were very much summering, not merely staying — they called the place “The Towers,” a nod to its medieval silhouette rising up from the river. It had a rather lovely ring to it, though “Singer Castle” has obviously stuck a good deal better over the years.
💀 What Happened Next (It Gets a Bit Sad)
Frederick Bourne died in 1919, leaving behind an estate valued at approximately $43 million. His daughters May and Marjorie subsequently purchased the castle and island from their siblings, keeping it within the family for a few more decades. But in 1961, Marjorie Bourne sold Dark Island to the LaSalle Military Academy of Long Island — and here’s the detail that tends to make people’s jaws drop — for the grand sum of one hundred dollars. Not a misprint. $100. One assumes the accountants needed a lie-down after that transaction.
Unfortunately, LaSalle Military Academy had rather limited use for a remote castle sitting in a river, which is fair enough — most military academies do. The castle was left largely unattended and, as tends to happen when nobody’s looking after a large stone building in a cold and wet climate, it fell into significant disrepair over the following decades. It sat on the market for years with no takers, quietly crumbling and presumably being very atmospheric about the whole thing.
The turnaround came in 2001, when the property was acquired by Dark Island Tours, Inc. and a consortium of private investors who had the vision — and, crucially, the funds — to rescue it. An extensive restoration programme was undertaken to stabilise, repair and adapt the castle for public use. Tours began in 2003, and Singer Castle has been welcoming visitors ever since, which is rather a better ending than it might otherwise have had.
Tour groups at this particular castle are staggered — sensibly, as it turns out — which means not everyone starts in the same place at the same time. You’re not all herded through the same door like cattle at a particularly disorganised farm. Our group began outside, in the castle grounds themselves, which was, frankly, no great hardship. Wandering around the exterior first actually made a lot of sense — it gave you a proper feel for the scale of the place before you headed inside to have your mind properly boggled. Castles, as a rule, don’t reveal themselves all at once, and this one was no exception.
🏰 Inside the Castle — Where History Gets Properly Weird
After we’d finished poking around the grounds, it was time to head inside, which is really what we’d all been waiting for. The ground floor is where you find the main common rooms — the grand entrance hall, the library, the dining room, and several sitting rooms — all of which are exactly as grand as they sound, and none of which I was allowed to sit down in, which felt like a bit of a liberty.
⚔️ The Great Hall — Medieval Cosplay Done Properly
The most extraordinary room on the ground floor is undoubtedly the great hall, which is built entirely in medieval style. And when I say medieval, I mean the full works — stone walls, a whopping great marble fireplace, and a coat of armour standing in the corner looking considerably more alert than most of us by that point in the tour. What gives the room its peculiar, slightly unsettling charm is the mix of eras crammed into one space. Alongside the stone walls and armour, someone had seen fit to display a collection of antique Singer sewing machines — those black cast-iron beauties that Victorian and Edwardian housewives once pedalled furiously to keep the household clothed. Singer had been founded in New York back in 1851, and by the late 19th century their machines had found their way into homes across the English-speaking world. Quite what they’re doing in a medieval great hall is anyone’s guess, but there they are. The room itself is genuinely large, but the owners clearly felt it wasn’t quite large enough, because they’d installed infinity mirrors that make the whole thing look as though it goes on forever. It doesn’t, obviously. I checked.
🍷 Wine Cellars, Servant Bells, and the Staff Who Had to Run
Continuing through the castle, we found a wine cellar, a breakfast room, and a formal dining room — the sort of dining room where you imagine everyone sitting in stiff silence, pretending the food is better than it is. What made the dining room genuinely interesting was the row of brass buttons concealed beneath the table edge, each one connected to a bell in the servants’ quarters below. This was entirely standard practice in British country houses from the Georgian period onwards, roughly the mid-18th century through to the early 20th. The whole system was designed so that the gentry upstairs could summon help without doing anything so undignified as raising their voice or, heaven forbid, getting up. In fact, almost every room in the castle has one of these buttons — they’re everywhere, a little reminder of just how many people were employed to keep the whole show running. The one notable exception is what’s referred to as “Marjorie’s suite,” in the castle’s newer wing. Whether Marjorie simply didn’t like being waited on, or whether she preferred to fetch things herself, history has not recorded. I rather admire her, whoever she was.
📚 The Grand Library — With a Secret Passage to the Wine, Obviously
The grand library is panelled throughout in rich walnut, which gives it the warm, slightly musty feel of a room that takes itself very seriously indeed. There are floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, the kind that make you feel vaguely inadequate, and the whole room has the air of somewhere important decisions were once made, or at least considered. But the library’s real party trick — and it’s a good one — is the secret passageway hidden behind the shelving, which connects directly back to the wine cellar. Now, the official version is that this was built so that servants could deliver wine to the library quickly and discreetly, without having to traipse through the main corridors. That’s probably true. It’s also true that a hidden passage directly linking books and booze is the most sensible architectural decision I’ve encountered in years. There’s also a painting on the library wall that tips forward away from its frame, creating a gap just large enough for someone standing behind the wall to peer into the room. It is, in other words, a proper spy hole — the sort of thing you’d find in an Agatha Christie novel, and which makes you wonder who was watching whom, and why.
🚪 The Secret Passage to the Dungeon — We Have Questions
Perhaps the most baffling feature of the entire interior is the secret passage running directly from the owner’s private office down to a dungeon. A dungeon. An actual dungeon. Why a man running what was, by all appearances, a prosperous country estate in the modern era felt the need for a dungeon off his office is a question that nobody on the tour was able to answer with any confidence. The guide didn’t seem entirely sure either, which I found both reassuring and slightly worrying. We pressed on regardless, as one does.
🏰 Singer Castle — Frozen in Time
Singer Castle was, without question, one of the most remarkable places we visited on the entire trip. Unlike its more famous neighbour, Boldt Castle, which has spent decades being slowly pieced back together like a very expensive jigsaw puzzle, Singer Castle had been left almost entirely as it was. The antique fixtures were still there. The furnishings were still there. The whole place felt as though whoever had lived there had simply nipped out to the shops and never come back. It was like walking onto a film set, except that real, actual human beings had eaten breakfast there and gone about their daily lives. I found that genuinely extraordinary, though I accept that says more about my low threshold for excitement than anything else.
For those with deeper pockets than mine — and there are plenty of you, I’m sure — Singer Castle actually offers overnight stays in the Royal Suite, which sleeps up to six people and sits on Dark Island in New York’s famous Thousand Islands on the St Lawrence River. The suite manages the tricky business of blending genuine period charm with modern comforts, and guests can apparently request meals delivered to any room they fancy. Not bad for a castle that nobody seemed particularly bothered about for most of the twentieth century. With that, we clambered back onto the boat and pointed ourselves back downriver towards Boldt Castle.
🏰 Boldt Castle, Heart Island — A Love Story Gone Horribly Wrong
Now, if you’ve ever wanted proof that money can’t buy you happiness — or, for that matter, decent timing — then the story of Boldt Castle on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River is pretty much it.
George Boldt was, by any measure, a seriously successful man. Born in Prussia in 1851, he’d worked his way up to become the general manager of the legendary Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City — arguably the grandest hotel in America at the time — and also ran the rather splendid Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. The man knew how to do things properly. So, around the turn of the 20th century, he purchased a modest little island called Hart Island in the St. Lawrence River and moved his wife Louise and their two children into the existing house there. All perfectly sensible so far.
But George being George, a modest house simply wasn’t going to cut it. Inspired by the romantic, turreted castles along the Rhine River in Germany — the sort of thing that makes tourists reach for their cameras and architects reach for their calculators — he decided to build Louise her very own castle. And I mean that almost literally. The whole project was a grand declaration of love. Hearts were incorporated into the stonework, the ironwork, practically everything that didn’t move. He even had the island itself dynamited and reshaped into a heart, and — in a stroke of either genius or complete madness, depending on your point of view — changed the island’s name from Hart Island to Heart Island. Subtle, George. Very subtle.
Construction began in earnest around 1900, with some 300 workers on site, and by early 1904 the six-storey, 120-room castle was very nearly finished. Boldt was just weeks away from presenting the whole extraordinary thing to Louise as a gift. And then, in January 1904, Louise died suddenly in New York City at the age of 41.
George Boldt sent a telegram to the island. Stop all work. And that was that. The tools went down, the workers went home, and the castle stood empty, unfinished, and quietly falling apart for the next 73 years. Nobody touched it. The windows let in the weather, the St. Lawrence winters did their worst, and the whole magnificent folly slowly crumbled. A genuine tragedy, dressed up in turrets and stonework.
Eventually the island changed hands a few times, and at some point well-meaning people began offering tours of the ruins — which, if nothing else, proves that humans will cheerfully pay to look at almost anything. But without any serious maintenance, deterioration continued at a steady pace.
Then, thankfully, in 1977, the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority stepped in, took ownership of the castle, and began the long and expensive business of saving it from complete ruin. Restoration work has been ongoing ever since, with millions of dollars poured into stabilising the structure and restoring something of its original grandeur.
Today, Boldt Castle is quite rightly considered one of the defining landmarks of the Thousand Islands region and, honestly, one of the more genuinely moving places we visited on the whole trip. It’s equal parts romantic folly, architectural spectacle, and rather melancholy love story — which, when you think about it, is a pretty good combination.
🏰 Heart Island & Boldt Castle
Heart Island sits just across the water from the rather charming little town of Alexandria Bay — locals call it Alex Bay, which saves everyone a bit of bother — and it’s a short hop from Wellesley Island, one of the bigger islands strung along the St Lawrence River. The island is served by what feels like half the tour boat fleet of North America, and the dock is a proper hubbub of activity, with people piling on and off at a rate of knots. Once you’ve made it ashore and gathered your wits, you’re free to wander the grounds, visit the main castle and poke around the outbuildings at your own pace, which is rather civilised.
🌿 The Grounds…
🏰 Inside the Castle — Grand But Never Finished
One of the more intriguing things about Boldt Castle is that, for all its grandeur, it was never actually completed. So everything we saw inside — the room finishes, the decorations, the furniture — had all been installed as part of the ongoing restoration. It’s all been done thoughtfully and in period style, but it’s worth keeping that in mind as you wander around feeling terribly impressed with yourself for appreciating Edwardian opulence.
The ground floor is where the reception rooms are, and there are some properly impressive spaces down here. There’s a large dining room that could comfortably seat a small army, a sitting room, and a music room — because of course there’s a music room. All three rooms connect through a genuinely spectacular atrium entrance hall, with a grand staircase of the sort that makes you instinctively want to make an entrance down it, even if there’s nobody watching. We resisted, just about.
As is always the way with us whenever we visit a historic house, the kitchen was the room we made a beeline for. There’s something endlessly fascinating about the working guts of a great house — the cast iron ranges, the vast preparation tables, the sheer industrial scale of it all. It is considerably more impressive than our kitchen at home, though that’s not saying a great deal.
From the main entrance hall, a flight of steps led us down into the basement. There’s not a great deal to see down here — it was always intended as a working storage level — but we poked around anyway, following the labyrinth of small interconnected spaces. It’s the sort of place that’s oddly satisfying to wander through, even if you’re not entirely sure why.
Back upstairs and up another floor, the rooms have been refurbished as bedrooms, which is exactly what they would have been had the castle ever been finished. They’re lavish, as you’d expect, and many of them have their own fireplace. I’ve never had a bedroom fireplace in my life, and the idea of it sounds genuinely lovely — until you remember that someone has to clean the wretched thing out every morning. Probably not George Boldt himself, admittedly.
The upper floors haven’t been touched by the restorers yet, and honestly, they’re just as interesting as the grand rooms below. The bare plaster, exposed brickwork and stripped-back spaces give you a very real sense of what the whole place looked like when it was just sitting there abandoned and unloved — which, as it turns out, is rather atmospheric in its own right.
So while we thoroughly enjoyed the stately rooms on the ground and first floors, there was something equally compelling about wandering through the raw, unfinished upper storeys. It’s the difference between seeing a beautifully dressed stage set and being allowed to poke around behind the scenery. Both are worth your time, and between the two you get a proper picture of what Boldt Castle actually is — part grand restoration project, part magnificent, crumbling work in progress.
🕊️ The Dovecote — Fowl Play on Heart Island
Before we visited Boldt Manor, we’d spent a fair amount of time looking at photographs of the grounds and, more specifically, the outbuildings. And honestly, it was the outbuildings that got us on the boat in the first place. They are not large structures by any means, but what they lack in size they more than make up for in sheer architectural fantasy. There’s something wonderfully unhinged about them — a sort of Dr Seuss-meets-Tolkien quality that you really don’t expect to find on a small island in the St Lawrence River. Nobody builds like this anymore, more’s the pity.
The Dovecote — also known, rather brilliantly, as the Hennery — was the first structure built on the island, which makes it something of a founding father among the outbuildings. George Boldt used it to house his collection of fancy fowl, which is exactly the sort of hobby you’d expect from a man who also built a castle for his wife. The tower rises to sixty feet, which is an extraordinary amount of headroom for a chicken, or whatever exotic birds Boldt was keeping up there. They were, by any measure, very well-accommodated birds.
What makes it all the more interesting is that the structure predates Boldt’s ownership of the island entirely. It was originally built to serve as a powerhouse for E. Kirke Hart’s cottage, which stood here before Boldt arrived and started doing things properly.
⚡ The Powerhouse and Clock Tower — Form Meets Function
If there’s one structure at Boldt Castle that gets photographed more than anything else, it’s the Powerhouse and Clock Tower. And honestly, it’s not hard to see why — the thing looks like it was lifted straight out of a Medieval fantasy and dropped into the St. Lawrence River, which is exactly what George Boldt had in mind when he had it designed.
It sits at the eastern end of Heart Island, rising dramatically out of the water from an underwater shoal, connected to the main island by a rather beautiful arched stone bridge that is genuinely one of a kind. The whole composition is the sort of thing that makes people reach for their cameras before they’ve even thought about it. We were no different, obviously.
What’s easy to forget, standing there admiring it, is that this was a working building. Beneath all that medieval pageantry sat two generators that supplied electricity to the entire island — which was no small undertaking at the turn of the twentieth century. Sadly, most of the original equipment is long gone, lost to time and a serious fire in 1939 that caused enough damage to make it one of the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority’s largest ever reconstruction projects. A few pieces of original machinery remain on display, which is better than nothing, we supposed.
What’s there now, alongside the surviving equipment, is a collection of photographs and displays covering life in the Thousand Islands around the turn of the century. Worth a good look.
🗼 The Alster Tower
If Boldt Castle is the main event, the Alster Tower was the bit we actually liked the most. There’s something about it that just works — it sits on the island looking quietly magical, like something a slightly eccentric Victorian had sketched on a napkin after a particularly good dinner, and then somehow actually built. Which, when you think about it, is essentially what happened.
The Tower was completed in 1899, a few years before construction on the main castle got properly underway, and it was designed entirely around having a good time — which immediately makes it more appealing than most buildings. Inside, you’ll find a two-lane bowling alley, a kitchen, a billiard room, a Venetian Room, a library, a Shell Room and a theatre. George Boldt, it’s fair to say, was not a man who sat quietly reading on his holidays.
Unlike the main castle, the Boldt family actually used the Tower, right up until Louise’s death in 1904, which gives it a rather different feeling. There’s a sense that real life happened here, rather than it being a grand stage that was abandoned before the curtain ever went up.
Much of the interior is still waiting to be renovated — the bowling alleys in particular are a work in progress — but even in its current state it’s a fascinating wander around. When it’s eventually finished, and if they do it half as well as the castle, it’s going to be something rather special.
⚓ The Yacht House
Just across the channel from Heart Island, on Wellesley Island, sits the Boldt family Yacht House, and getting there is half the fun. A shuttle boat makes the five-minute crossing, which is a perfectly pleasant little trip and gives you a decent view of both islands from the water — something you don’t quite get any other way.
Now, there is a small additional charge on top of the main entry fee to get in here, which provoked the usual mild grumbling on our part. But we will grudgingly admit it was worth it. The Yacht House is a seriously impressive building — far grander than anything that has any business being called a place to park boats. It rises a full 64 feet, which is taller than a great many things that aren’t boat sheds, and houses a workshop where racing launches were once built, along with quarters for the crew and staff who kept the whole nautical operation running.
The architecture is what really stops you in your tracks. This is full-blown Gilded Age showmanship, done in the shingle style that was fashionable among the seriously wealthy at the turn of the last century. There are tremendous towers and spires, steep-pitched gables, and an overall sense that whoever designed it was told the budget was not a concern and took that instruction very much to heart. As boat storage goes, it’s extraordinary. As buildings go, it’s rather wonderful.
We found a lovely collection of antique wooden boats on display inside the Yacht House — all courtesy of the Antique Boat Museum over in Clayton, New York, which clearly has very good taste in lending arrangements.
The centrepiece of the whole thing is a magnificent 1892 Steam Yacht, and it’s a proper showstopper. In the years before petrol engines muscled their way in and ruined everything, private steam yachts were very much the thing on the St. Lawrence and Hudson Rivers, on Long Island Sound, and across the Great Lakes. The wealthy families of the Gilded Age practically queued up to own one. Sitting in the Yacht House now, you can absolutely see why — there’s an elegance to these vessels that modern boats, with all their fibreglass and electronics, simply cannot match. Progress, as ever, has a lot to answer for.
The first floor living quarters of the Yacht House had been restored to a very decent standard — and by decent, I mean rather lovely, if I’m being honest. These weren’t the grand, gilded rooms of the main castle next door, but they were comfortable, tastefully done, and genuinely appealing in a way that all that Edwardian excess occasionally isn’t. We stood there for a moment just taking it all in, and I found myself doing that thing where you start mentally moving your furniture in. Karen gave me the look that suggested she knew exactly what I was thinking. She was right, as usual. If someone offered us the keys tomorrow we wouldn’t say no — though I suspect the heating bills alone would finish us off before winter was out.
In summary …
- If you take the Singer and Boldt Castles tour then this is a full day out
- It can be a little chilly out on the water so bring a jacket, especially if you want to sit outside on the boat!
- This is a great opportunity to look at how the rich and famous lived during America’s ‘Gilded Age’
About Singer and Boldt Castle visits
🏰 Singer Castle (Dark Island)
| 📍 Location | Dark Island, Chippewa Bay, NY 13623 | 🕖 Opening Times | Mid-May – mid-Oct; daily Jun 14 – Sep 7, 9:45 AM – 3:30 PM (last tour) |
| 🌐 Website | singercastle.com | 📞 Phone | 1-877-327-5475 / 315-486-3275 |
🚢 How to Get There — Singer Castle is on an island and accessible by water only
| 🛥️ Uncle Sam Boat Tours | 3-hour two-castle tours from Alexandria Bay | 315-482-2611 / usboattours.com |
| ⛴️ Schermerhorn Harbor Shuttle | Hammond, NY — Wed–Sat, Jun 17–Aug 29 only | 315-324-5966 / schermerhornharbor.com |
| 🚢 Rockport Cruises (Canada) | Departures from Rockport, Ontario | 613-659-3402 / rockportcruises.com |
| ⚓ Private Boat | 600 ft of free dockage; call ahead | VHF Channel 16 / 315-324-3275 |
🎟️ Entry Fees
| Adult (13+) | Child (4–12) | Under 4 | Military Adult | Military Child |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $14.75 | $7.75 | Free | $12.75 | $6.75 |
ℹ️ All tours are guided, 45 minutes, on the hour. Stairs and walking required. No strollers inside. No food, drink, or pets on grounds.
🏯 Boldt Castle (Heart Island)
| 📍 Location | Heart Island, Alexandria Bay, NY 13607 | 🕖 Opening Times | May 9 – Oct 12, 10:30 AM – 6:30 PM (admissions close 1 hr before closing) |
| 🌐 Website | boldtcastle.com | 📞 Phone | 315-482-9724 (in season) / 315-482-2501 (off season) |
🚢 How to Get There — Boldt Castle is on an island and accessible by water only
| 🛥️ Uncle Sam Boat Tours (US) | Alexandria Bay — departures every 30 mins from 10:30 AM | 315-482-2611 / usboattours.com |
| ⛴️ Clayton Island Tours (US) | Clayton, NY — call for schedule | 315-686-4820 / claytonislandtours.com |
| 🚢 Gananoque City Cruises (Canada) | Gananoque, Ontario | 888-717-4837 / cityexperiences.com/gananoque |
| 🚢 Rockport Cruises (Canada) | Rockport, Ontario | 613-659-3402 / rockportcruises.com |
| ⚓ Private Boat | Extensive dockage on Heart Island | — |
🎟️ Entry Fees
| Castle Only | Yacht House Only | Castle + Yacht House | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult (13+) | $14.00 | $8.50 | $17.00 |
| Child (5–12) | $10.00 | $6.00 | $10.00 |
| Under 5 | Free | Free | Free |
ℹ️ Self-guided tours. No climate control — dress for the weather. No pets except registered service animals. Accepts major credit cards and US cash. Canadian visitors must carry valid ID.
Opening dates and times are seasonal and subject to change. Confirm current schedules directly with each castle before visiting. Boat tour transportation is not included in castle admission prices.
Best time to visit New York State
New York State is a destination of remarkable diversity — from the glittering streets of Manhattan to the wild peaks of the Adirondacks, from the glacial Finger Lakes to the thundering curtain of Niagara Falls. Knowing when to go, and where, makes all the difference between a memorable trip and a frustrating one. This guide breaks down the best times to visit each major region by season, with advice on what to pack.
🌸 Spring (March–May)
Spring arrives unevenly across the state. New York City sheds its winter grey by April, when cherry blossoms bloom in Central Park and the Botanical Gardens and the streets regain their lively energy. It is one of the finest times to visit the city: hotel rates are lower than summer, queues are manageable, and the mild temperatures make walking a pleasure. The Hudson Valley bursts into colour as orchards blossom and the great estates reopen their gardens. The Catskills are waking up but can still be muddy and cold, with some hiking trails remaining snow-covered into April.
Further north, spring comes late and hesitantly. The Adirondacks remain wintry well into May, with black fly season beginning in earnest from mid-May onward — a real deterrent for hikers. The Finger Lakes are chilly but already pouring, with many wineries open and far fewer tourists than summer. Niagara Falls is spectacular in spring, with snowmelt sending vast volumes of water crashing over the precipice, and crowds are thin. Long Island remains quiet, with the Hamptons firmly in off-season mode until Memorial Day weekend. The Capital Region and Saratoga are pleasant in spring, particularly as the racing season begins to generate anticipation.
What to pack for spring: Layering is essential — mornings and evenings can be cold even when afternoons are warm. Bring a waterproof jacket, a mid-layer fleece or light down jacket, comfortable walking shoes or light hiking boots, and an umbrella. Insect repellent is strongly advisable for the Adirondacks and Catskills from May onwards.
☀️ Summer (June–August)
Summer is peak season across most of the state, and for good reason. Long Island and the Hamptons come fully alive, with the Atlantic beaches among the finest in the north-east. The Hamptons in July and August are glamorous but expensive and congested; the North Fork is a quieter alternative, combining beaches with outstanding wine country. The Finger Lakes reach their zenith in summer — warm enough to kayak and swim, with vineyard terraces in full production and farmers’ markets overflowing. Watkins Glen State Park is at its most dramatic, and Seneca and Cayuga Lakes are ideal for sailing.
The Adirondacks in July and August offer world-class hiking, paddling, and wild swimming. The High Peaks are accessible to experienced walkers, and smaller summits reward those with less experience. Lake Placid, host to two Winter Olympics, reinvents itself as a hiking and cycling destination in summer. Niagara Falls and western New York are at their most popular, with long queues and high hotel rates — book well in advance. The North Country along the St Lawrence Seaway comes into its own, with the Thousand Islands offering scenic boat trips and peaceful cycling.
New York City in summer can be oppressively humid and hot, particularly in July and August. The city does not shut down — Broadway runs, the museums are superb, and free outdoor events abound — but it is not the most comfortable season for walking all day. Rooftop bars and air-conditioned galleries become essential refuges. The Capital Region and Saratoga are lively with racing at the famous Saratoga Race Course in August, one of the oldest thoroughbred racing venues in America.
What to pack for summer: Lightweight, breathable clothing is the priority. Include a light rain jacket, comfortable walking shoes, sunscreen and sunglasses, and a swimsuit. For hiking regions, add moisture-wicking layers, sturdy boots, and plenty of insect repellent. New York City summers require comfortable shoes above all else; smart casual attire is fine for most restaurants and venues.
🍂 Autumn (September–November)
Autumn is arguably the finest season in New York State, and it is the best overall time to visit for the majority of travellers. The foliage season is one of the most celebrated natural spectacles in the world. The Adirondacks and Catskills turn from late September, with peak colour typically in the first two weeks of October. The Hudson Valley follows, its river-flanked hills ablaze in red, orange, and gold. Apple-picking and pumpkin farms open throughout the region, and the harvest season brings farmers’ markets to their peak.
New York City in autumn — particularly September and October — is at its most seductive. The heat and humidity have gone, the summer tourists have thinned, and the cultural season begins in earnest. The Metropolitan Opera reopens, Broadway launches its new productions, and the city settles into a purposeful, energetic rhythm. Fares and hotel rates are still competitive in September, rising as October progresses. The Finger Lakes harvest season in September and October draws oenophiles from across the country, with winemaker events and harvest festivals at many estates. Long Island’s North Fork wine country is at its best in autumn, and the beaches are quieter but still pleasant in September.
November is a mixed month: the foliage is largely over, many rural businesses begin to close or reduce hours, and temperatures drop sharply. Thanksgiving week in New York City is a spectacle in itself, with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade drawing vast crowds, though hotel prices spike considerably.
What to pack for autumn: Layers are essential and should be versatile. A medium-weight waterproof jacket, warm jumper or fleece, scarf, and light gloves for November are all recommended. Comfortable walking shoes or ankle boots suit the city well; sturdy hiking boots are needed for trail walks. Bring a camera — the foliage demands it.
❄️ Winter (December–February)
Winter divides travellers into two camps: those who love it and those who avoid it. New York City at Christmas is genuinely magical — ice rinks at Rockefeller Center and Bryant Park, the department store window displays, the holiday markets at Bryant Park and Columbus Circle, and the extraordinary energy of New Year’s Eve. January and February are quieter, colder, and far better value, with hotel rates dropping and museums and restaurants less crowded.
The Adirondacks become a winter wonderland beloved by skiers, snowshoers, and ice climbers. Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid is the premier ski resort in the north-east, with reliable snowfall and long vertical drops. The Catskills offer several ski areas — Windham, Hunter, and Belleayre among them — within easy reach of New York City. The Finger Lakes are cold and largely quiet, though ice wine production and cosy winery visits make for a romantic winter break. Niagara Falls is spectacular but brutally cold; the mist freezes on railings and trees, creating an ice-draped landscape of eerie beauty, and crowds are almost non-existent.
Long Island and the Hamptons are very quiet and many businesses close entirely. The North Country and Capital Region endure heavy snow and are best visited only by those specifically seeking winter sports. Saratoga Springs, however, is a charming small city in winter, with its Victorian architecture and spa tradition making it an appealing year-round destination.
What to pack for winter: Pack warmly and in serious layers. A heavy, windproof and waterproof coat is non-negotiable. Add thermal base layers, a warm hat, gloves or mittens, a scarf, and waterproof boots with good grip for icy pavements. In New York City, smart-looking winter boots work well for both street and restaurant. For ski regions, full ski or snowboard gear is needed; kit can be hired locally if not bringing your own.
🗺️ Regional Summary
New York City is best in September–October and April–May. Avoid July and August if heat bothers you.
Hudson Valley & Catskills peaks in September–October for foliage and in April–May for blossom. Summer is pleasant but busier.
The Adirondacks are best in July–August for hiking and September for foliage, or December–March for skiing. Avoid black fly season in May.
The Finger Lakes shine in summer for swimming and sailing and in September–October for the harvest and wine season.
Niagara Falls & Western New York are most impressive in spring and summer; winter is dramatic but very cold. Book ahead for July and August.
Long Island & The Hamptons are exclusively a late May to September destination, with September being the sweet spot between crowds and warmth.
North Country & St Lawrence is best in July and August for outdoor pursuits, or winter for snowmobiling and skiing.
Capital Region & Saratoga peaks in August with the racing season; autumn and spring are pleasant alternatives.
🌟 The Overall Best Time to Visit New York State
If there is one season to choose above all others for a first or broad visit to New York State, it is early autumn — specifically the last week of September and the first two weeks of October. During this window, New York City is at its most liveable, the Hudson Valley and Catskills are ablaze with foliage colour, the Finger Lakes wine harvest is in full swing, and the Adirondacks offer golden trails and cooler, clearer air without the biting cold of November. Temperatures are comfortable across the state, the summer crowds have retreated, and the landscape is simply breathtaking. For those who want to experience the full breadth of what New York State offers — world-class city culture, spectacular natural beauty, outstanding food and wine — there is no finer moment to arrive.
Where to stay in Thousand Lakes
1. Wooden Boat Inn
Tucked into the heart of historic Clayton, New York, the Wooden Boat Inn is the village’s first and only boutique motel — and it wears that distinction with charm to spare. Under locally born and raised ownership, the inn has been thoughtfully restored while preserving its campy, nautical warmth and spirit. Guests can choose from uniquely themed rooms, including what the inn claims is the only Schitt’s Creek-themed recreation room in the country you can actually sleep in. Situated just one block from the world-famous Antique Boat Museum, it’s an ideal base for exploring the Thousand Islands, with scenic river tours, Boldt and Singer Castles, fishing, and scuba diving all within easy reach. Whether you’re a boating enthusiast or simply chasing a one-of-a-kind getaway on the St. Lawrence River, the Wooden Boat Inn delivers personality, location, and genuine local hospitality in one tidy package.
2. Ledges Resort & Marina
3. The Clipper Inn
If you’re exploring the Thousand Islands region of upstate New York, the Clipper Inn in Clayton deserves a spot on your must-visit list. A family-run institution for over 45 years, the Clipper Inn pairs a cozy nine-room motel with a beloved restaurant and lounge. The dining room has an airy, comfortable, and slightly nautical feel — fitting for a riverside river town — and the menu is large and varied, with a strong accent on fresh seafood, alongside Mediterranean, Asian, and vegetarian influences. Open seasonally from April through November, it’s earned a reputation as a fine dining destination in the region. Regulars rave about the shrimp scampi, the house-made desserts, and the early dinner specials — making the Clipper Inn a worthy anchor for any St. Lawrence River getaway.
More to Explore
