We set out for Alexandria Bay based on the desire to visit the Frederick Remington Museum in Ogdensburg, NY. This city sits on the St Lawrence River midway between Alexandria Bay and Massena NY. It has a major bridge to Canada over the river and once upon a time served as a major river port for goods moving to and from the interior of the continent from overseas. Having determined that there was something worth seeing in the area we looked for more to do. We had heard the story of Boldt Castle across from Alexandria Bay among the 1000 Islands and decided that it was time we actually took the tour to see what the 127 room castle was all about. With this thought in mind we we decided to stay at 1000 Islands Campground just a few miles from Alexandria Bay for two – no three – nights (that indecision was to cost us some energy as the site they put us on was only available for two nights and when we decided to stay for three they had to ask us to move to a different site for the third night).
Just a quick refresher for those who haven’t a clue who George Boldt was, he developed the original Waldorf Astoria on the site of what was to be Penn Station and several other grand hotels. He made fabulous amounts of money and fell in love with the 1000 Islands where he bought and developed Wellesley Island and ultimately acquired Hart Island, later renamed Heart Island. Eventually he decided to build a grand castle to give to his wife who he loved very much. The tragedy was that she died of Tuberculosis one month before he was to give it to her on Valentine’s Day. He telegraphed the construction foreman with instructions to cease work and leave the Island and Castle unfinished. Although he continued to come to the islands every summer, it is reported that he never again set foot on Heart Island. The island was eventually left to the elements and vandals for 73 years. Ultimately it came into the possession of the Thousand Island Bridge Authority (TIBA) which has been working on restoring it section by section to the condition it was when construction stopped. This has been going on for over 30 years. Much has been restored and many artifacts have been recovered and other similar artifacts have been added for display.
We arrived on an early shuttle direct from Alexandria Bay by about 11 AM and went directly to the Yacht House just across the river, it had never been abandoned so is in the condition it was when the family used it. We then returned to the Castle and spent a couple of hours in the main building before taking a lunch break in the food
concession, call it fuel. To continue on to the main gate, the Children’s Playhouse (It contains bowling alleys and a theater) and the Power House. All in all we spent $19.50 per person for admission fees and shuttle service on Uncle Sam Tour Boats.
Upon our return to Alexandria Bay we walked around the town to find typical tourist venue with typical tourist stuff for sale. We returned to the coach and had dinner on board. The next morning, after relocating the coach from site 23 to site 26 we drove off to Ogdensburg, about an hour, to see what the Frederick Remington Museum was about. This museum was established in 1926 in a house not far from where he had lived until his premature death with his wife and family. The mansion belonged to a wealthy real estate magnate who had not lived in it for some time and after Frederick’s death he let his wife and sister live there for several years. She wanted to create a museum and eventually the house with Frederick’s remaining art and artifacts was converted into the museum. We spent the better part of two hours in the first floor of the house and the museum. It is wonderful to see two or three versions of his bronzes side by side and to see the variations that the lost wax process permitted him to achieve as he refined each piece from one casting to the next. There are also many of his paintings done as originals for publication on the cover of Collier’s Magazine. These are not at all about horses and the West. After lunch at a nearby sandwich Shop (Busy Corner), we returned to wander through the second floor of the house with its many original pieces and the stories about the owners before it became a museum. He had arrived with some expectations given the source of our referral, primarily my Aunt Gloria and Uncle Josh and found that as usual there suggestion that it was worth a visit was understated.
If you find yourself even thinking about crossing the roof of NY, plan to make stops for a day each in Alexandria Bay and Ogdensburg.
We moved on Friday to Long Lake NY. It would have been easy to pick up 3 out of Watertown to 30 to Long Lake, but a bit out of the way and we’ve driven those routes many times. I put the Eaton Lake Campsite – a New York State Park in the onboard GPS and chose to follow its routing. Even after all our years driving this region we would ourselves on road and passing though hamlets that we had never heard of
. Using a paper map I would not have attempted to do this because it required route changes and turns every 3 to 9 miles until we eventually got to route 3 well beyond Watertown, actually in Theresa, and then 40 miles on NY 30. We did not have a reservation and the ranger was doubtful we could fit on any of the sites that were open for more than one night. We found a site, #117 if you are interested, onto which it was just possible to shoehorn our 36 foot coach. Do not even consider it in anything bigger. Good Sam says the sites are 30×50, that may be but they are dirt and far from level. From my tenting days, they are beautiful, in the coach, not so much.
Tomorrow we will move on maybe to Saratoga where there is an Elks Lodge with space for us and maybe a performance at SPAC. This will not be posted until we move on as there is no phone service in the campsite and very little in town.
