Sandrobber: Oswego to Clayton, NY

Day #619; Loop Miles to Date = 7,320

We enjoyed our respite in Oswego...the lock wall was very peaceful and the town reasonably convenient. But after 3 nights there, we were ready to move on - and the weather window for crossing Lake Ontario developed as we anticipated. So, on Saturday, we locked through the last lock on the Oswego canal and headed out into Lake Ontario.

Our last lock on the Erie/Oswego Canals.

View of Lake Ontario from the lock.

This duck family had been camping out in the lock overnight...they scrambled out of the way as we passed through.

The lighthouse at Oswego as we entered Lake Ontario.

These Great Lakes are deep...here our depth sounder shows 518'...there are deeper spots for sure, but this was about the deepest that we saw on our 30 mile crossing.

The 30 miles across the eastern portion of the lake was reasonably smooth, and any seas that we had were following, so our day was very manageable. Shortly after we crossed, we entered the St. Lawrence River, the beginning of the seaway that 1000 miles or so to the east finds the Atlantic ocean. After another 30 miles, we found our marina in Clayton. This is at the western end of the 1000 islands, simply a gorgeous area to visit and cruise.

Yesterday, we took a day trip (by car and ferry) to see more of the 1000 islands, and to visit the Singer Castle and Boldt Castles. During the period from about 1890 to 1905, this area became vastly popular for well-to-do folks from the east to build their summer homes. And a number of these families decided that they would build castles! Some of these are still family homes today, but the Singer and Boldt Castles are now open to the public for touring. Massive amounts of money have been invested to restore these properties, and we found them both interesting and overwhelming at the same time.

This year finds Lake Ontario at record high levels. The prevailing truth is that there was some legislation passed to increase the level in the lake this year. This in order to support the ongoing effort to restore some of the native species that had been over fished in the 20th century. Unfortunately, this planned increase in lake level coincided with record rainfall. Thus, the lake is now at a level that hasn't been seen in more than 40 years. And, they can't simply let more water drain downstream, because that would cause flooding in Montreal. So, this area is stuck with high water levels until nature helps get the levels back down. Why we mention this is that this dramatically affects all of the summer residents of the 1000 Islands. Many vacation homes are built on tiny islands with fixed docks. The only access that these folks have to their homes is by boat, and the high water level has most of these docks under water. So, people simply can't get to their properties, and much or not all of the summer may pass before they can gain access. Thus far, this has not affected our travel plans, but there is a chance that we could encounter some hurdles in the coming weeks.

An island and home just across from our marina.

Here you can see where they have built a temporary dock on top of the permanent one that is just underwater. While the cleats are out of the water, these docks are currently unusable because boats need them to stick out of the water by 6"to12" just to be able to have fenders do their job. Otherwise, boats just float up over the dock causing all sorts of damage to both docks and boats.

A portion of a marina that is currently unusable.

Houses are built on the tiniest of islands up here. This one is just out of the water at present...owners are likely not able to get in here yet.

Singer Castle...remember...this is just a summer home...

Just one of the ventures that this family was involved with.

On this section of the St Lawrence, the border between Canada and the US is in the middle of the waterway. On our ferry trip from Alexandria Bay up to Singer Castle, we likely crossed over and back a couple of times. This is a large Canadian Coast Guard vessel we passed on patrol.

Boldt Castle. Stunning.

A really brief bio...George Boldt was a Prussian who came to the US in 1864. His dream was to build this castle as a testimony to his unsurpassed love for his wife Louise. His wealth came from his success with a couple of small hotels...the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, and the Bellevue-Stratford in Philadelphia. The construction started in 1900, employing 100's of workers. But, in 1904, construction ceased when Louise passed away. George Boldt never returned to the island after this, and for 73 years it sat vacant and exposed to the elements. Efforts over the years since have managed to restore about 1/2 of the castle to its original intended design.

One of the out buildings.

The den. You can't see it in this picture, but the huge fireplace mantel is all hand carved. On the right and left side are carvings of Hansel and Gretel, and in the middle is a carving of the Witch. Rumor is that the elder statesman saw himself sitting around a fire reading stories to his grand children. Interesting.

The family dining room.

The daughter's bedroom...her name was Clover.

One of the basement passageways.

A cool looking weather vane that topped the highest spire.

It's hard to convey the extraordinary amount of detail that is present here. An overwhelming amount of planning had to go into this undertaking. Sad that it sat vacant for decades fading into decay.