The Thousand Islands

The Thousand Islands are the island-filled stretch of the St. Lawrence River on the New York and Ontario border, with Alexandria Bay and Clayton on the New York shore. Alexandria Bay is about 119 road miles west of the cabins, roughly two and a half hours each way, and it is the dock for the boats to Boldt Castle and Singer Castle. Clayton, a dozen miles upriver, has the Antique Boat Museum. Plan it as one full day on the river, from an early start to a late supper.

Where the islands are

From the cabins the islands lie west, past Malone, Potsdam, Canton and Gouverneur, in Jefferson County on the American side and in Ontario across the water. The two American towns that matter for a day trip are Alexandria Bay and Clayton, about 12 miles apart on NY 12. Alexandria Bay is the castle town: the Uncle Sam boats leave from James Street in the village, Heart Island and Boldt Castle sit just offshore, and the Boldt Yacht House stands across the channel on Wellesley Island. Clayton is the boat town: it was settled in 1822, grew as a shipbuilding and lumbering port, and keeps the Antique Boat Museum, the Thousand Islands Museum and a second fleet of tour boats.

Between the two towns the Thousand Islands Bridge carries Interstate 81 from Collins Landing, near Alexandria Bay, across Wellesley Island and Hill Island to Ivy Lea in Ontario. Wellesley Island is in New York, so its state park, nature center and the Yacht House are all on the American side of the border.

A long day, planned

Here is the planning tip first: this is a long day. The drive is about two and a half hours each way, a castle cruise from Alexandria Bay runs two and a quarter to three and a half hours before you add time ashore, and a museum visit in Clayton takes another hour and a half. That adds up to ten or eleven hours away from the cabins.

Three things keep it comfortable. Pick one main event: Boldt Castle with a 2 Nation Tour, or Singer Castle with a stop at Boldt on the way back, or Clayton and the boat museum with a short ride. Leave the cabins by about seven in the morning so you are at the dock for a late-morning boat. And keep the evening easy: a hot tub and a simple supper you shopped for in Malone the day before are the right end to a day like this. On a long stay it fits best in the middle of the week, with quieter days on either side.

The drive from the cabins

The quickest route to Alexandria Bay measures 119 road miles from the cabins. It starts on County Route 25 toward Malone, then follows US 11 west for about 90 miles through Potsdam, Canton and Gouverneur, and finishes on NY 26 north to Alexandria Bay, with a short shared stretch of NY 37 near the end. Allow about two and a half hours. Clayton is about 128 road miles by the quickest route, which follows the same US 11, then NY 26 and NY 411 to Interstate 81 for a few miles, and comes into Clayton on NY 12; allow a little under three hours.

The river road

The river route is slightly shorter on the map and about as long on the clock. It follows US 11 to Canton, NY 68 north to Ogdensburg, NY 37 along the St. Lawrence to Morristown and NY 12 into Alexandria Bay: about 114 road miles. It is the prettier way back in the late afternoon, with the river on your right most of the way from Ogdensburg, and it passes the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg if you ever split this trip over two days. You can drive out on US 11 and come home on NY 12 and NY 37 for a change of scenery.

Fuel, coffee and the dark

Fill the tank before you leave the North Country. In Malone, Stewart's Shops has two stores on Main Street and the Walmart Supercenter is on Route 11. Potsdam and Canton, about 48 and 59 road miles from the cabins, are the halfway towns for coffee and a stretch. In October much of the drive home is after dark on two-lane roads; the winter driving guide has the habits that help on these roads.

Boldt Castle on Heart Island

Boldt Castle is the stop on most of the tour boats' routes. George C. Boldt, the proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City, started building a full-size Rhineland castle on Heart Island in 1900 as a gift to his wife, Louise. The family spent summers at their Wellesley House on Wellesley Island while some 300 workers, among them stonemasons, carpenters and artists, built a six-story castle of 120 rooms, with tunnels, a powerhouse, Italian gardens, a drawbridge, the Alster Tower (a playhouse for the children) and a dove-cote.

In January 1904 Louise died suddenly. Boldt telegraphed the island to stop all construction and never went back. For 73 years the castle and its stone buildings stood open to wind, ice and vandals. The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority bought the property in 1977 and puts all net revenue from the castle into its preservation; several million dollars have gone into rehabilitating and restoring the Heart Island buildings since then.

A visit takes in the castle and its interior, the gardens and grounds, the Power House, the Alster Tower, the Entry Arch, the Gazebo and the dove-cote. The tour of Heart Island is self-guided, so you set your own pace, with signs in the rooms and the castle's own app for the visit.

Visiting Boldt Castle

Heart Island is in the United States and can be reached only by water, on a tour boat or a private boat. The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority owns and runs both Boldt Castle and the Boldt Yacht House. The season runs from early May to the Columbus Day weekend in October; in 2026 it was May 9 to October 12, with the castle and Yacht House open 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and the ticket booth closing an hour earlier. The castle posts each year's dates and hours on its own site.

Castle admission is separate from your boat fare: you buy it on Heart Island or online, in US dollars, by major credit card or US cash. Tickets are good for two years from the date of purchase, which helps if the weather cuts a visit short. Check the current prices before you go.

Food and house rules

The Castle Cafe serves burgers, wraps, chicken tenders, hot dogs, pizza, fries and ice cream, and in peak season an ice cream stand next to it and a hot dog stand near the Alster Tower add to that. Outside food is allowed, and there are picnic tables on the grounds, though no food or drink is allowed inside the buildings. There is no alcohol on the island except at licensed events and no smoking on the docks or in the buildings. No pets are allowed on Heart Island or at the Yacht House, except registered service animals. The castle may change its hours or close for the day in bad weather.

The Boldt Yacht House

The Yacht House is on Wellesley Island, across the channel from Heart Island, and a free shuttle boat runs to it from the castle dock. It is the building where the Boldts kept their yachts and their large houseboat: the slips inside are 128 feet long, the shingle-style building rises 64 feet, and tall bay doors open onto the river. It also held a shop for building racing launches and quarters for the crew and staff.

Inside is a collection of antique wooden boats lent by the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, some of them from the original Boldt fleet, along with the service bay's steel trusses, overhead traveling cranes and screw jacks. The Yacht House opened to the public in the summer of 1996 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The steam yacht Kestrel, built by George Lawley in South Boston in 1892 and given to the Bridge Authority in 2009, is on display there as an example of the kind of vessel Boldt owned and ran. The package ticket covers both buildings.

Singer Castle on Dark Island

Singer Castle is the second castle, downriver from Alexandria Bay on Dark Island, which is also in the United States. Frederick Gilbert Bourne, president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, bought the island in 1902. The architect Ernest Flagg, who also designed the 47-story Singer Tower in New York City, built the castle between 1903 and 1905 for about $500,000, using granite quarried on nearby Oak Island and shaped by Italian stonemasons. Bourne called it The Towers; it was renamed for his company later. The castle has four stories and 28 rooms, a clock tower with Westminster chimes every 15 minutes, three boathouses and a two-story ice house. The Bourne family owned it from 1905 until the mid-1960s, and the painter Frederic Remington summered next door on Ingleneuk Island.

Unlike Boldt, Singer Castle was finished and lived in, so the 45-minute guided tour goes through four floors of furnishings and objects original to the house and past the entrances to its secret passages. Expect about 80 steps up from the Great Hall. Strollers are not allowed inside. The castle also rents the Royal Suite, a whole wing that sleeps up to six, for an overnight stay with a private tour, dinner and breakfast.

Singer Castle tickets and hours

The castle's own 2026 tour prices were $14.75 for adults and $7.75 for children 4 and up, with military rates of $12.75 and $6.75. The pattern of the season: tours from early May, mornings only on most spring weekdays; daily tours from mid-June to Labor Day, 9:45 a.m. to a last tour at 3:30 p.m.; then morning tours on fall weekdays and longer weekend hours to the Columbus Day weekend, with a last weekend of morning tours in mid-October. The castle warns that early and late season hours can change without notice, so check the schedule before you plan around it.

Getting to Singer Castle

There are three ways to reach Dark Island from the American shore.

• Uncle Sam Boat Tours from Alexandria Bay. The Singer Castle cruise lasts three and a half hours and covers an 11-mile section of the river that the line's other tours skip, past Grenadier Island, Sisters Island Light, Oak Island and old shipwrecks. Singer admission is included in the fare ($50.75 for adults and $34.25 for children 5 to 12 on the line's posted fares in 2026), and the boat stops at Heart Island on the way back so you can go ashore at Boldt Castle for a separate admission or stay aboard. In the fall the castle has listed a single 9:45 a.m. departure on weekdays, with a second boat at 1:30 p.m. on weekends.
• The shuttle from Schermerhorn Harbor in Hammond. It runs in high summer only: in 2026 from June 17 to August 29, Wednesday through Saturday. Call Schermerhorn Harbor for directions and the day's times.
• Your own boat. The castle has more than 600 feet of free dock space and dock attendants for private boaters.

Singer Castle is not wheelchair accessible and the visit involves a lot of stairs and walking, so this is the castle for guests who are steady on steps.

The tour boats from Alexandria Bay

Uncle Sam Boat Tours has run on the St. Lawrence since 1926 and is still family owned. Its boats leave from 45 James Street in Alexandria Bay, where parking is free and attendants direct cars into the lots on busy days; come early in summer. In season the Bridge Authority lists Uncle Sam departures every 30 minutes from 10:30 a.m.

The 2 Nation Tour is the classic one. It passes Millionaires Row, Devil's Oven, Sunken Rock Lighthouse, Zavikon Island, Deer Island, the village of Rockport in Ontario and the Canadian span of the bridge, then ends at Boldt Castle. While Boldt Castle is open, every Uncle Sam tour lets passengers go ashore at Heart Island, stay as long as they like and ride a free shuttle back to the mainland. Castle admission is extra. The line also runs lunch, dinner, twilight and sunset cocktail cruises, and its boats have an enclosed deck, so the tours run in the rain.

Boat tours from Clayton

Clayton Island Tours runs smaller boats, 43 to 65 passengers, from Clayton. Its Boldt Castle and Two Nation Tour lasts three and a half hours, covers more than 27 miles of the river and stops at Boldt Castle; the company's posted season for this tour runs from early May to the Columbus Day weekend, and the Bridge Authority's page says to call the company for the schedule. Its glass-bottom boat, the Night Heron, makes the only public tour to Rock Island Lighthouse, with a one-hour stop on the island, from mid-May to mid-September. A five-hour tour with a picnic lunch stops at both Boldt Castle and Rock Island Lighthouse over the same mid-May to mid-September stretch.

Clayton is the better base if the boat museum is your main event and you want a smaller boat for the castle; Alexandria Bay is better for Singer Castle and for the most departures.

The Antique Boat Museum in Clayton

The Antique Boat Museum, at 750 Mary Street on the Clayton waterfront, is a non-profit museum of freshwater boating. It grew out of a boat show first held in 1965, was chartered in 1980 as the 1000 Islands Shipyard Museum and took its present name in 1990. The campus covers 4.5 acres with 1,300 feet of river shoreline and 1,900 feet of docks, and its ten buildings hold 29,000 square feet of exhibits, among them the Hall of Fame, the Haxall, Launch, Morgan, Small Craft and Stone buildings. The region's tourism council calls it the largest collection of freshwater recreational boats in North America, with St. Lawrence River skiffs and classic powerboats at its center.

In season the museum is open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; it suggests at least an hour and a half for a visit. The campus and exhibit buildings are wheelchair accessible on paved paths, with a few loaner wheelchairs. Pets are not allowed anywhere on the campus, and service animals are welcome.

La Duchesse

The museum's best link to Alexandria Bay is La Duchesse, a 106-foot houseboat built in 1903 for George Boldt. The McNally family of Wellesley Island used it as a summer home until they gave it to the museum, and it opened to visitors in July 2005. A 30-minute guided walk-through costs extra and leaves every hour on the half hour from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., from Memorial Day weekend through the end of October; reserve a place at the admissions desk when you arrive. The houseboat is not wheelchair accessible.

Ride the River

The museum's own boat ride is a 45-minute trip from Bartlett Point in Miss Thousand Islands III, a 30-foot triple-cockpit Hacker-Craft. The 2026 fare, which includes museum admission, was $41 for adults, $40 for seniors 65 and up and $36 for ages 7 to 17. Rides start on Memorial Day weekend, run several times a day through the summer, drop to 1, 2 and 3 p.m. in the fall and go to weekends only after the Columbus Day weekend; the 2026 schedule ran to November 1, weather permitting. That makes it one of the few ways onto the water after the castles close. Arrive at the museum at least 30 minutes before your ride.

More stops in Clayton

The Thousand Islands Museum, at 312 James Street, opened on July 4, 1964, and is free. It is on the National Register and is known for its muskie exhibits, including a Muskie Hall of Fame opened in 1970, and its hunting decoys. Its fall 2026 hours are Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; the museum posts each season's hours on its own site. The Thousand Islands Arts Center is known for its handweaving collection, and the Clayton farmers market runs on Thursdays into mid-October. Clayton's Pumpkin Chuckin comes in mid-October.

The Thousand Islands Bridge

The bridge is worth seeing even if you never cross it. The Thousand Islands Bridge system runs 8.5 miles from Collins Landing near Alexandria Bay to Ivy Lea near Gananoque, Ontario, and links Interstate 81 with Canada's Highway 401. The American span is a suspension bridge with an 800-foot main span and 150 feet of clearance over the river, 4,500 feet from end to end, from the mainland to Wellesley Island. The international border between Wellesley Island and Hill Island is crossed on two parallel 90-foot concrete arch spans over the channel called the International Rift; the second was added in 1959. The Canadian spans run 3,330 feet more to the Ontario shore.

Ground was broken on April 30, 1937, and the whole system was finished in sixteen months, ten weeks ahead of schedule, for $3,050,000. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Mackenzie King dedicated it on August 18, 1938, before a crowd of more than 25,000 at the border. More than 2 million vehicles a year cross it today. The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority, which runs the American side and Boldt Castle, is a New York public benefit corporation with seven unpaid members, four from the United States and three from Canada.

The bridge is a toll crossing. The toll for a car, in effect since January 1, 2026, is $4.00 US or $5.50 Canadian, payable by E-ZPass, cash or major credit card in every lane.

State parks on the river

The region's tourism council counts eight state parks within easy reach of Alexandria Bay. The ones that fit a day trip from the cabins:

• Wellesley Island State Park, on the island just over the American span, is open all year with trails from sunrise to sunset. It has the largest camping complex in the region, 432 sites, along with a marina, a nine-hole golf course and a sand beach with a summer swimming season.
• The Minna Anthony Common Nature Center, inside that park, sits on a 600-acre peninsula with 8 miles of hiking trails and 7 miles of ski trails. Four glacial potholes are along the Eel Bay trail, a quarter-mile trail is accessible, and there is a butterfly house and a 36-foot voyageur canoe for summer paddles. From the first Friday in May through Columbus Day it is open Monday to Thursday 9 to 3 and Friday to Sunday 9 to 6; after Columbus Day, Wednesday to Sunday, 9 to 3.
• Keewaydin State Park, at 45165 NY 12 in Alexandria Bay, is on the river and has an outdoor pool in summer, 48 campsites, a sheltered marina open to mid-October and small boats to rent; day use was $7 a car in 2026.
• Rock Island Lighthouse State Park, about 4.5 miles northeast of Clayton, is reached only by boat. Its buildings are open mid-May to mid-September, 10 to 5, and you can climb the spiral stair to the lantern room; the posted fee is $3 for adults and $2 for ages 6 to 12.
• Grass Point State Park, on Grassy Point Road in Alexandria Bay, is the closest launch to Rock Island, about five minutes by boat, and Cedar Point State Park near Clayton is one of the oldest state parks in New York.

An Empire Pass ($80) gives unlimited day-use entry at most New York state park facilities, which pays off if you also visit the parks closer to the cabins.

Passports and documents

Boldt Castle, Singer Castle, Heart Island, Dark Island and Wellesley Island are all in the United States. A guest who drives from the cabins and boards in Alexandria Bay or Clayton never leaves the country, and the operators say so in writing. Uncle Sam Boat Tours states that no passports or visas are needed on any of its tours: passengers do not touch foreign soil and are not checked by border officers, even though the 2 Nation Tour crosses into Canadian waters. Its Singer Castle page repeats it: no passport needed.

The rules change only when someone comes from Canada. Boldt Castle is an official port of entry into the United States, open 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and passengers arriving from Canada, on the Ontario boat lines from Gananoque and Rockport, must show proper identification. At Singer Castle, boaters arriving from Canadian waters must check in with US customs through the CBP ROAM app or the station in the gift shop.

If you choose to cross the bridge into Ontario, for Gananoque, the Ivy Lea shore or Kingston, you need the same documents as at any land crossing: a passport, passport card, NEXUS card or enhanced driver's license for each person. The border crossing guide covers the documents, the dog paperwork and what you may bring back.

The season and what runs when

The river season runs from May to mid-October, with the fullest schedules from late June to Labor Day. The usual pattern, from the 2026 season:

• Boldt Castle opens in early May and closes after the Columbus Day weekend (May 9 to October 12 in 2026).
• Uncle Sam's Boldt cruises run to Columbus Day and its Singer Castle cruises into mid-October.
• Singer Castle keeps a last weekend of morning tours in mid-October.
• Clayton Island Tours posts its Boldt trips to the Columbus Day weekend; its Rock Island Lighthouse trips end in mid-September.
• The Antique Boat Museum's Ride the River runs on weekends into early November, and La Duchesse tours run through the end of October.
• The nature center's trails and the bridge stay open all year; the nature center building keeps shorter hours after Columbus Day.

September is a good month for this trip: the castles, boats and museums are still running on their fall schedules, and the drive west goes through the start of the fall color. The fall foliage guide has the timing closer to the cabins. From late October to May the castles are closed, and a winter trip here is a drive for the river views, the bridge and the nature center trails.

Dogs and the river day

The cabins welcome dogs with a pet fee, and this is a day to plan around one. Uncle Sam allows leashed dogs on its sightseeing cruises, but not on cruises that serve food and not ashore at Boldt Castle or Singer Castle. Boldt Castle and the Yacht House allow only registered service animals, and the Antique Boat Museum allows no pets on its campus. The state park trails on Wellesley Island are the dog-friendly part of the day. The dog guide has the rest of the planning for a trip with a dog.

A day plan from the cabins

This plan is for a summer or early fall weekday with Boldt Castle as the main event.

1. 7:00 a.m. Leave the cabins with coffee and a full tank. County Route 25 into Malone, then US 11 west.
2. 8:30 a.m. A short stop in Potsdam or Canton to stretch.
3. 9:45 a.m. Arrive in Alexandria Bay, park free at the Uncle Sam lot on James Street and buy tickets.
4. 10:30 a.m. Board the 2 Nation Tour: Millionaires Row, the islands, the Canadian span and Zavikon Island.
5. 12:45 p.m. Go ashore at Heart Island. Lunch at the Castle Cafe or your own picnic on the grounds, then the castle, the Alster Tower and the gardens.
6. 2:30 p.m. The free shuttle to the Yacht House if you bought the package, then back to Heart Island and the shuttle to the mainland.
7. 4:00 p.m. Drive NY 12 to Clayton for a walk on the waterfront, or take NY 12 and NY 37 home along the river by Morristown and Ogdensburg.
8. 7:30 p.m. Back at the cabins, supper you planned ahead and the hot tub.

For Singer Castle, take the morning Uncle Sam Singer cruise instead; the three and a half hours include the castle tour and a stop at Boldt Castle on the way back. For a Clayton day, swap the castles for the Antique Boat Museum, La Duchesse and a Ride the River trip, and see Boldt Castle from the water.

Pairing it with other river trips

The same river runs closer to the cabins. Massena, about 47 road miles away, has the Eisenhower Lock, where ocean ships rise and fall in the St. Lawrence Seaway, and Robert Moses State Park. Ogdensburg, about 77 road miles away, has the Frederic Remington Art Museum and sits on the river road home from Alexandria Bay. Both make shorter days than this one. Across the Seaway bridge at Massena, Upper Canada Village in Ontario is a day out with a border crossing, and the college towns of Potsdam and Canton sit halfway along US 11.

The day trips page lists every outing by distance, and the cabins page has the details of each cabin for planning the nights around a long day like this one. For the route into the cabins from the west, see getting to the cabins.

Questions

Sources

Facts on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. Hours, fees and schedules change; confirm before you go.

1. boldtcastle.com boldtcastle.com/visitorinfo/
2. boldtcastle.com boldtcastle.com/visitorinfo/visitor-information
3. boldtcastle.com boldtcastle.com/visitorinfo/yacht-house
4. boldtcastle.com boldtcastle.com/visitorinfo/about
5. boldtcastle.com boldtcastle.com/visitorinfo/hospitality
6. boldtcastle.com boldtcastle.com/visitorinfo/rules-of-boldt-facilities
7. singercastle.com singercastle.com/
8. singercastle.com singercastle.com/brief-history/
9. singercastle.com singercastle.com/location/
10. usboattours.com usboattours.com/
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12. usboattours.com usboattours.com/the-2-nation-tour/
13. usboattours.com usboattours.com/singer-castle-tour/
14. claytonislandtours.com claytonislandtours.com/
15. abm.org abm.org/visitor-info/visit-the-museum/
16. abm.org abm.org/about-us/museum-history-3/
17. abm.org abm.org/exhibits/la-duchesse/
18. abm.org abm.org/visitor-info/ride-the-river/
19. timuseum.org timuseum.org/
20. tibridge.com tibridge.com/about/
21. tibridge.com tibridge.com/crossing-the-bridge/toll-rates/
22. New York State Parks parks.ny.gov/parks/wellesleyisland/details.aspx
23. New York State Parks parks.ny.gov/visit/nature-centers/minna-anthony-common-nature-center
24. New York State Parks parks.ny.gov/parks/keewaydin/details.aspx
25. New York State Parks parks.ny.gov/parks/rockislandlighthouse/details.aspx
26. visit1000islands.com visit1000islands.com/communities/clayton-ny/
27. visit1000islands.com visit1000islands.com/communities/alexandria-bay-ny/
28. visit1000islands.com visit1000islands.com/stories/1000-islands-fall-travel-guide-crisp-morn
29. aaa.com aaa.com/tripcanvas/attraction/boldt-castle-VA20558
30. New York State Parks parks.ny.gov/parks/21/