The Thousand Islands. What a magical place! Spanning a 50 mile radius in the St Lawrence River, there are actually closer to two thousand – 1,864 to be precise. They range in size from over 40 square miles, to small islands supporting a single dwelling, to the tiniest of islands that are barely big enough to support the seabirds that frequent them.
To be considered an island, the land must have at least one square foot that remains above water year round, as well as at least two living trees. The smallest inhabited island is Hub island, also known as “Just Enough Room Island”. At just 3,300 square feet, it contains one house. That’s about one-thirteenth of an acre. That would barely be enough in the city, but in the middle of a river neighbors are never a problem. Well, except for the frequent tour boats!
We drove around Wellesley Island, one of the larger islands which is easily accessible by the Thousand Islands toll bridge ($4 per car at the time of this post). The bridge itself is picture-worthy, rising a breath-taking 150 feet above the river at its highest point. There are three state parks on the island, with boat launches, camping, and plenty of spots for picnics. Wellesley Island State Park is the largest of the parks with four boat launches and over 400 camping spots. Since we were just there for the day we didn’t check out any of the campgrounds, but we thoroughly enjoyed driving around all the parks.
Interesting trivia fact – Wellesley Island actually spans the border of the United States and Canada. It’s probably the only place where you can actually “go to Canada” without a passport or having a border agent question your intentions. Of course, for those who Do want to cross from the United States into Canada (or vice versa), you merely need to stay on the bridge until you reach your destination.
A definite must-see on Wellesley Island is the summer community of Thousand Island Park, an amazing neighborhood of Victorian-era homes and businesses that started out as a Methodist camp in 1875. This quaint little village occupied much of our time (and camera space) while on the island. The homes are pristine, with lovely gardens and period-appropriate paint, it was like stepping back in time. Be careful about trusting your GPS in this area, however. When we punched in Wellsley Island State Park, ours directed us down a gravel road that turned into a dirt road and then became barely a driveway-width path leading into dense brush that we wisely declined to follow. We turned around and made our way back to a main road through the village, then navigated from there.
The cabin we rented was in Alexandria Bay. We were smart to go fairly early in the season, late May, before the hoard of summer tourists descended on the tiny town. We checked out some of the shops on Main Street, stopping for some souvenir shirts and some fudge (no vacation seems complete without fudge!) There were also a number of restaurants of course. But since we travel with our small dog, we generally only do take-out. And since our cabin had cooking facilities, we chose to eat in most days. There are several grocery stores in the area that provided a good selection of food to choose from. Since our destination was just a little over two hours from home we had also chosen to pack some frozen burgers for our first night’s meal. The cabin had a gorgeous view of the St. Lawrence river, so we could sit on the porch while we ate, and watch the boats and the occasional large ocean-going vessel pass by. We also had a view of Boldt Castle, another well-known sight to see in the area. An added bonus on our first night was being able to watch the Memorial Day weekend fireworks from our front porch! The view was so lovely and relaxing that I gladly would have spent the entire vacation (we booked three nights) just sitting on the porch and watching the ships go by.
NOTE: I am including links for the lodging we stayed at, as well as general area information and some of the places we went. Of course, they are just a small selection of all there is to see in the Thousand Islands so your trip may be different. There are boat tours of the river that are a great way to see the islands. We don’t do those since we have our dog with us everywhere.
Our travels are also somewhat restricted since I have difficulty walking due to arthritis. The lodging we chose said it was senior friendly and wheelchair accessible, which wasn’t true. But it was still lovely and both the owners’ communication and location were fantastic so I would still recommend it as a place to consider.
Remember – travel Joyfully!
LINKS:
Visitor Information: https://visitalexbay.org/
All About the 1000 Islands: https://visit1000islands.com/
Alexandria Bay: https://visitalexbay.org/
Lodging we stayed at: https://ledgesresort.com/ . We stayed in “The Island” cabin, It does have just 1 step to the entrance – we used a small step stool to make the entrance easier on my old knees.