The Thousand Islands

The Thousand Islands

A thick blanket of fog, a thousand tiny little lush green islands shrouded in mist, running through them an international border of world’s two powerful countries, the unobstructed panorama of Lake Ontario, draining into the historic river of St. Lawrence, a culinary mystery and a heart wrenching love story about a castle! The Thousand Islands have it all.

Some places are magical. Some are mystical. Some are mesmerizing. Thousand Islands is all three combined! If you haven’t visited the Thousand Islands, you must add it to your “bucket list” (as in the movie).

A few years ago, we used to live in Buffalo, upstate New York and decided to visit the Thousand Islands. It was a four hour drive, initially to the East on I90 towards the city of Syracuse, and then due North on I81 towards Alexandria bay. We had rented a lovely wooden cottage on a hill. The cottage had a wooden terrace with a private barbeque area overlooking the St. Lawrence river. We were less than five minutes drive from the pier from where we would board the famous cruise boat to roam around the stunningly beautiful islands.

The Islands: Technically, there are way more than a thousand islands in the area. It’s an archipelago of 1,836 islands in St. Lawrence on the border of USA and Canada. A definition of an island in this area is that it must be above water all 365 days, must be at least one square foot in size and must support at least one tree or a house. Several of the islands are so tiny, that they don't qualify.

The area between the towns of Clayton and Alexandria bay marks the Stateside and on the Canadian side is marked by the towns of Gananoque, Rockport and the city of Kingston. Incidentally, Kingston was the first capital of Canada before Ottawa. But that’s another story.

The River: The St. Lawrence River originates from Lake Ontario and flows East over three thousand kilometers via Montreal all the way to Quebec City before draining into the Gulf of St Lawrence. First Europeans arrived here from Spain, during the 16^th century in pursuit of whales and traded with native Americans. The French got here in the early 17^th century, naming the river “Rivière du Canada”. Control of the river was crucial to British strategy to capture New France. In 1759, the British sailed up to Quebec thanks to charts drawn up by James Cook, attacked and won the city. In 1959, a system of canals and locks called the St. Lawrence Seaway was opened by Queen Elizabeth II representing Canada and President Eisenhower representing the United States. This Seaway now allows ocean going vessels to pass all the way to Lake Superior. During the 2^nd world war, the Battle of St. Lawrence involved submarine action and Germans sank several merchant ships and three Canadian warships.

The love story: One of the major attractions on the Thousand Islands cruise, is the Boldt Castle on the Heart Island. You can explore the Castle grounds and buildings on this heart shaped island for a small fee. If you own a boat, you can also dock at Heart Island for free. There is a US customs office on the island for Canadian visitors, since going to this island is considered entering the US border.

George Boldt, who was the general manager of the famous Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York city, owned the Heart Island. In 1900, George launched an ambitious construction to build one of the largest private homes in America, a six-story castle. He also built an equally distinctive yacht house on the neighboring Wellesley Island where the Boldts had another summer home and a vast estate, with farms, canals, a golf course, tennis courts, stables, and a polo field.

However, Boldt's wife, Louise Kehrer Boldt died suddenly in 1904. George was so grief stricken that he abandoned the construction abruptly and never returned to the island. The love story of the Boldts, of the Castle, the weird Alster tower, the grim Power house, the grotto, the Yacht house with boats docking through the basement – it's a perfect setting of a chilling Hitchcock movie waiting for a thick murder mystery to unfold! In 1969 Anne Colver wrote a famous children's novel about the story called "Secret Castle".

For 73 years after Louise’s death, the castle was left exposed to the harsh winters. Thousand Islands bridge authority acquired Heart Island and the yacht house in 1977 for a dollar, but with the agreement that tourist revenue would be put into their restoration. So far, the authority has spent fifteen million dollars for improvements with a stained glass dome, marble floor and grand staircase for the castle.

There are a lot of exhibits in the castle rooms and hallways showing pictures and artifacts of the Thousand Islands region during the era in which the Boldts lived. An interesting building on the island is the Power House, built to hold a generator to supply the island. Yet another building is the Alster Tower, purposely constructed with slanting and uneven walls, ceilings, and roofs.

From the Heart Island, our river cruise took us near the Zavikon Island, featuring the world's shortest international bridge. One half of this island is in USA and the other in Canada with the world’s shortest international bridge connecting the two parts. Our tourist guide told us that if the lady of the house had a domestic argument with her husband, say for instance about ‘who should do the dishes that evening’, she can literally walk out across the international border and retire abroad for the night!

The culinary mystery: Thousand Islands are also famous for a pink to orange coloured salad dressing, which by the way is called “Thousand Island” without the “s”. Legend has it that a fishing guide's wife, Sophia LaLonde living in the Thousand Islands, made the condiment as part of her husband George's shore dinner. Actress May Irwin requested the recipe after enjoying it. Irwin in turn gave it to George Boldt who was building the Castle in the area. Boldt was the general manager of the famous Waldarf Astoria hotel. So he instructed the hotel's chef to put the dressing on the menu. Its a salad dressing based on mayonnaise, olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, paprika, Worcester sauce, mustard, vinegar, cream, chili sauce, tomato puree, ketchup or Tabasco sauce. It may also contain finely chopped pickles, onions, bell peppers, green olives, hard-boiled egg, parsley, pimento, chives, garlic, and chopped walnuts. 

I must admit that before our trip to Thousand Islands, our family was not a great fan of this salad dressing. We had previously bought the processed food store version of the dressing and were less than inspired with its taste. But the locally made salad dressing tastes very different and it is amazing!

There are at least three competing stories around the origin of the salad dressing. A couple of New Yorkers are filming a documentary in the hope to untangle this culinary mystery. One of the film makers, Eric Roberts grew up in Syracuse hating condiments. “I hated ketchup. I hated mayo,” he says. “I didn’t put anything on anything. But my mom made this dressing one day, it was pink, it was pretty good and I loved it.”  They’re incorporating a “blind taste test,” in which they film people trying unmarked versions of the dressing associated with each of the three competing stories.

Allen Benas, who owns the “Thousand Islands inn” in Clayton with his wife, Susan, believes the story in which Sophie LaLonde, invented the dressing during a shore dinner for their fishing clients. That’s the property Allen and Susan bought in 1972 and turned into the Thousand Islands Inn. He says he found LaLonde’s original recipe in the inn’s safe when he took over. “We have proof. We have the recipe.” He doesn’t give it out of course, in part because the Thousand Islands Inn bottles its own!

by Sachin Kulkarni, 26^th May 2014, London.