Gananoque and the Thousand Islands

Halfway between Toronto and Montreal along the shores of the St. Lawrence lies the town of Gananoque. It is not a very big town, but it is the starting point for one of the main Boat Tour lines for the 1000 Islands. There are actually 1 865 islands dotting this part of the river between Ontario and New York. Most of the islands have houses on them. One of the biggest has a school, businesses and a post office. Wellesley Island has a bridge to the mainland, though, where most of them do not.

Some of the islands are very small and still have houses on them (like the first photo). Many of them have their own boat houses and even guest houses.

This area provides summer homes for some very wealthy, and well connected families, with beautifully manicured lawns, gardens, and impressive water craft. Some of the homes have been in the familes for five generations. People started to build here in the 1800's, and the brick work on some of the

houses, docks and breakwater is amazing!

During prohibition, rum runners would use these waters to transport bottles in burlap sacks, dragging behind their boats in the water. If they were going to be caught, they simply cut the rope and the evidence was gone. Apparently, they still find 50 year old bottles once in a while.

We chose to do a five hour tour with a stop over at Boldt Castle. The trip starts through the American side, and after the castle visit, returns through Canadian waters. We had to take our Passports because Boldt Castle is actually in the US and we had to go through customs. More info will follow on the castle with the next blog.

This area is very impressive, both because of it's natural beauty, and the way that humans have created beautiful homes amongst the rocks, trees and water.