Boldt Castle

Last week I got to go to a conference for users of the Polaris integrated library system.  The conference lasted three days with a pre-conference training session on using SQL and there was much learning, networking, and alcohol (and most of it free, too!).  Luckily for me, this year's conference was held in Liverpool, NY, which is not all that far from family.  I was able to spend a few days before and after the conference doing things in the area, like visit my grandparents.  Unfortunately, the weather was generally uncooperative (stupid rain!), but I did manage to make it out to Alexandria Bay and visit Boldt Castle, which I hadn't been to in at least a couple of years.

Boldt Castle is in the 1000 Islands region (that's really a misnomer; there are actually 1,864 islands) of the St. Lawrence River.  And yes, it really is a castle.  In the very early part of the 1900s, George C. Boldt decided to build a castle in the 1000 Islands for his wife.  Sadly, his wife died in 1904 and the project was abandoned.  In 1977, the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority bought the property, has been fixing it up, and opened it to tourists.

The castle and playhouse

I've visited Boldt Castle many times and am always amazed at how well they've been fixing it up.  I remember when I was much younger, the place was a wreck filled with graffiti.  Some of it, mostly on the upper floors and below where the pool is, still are.

This is how the whole place used to look

The earliest date I saw on any of the graffiti was from the 1920s

However, thanks to a lot of time, effort, and tourist dollars (as well as donations), the castle is increasingly coming together.

The library

I think this was Louise Boldt's room

The fancy-pants dome in the main entry

There are several outlying buildings as well.  One of them is Alster Tower, or the Playhouse.

Unfortunately, this was completely closed to the public on the inside on this recent visit.  There's also the Power House.  This was going to house the electrical generating plant as well as water pumps. 

I love all the little architectural details around the castle and other buildings.  There are lots of hearts (the castle is on Heart Island).

There are also lots of harts.

Plus, there's a spectacular view.

There are lots of pretty flowers on the grounds, too.

After spending a couple hours wandering around, I decided it was time to head home.  It was starting to get cloudy again anyway.  On the way home, though, I decided to stop at the Burrville Cider Mill.  I didn't get any pictures of the mill itself (it was crazy busy anyway), but I did manage to snag some hot mulled cider and a couple of fresh donuts (and a couple of half-gallon jugs of cider) and hang out by the waterfall in the back.

That was a good day.