Wellesley Island, NY

Our plan for Tuesday, July 24 was to cruise to Boldt Castle and maybe more depending on the weather.  But first, we were scheduled to attend our friend David’s 10 a.m. tour of La Duchesse, a houseboat docked at the Antique Boat Museum.  La Duchesse is a historic two story houseboat from the Gilded Age.  It was built by the hotelier George C. Boldt who also built Boldt Castle.  It is 104 feet long and was used to entertain family and guests by being towed to beautiful anchorages around the 1000 Islands (the boat has no engines).  The boat was magnificently restored, an amazing accomplishment because it had sunk in the boat house for some period of time.

After that fascinating tour we headed over to Boldt Castle on Heart Island where we tied up at the castle’s dock. 

There we took the comprehensive self-guided tour of this incredible castle.  It was commissioned by George Boldt, a self-made immigrant from Germany as a love offering to his wife.  He renamed the island from Hart to Heart and incorporated hearts into the design elements throughout the castle and its grounds which included the entire island.  The castle, an incredibly large and ornate edifice was intended to be a Valentine’s Day gift to his wife.  But, tragically, she died in December and he abandoned the project completely and never returned to the castle after her death.  As a result the castle went into a state of disrepair until it was eventually purchased by the founder of Life Savers candies and ultimately sold to the local bridge authority that has restored it and has opened it for tourism.

We also took a launch over to the castle’s boathouse, a beautiful structure itself, that houses a number of fully restored boats such as those we saw at the Antique Boat Museum. Included in these collections was a racing boat used by Boldt’s daughter who remained in the area but never returned to the castle. Her racing prowess was quite unusual for women at that time. 

As we left the castle’s beautifully manicured grounds and climbed aboard Zendo, it continued to rain on and off.  

We eventually found an anchorage next to the 1000 Island Yacht Club on Wellesley Island.  Prominent families in the area including the Boldts have been members of this club for many years.  We tied up for the night at our cozy and peaceful anchorage, had dinner and continued to watch The Pillars of the Earth to which Jonny is now hooked.