The Life and Times of SIT: Salad Dressing

June 14 – 22, 2014

You might think I have lost my mind writing about salad dressing but I haven’t. I will tell you what this is all about but before I do SIT arrived in New York on the 14^th.

We picked a spot to shoot from traveling from Gettysburg that gave us a nice scenic drive but also took us farther north. We landed in near Binghamton New York for a few days.

Our RV spot was across the highway from a golf course so I bet you can guess what we did. We also found a nice course in town which gave us the opportunity to walk and play.

Our View

Glad I missed the bunker

The River can be a distraction

We left bright and early Tuesday morning to spend a week in Henderson Harbor which is near Watertown. You might think we are setting our path based on wherever we find the word Henderson but it’s purely a coincidence. Although we did finally find our town complete with our own zip code!

Waterfall in Henderson

The RV park is on the shore of Lake Ontario and our sunsets were awesome. Izzy enjoyed the park too as she could chase her floppy as much as we had the energy for her.

Sunset from our spot

Going Down on Lake Ontario

Thankful

Local Fishermen Henderson Harbor

On the Lake

We met a couple from Pennsylvania who have place at the RV park for getaways. Brian and Kerri were there for a week and gave us ideas of places to see in the area. Oh by the way they had a two year old lab named Reba so we got points from Izzy for that as well.

We hit it off with them and were pleased when they wanted to go take a boat ride on the Saint Lawrence River and go visit a castle, especially since they had a boat! We were pretty excited to do this and the day we picked was just perfect.

Brian our Guide

So hurry up and tell you about salad dressing you are thinking, right? Well this area is known as 1000 Islands. According to what we learned there are a total of 1,864 islands located in an approximately 50-mile archipelago that makes up the Thousand Islands region. To become part of the official count, an island must meet two criteria: it must be above water 365 days a year and it must support a living tree.

Cruising through the bay

Rock Island Lighthouse

Joins the countries

As we toured the Saint Lawrence River we found many of these islands and were surprised that some contained a house with not much room left over.

Beautiful Water

Small Islands Ahead

River Living

What about salad dressing? By now you should at least know the name of the dressing I am talking about. There are two prevailing beliefs about how the dressing came to be and both take place in the 1000 Islands. Alexandria Bay claims it was developed by a boat owner George Boldt. Clayton residents claim it was created by a local fisherman’s wife, Sophia LaLonde, and the recipe given to actress May Irwin who took it back with her to New York City. If you want to learn more about this they even have a web page dedicated to it and of course recipes (www.visit1000islands.com/dressing).

George Boldt gained more fame in this area, not just from potentially creating 1000 Island Dressing, by building a castle. Our river trip took us to Heart Island where the four of us enjoyed touring the Boldt Castle, the grounds, and Yacht House. The story of the castle is one of love and tragedy.

Would You Believe This Isn't the Castle

George built the castle as a testimony of his love for his wife Louise. The construction began in 1894 on some of the other structures on the island. Beginning in 1900, Boldt’s family shared four wonderful summers here while the castle was under construction. In 1904, tragedy struck. Boldt sent a telegram to the island and commanded the 300 workers to immediately “stop all construction.” Louise had died suddenly and Boldt could not imagine his dream castle without his wife. He never returned.

The castle remained vacant and unfinished for 73 years. It suffered due to weather and vandals but in 1977 the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority assumed ownership and has been working on finishing and restoring the castle. Take a tour with us through these pictures.

One Side of the Castle

George Boldt

Louise Boldt

Looking Up

Color and Detail

Fine Dining

Pretty Bedroom

Fireplace Detail

Peaceful Sitting

Brian and Kerri

Enjoying Ourselves

Roof Top View

The Balcony View

The Alster Tower also known as the Play House

Awesome Stone Work

Indoor Bowling Alley in the Play House

Stood the Test of Time

The Arch Entry

The Gazebo

A Touch of Color

The Power House and Clock Tower

Besides gawking at the castle you can go check out the Yacht House and a few antique boats. The boat museum offers a variety of boats to see and learn about along with the caretaker’s quarters. Not a bad place to have to live, although the winter would be a bit chilly.

The Four of Us

The Yacht House and Boat Garage!

A Beautiful Boat

Docked

Not A Castle But I'd Take it

Across from the Yacht House

When we weren’t checking out a castle, we toured the area and took in the scenery at Tibbetts Point Lighthouse in Cape Vincent. This area has quite the French heritage and it was Napoleon’s brother Joseph who established residence in the community in the early 1800s.

Enjoying Himself

Tibbetts Light House

Another famous area close to our temporary location is Sackets Harbor which was the site of one of the most crucial battles of the War of 1812 and the location of the largest U.S. naval station on the Great Lakes during that period. Sackets Harbor became the center of American naval and military activity for the upper St. Lawrence Valley and Lake Ontario. A large fleet was constructed at the harbor’s extensive shipyard, barracks constructed for the thousands of soldiers, sailors, and mechanics who soon arrived to provide the manpower for the invasion and conquest of Canada. You can tour the grounds and learn about the battle and ship building.

A British-Canadian force launched an attack on May 29, 1813 in an attempt to destroy the American shipyard. American forces drove off the enemy, but their narrow victory was marred by a fire that destroyed their military stores. Sackets harbor remained as an active station where naval ships were constructed and supplied during the remainder of the war.

The War of 1812 touched this part of New York

Canadian Glengarry Lieutenant

Iroquois Warrior

The Barracks

Union Hotel 1817

If you take away the war from the area, this place is a nice cozy harbor that offers a wonderful view.

Sailing in Sackets Harbor

Sackets Harbor

We couldn’t get away without playing a round of golf so we headed down the road from our camp and played a nice 9-hole course. The scenery was pretty, the course challenging and fun, and we found this turtle hanging out by a tee box. He wasn’t too worried about us but did give me a look when I took his picture.