Castles of the Thousand Islands

Scattered among the pine-clad islets of the St. Lawrence River, the castles of the Thousand Islands stand as some of the most romantic—and revealing—remnants of the Gilded Age. Built between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these dramatic structures were not medieval fortresses, but expressions of wealth, ambition, and imagination in an era when America’s elite sought to leave a lasting mark on the landscape.

The most famous of these is Boldt Castle, commissioned by hotel magnate George C. Boldt on Heart Island. Conceived as a grand tribute to his wife, the six-story castle blended Rhineland romanticism with modern luxury, complete with tunnels, towers, and formal gardens. When Mrs. Boldt died suddenly in 1904, construction halted overnight, leaving the castle unfinished for decades and turning it into a poignant symbol of love and loss.

Just downriver, Singer Castle on Dark Island offered a more fortified vision. Built by Frederick Bourne, president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, it combined Old World styling with modern engineering. Secret passageways, hidden staircases, and thick stone walls reflected both Bourne’s desire for privacy and the era’s fascination with security and intrigue. Unlike Boldt Castle, Singer Castle was fully completed and remains remarkably intact today.

Completing the trio is Calumet Castle, perched on Calumet Island and commissioned by Chicago industrialist Charles G. Emery. Smaller and more restrained than its neighbors, Calumet Castle nevertheless embraced medieval European design, with crenellated towers and solid stone construction. Emery envisioned it as a dignified summer residence rather than a public spectacle, emphasizing exclusivity and permanence. Though privately owned and less accessible, Calumet Castle adds an important counterpoint to the region’s grander showpieces.

Together, these castles helped shape the Thousand Islands’ identity. Steamship tours highlighted their turrets and towers, reinforcing the region’s reputation as a place where American wealth met European fantasy. Built of stone in a landscape dominated by wooden cottages, they signaled endurance in a seasonal world.

Today, the castles of the Thousand Islands remain enduring landmarks. They tell stories of immense fortune, personal aspiration, and the Gilded Age belief that architecture itself could declare legacy—rising from the river as timeless monuments to ambition and imagination.

ABOUT MADISON’S MISSION:

Step into the captivating world of Boldt Castle in 1903, where dreams are forged in the fires of adversity and love. Madison Murray, maid to Louise Boldt, harbors a singular mission—to care for her ailing mistress while hiding her own painful past. She meets Emmett O’Connor, but just as their relationship grows, tragedy shatters their world, and Madison is ensnared in a dangerous coverup. When Mrs. Boldt passes away, Madison is left reeling, can she move forward? Will Emmett forge a future alongside the woman who has captured his heart?

ABOUT SUSAN:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than thirty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has sixteen in her fiction line. Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan lives in Northern Virginia and enjoys traveling the world. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction for more.

 

Gilded Age Cruising the Thousand Islands

During the Gilded Age, cruising the Thousand Islands was far more than transportation—it was a symbol of elegance, leisure, and social standing. Stretching along the St. Lawrence River between New York and Canada, the region became a fashionable summer retreat for industrialists, politicians, and wealthy families seeking scenic escape and refined recreation. To arrive by water was part of the experience—to cruise was to belong.

Steam-powered vessels defined the era. Graceful side-wheel and screw steamers carried visitors from hubs like Clayton and Alexandria Bay through a maze of islands and shorelines. These boats served as floating parlors, featuring polished interiors, attentive service, and spacious decks designed for sightseeing and socializing while the river scenery unfolded around them.

For the elite, private yachts became the ultimate status symbol. Built by premier shipyards, they blended luxury and innovation with brass fittings, upholstered lounges, and shaded decks for afternoon conversation. Cruising routes often became social stages where travelers admired—and quietly judged—one another’s vessels, clothing, and grand island estates.

Excursion cruises opened the experience to middle-class tourists eager to sample the glamour of island life. Narrated tours highlighted famous summer homes and landmarks like Boldt Castle, adding romance and mystique to the journey while allowing ordinary visitors a glimpse into elite society.

Cruising also shaped daily life throughout the region. Steamers connected islands, hotels, and mainland towns, delivering mail, supplies, and guests on dependable schedules. Beneath the elegance, however, navigating narrow channels and hidden shoals required expert pilots and expanding lighthouse systems.

Gilded Age cruising captured the spirit of the time: faith in technology, celebration of leisure, and the pursuit of beauty best enjoyed from the deck of a well-appointed boat. Gliding across the sparkling river at sunset, passengers embraced the era’s romance, privilege, adventure, and confidence in modern progress and luxury.

ABOUT A SUMMER AT THOUSAND ISLAND HOUSE:

Addison Bell has always had an enduring love for children, so she nannies at the renowned Thousand Island House on Staple’s Island? As Addi thrives in her work, she attracts the attention of the recreation pavilion’s manager, Liam Donovan, as well as the handsome Navy Officer Lt. Worthington, a lighthouse inspector, hotel patron, and single father of mischievous little Jimmy. But when Jimmy goes missing, Addi finds both her job and her reputation in danger. How can she calm the churning waters of Liam, Lt. Worthington, and the President, clear her name, and avoid becoming the scorn of the Thousand Islands community?

ABOUT SUSAN:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than thirty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has sixteen in her fiction line. Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan lives in Northern Virginia and enjoys traveling the world. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction for more.

Arctic Blizzards on the St. Lawrence River

Growing up just seventeen miles south of the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, and Canada, arctic blizzards brought an average snowfall of one hundred inches to our area. Winters were long and tiresome, but we didn’t seem to know that wasn’t normal. We built igloos, snowmen, and skating rinks. We did lots of sledding, snowball fighting, and some people even ice fished. That was in the 1970s with warm homes, heated cars, and electric lights. But what was it like a hundred years earlier before central heat, cars, and electricity? I shudder to think of it.

In the 1930s, my mom grew up with no electricity, heat, or running water in their home. Instead, they boasted a snow cave to a double-seater outhouse, a pump for water, and a single wood stove to heat their entire home. But the northern New York winters were just as cold as when I grew up.

Arctic air from Canada moves across Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River picking up moisture that rises, forms clouds, and grows into bands that produce several inches of snow per hour. Wind howls. Snow falls. And hours later, you’re digging out from several inches—or feet—of snow.

How did they do it back in the early 1900s? I can’t imagine, but folks are a hardy lot in the North Country, and somehow they not only survived but thrived.

In 1977, I experienced a “ground blizzard” that is still considered one of the worst snowstorms of all time. I barely made it home from college on January 28, and for four days the wind howled up to fifty mph and the snow fell where several feet of snow already covered the ground. All told, over one hundred inches of snow fell in those four days causing several deaths and lots of damage. Yet I had heat, lights, and television—though a trip to the store yielded a rationed mixture of chick peas and canned spinach.

In the early 1900s, what would it be like to experience such a storm? I can only imagine, but it happened year after year and Thousand Islanders came out stronger and better for the challenges they faced. Perhaps that’s one of the reasons I love and respect the River people.

Lizzy gets caught in such a snowstorm in Christmas Charity. Have you been in a blizzard? I’d love to hear your story. Leave your answer or comments on the post below and join me on March 19th for my next post.

About Christmas Charity:

Susan Hawkins and Patrick O’Neill find that an arranged marriage is much harder than they think, especially when they emigrate from Wolfe Island, Canada, to Cape Vincent, New York, in 1864, just a week after they marry—with Patrick’s nine-year-old daughter, Lizzy, in tow. Can twenty-three-year-old Susan Hawkins learn to love her forty-nine-year-old husband and find charity for her angry stepdaughter?

About Susan G Mathis

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than twenty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books. She has seven in her fiction line including, The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, Christmas Charity, Katelyn’s Choice, Devyn’s Dilemma, Sara’s Surprise, Reagan’s Reward, and her newest, Colleen’s Confession, with Peyton’s Promise and Rachel’s Reunion coming soon. She is also a published author of two premarital books, two children's picture books, seven stories in compilation books, and hundreds of published articles. Find out more at www.SusanGMathis.com.

 

Autumn in the Thousand Islands

It’s the time of the year when Thousand Islands cottage dwellers close up their summer homes and say goodbye to the St. Lawrence River. While there are still the year-rounders who enjoy the crisp air and autumn beauty, they are few. Yet, the autumn colors in the area are simply spectacular and not to be missed!

Historically, people like the Bournes who built Singer Castle (then called The Towers) on Dark Island, the Emerys who built Calumet Castle on Calumet Island, and the Pullmans who built Castle Rest on Pullman Island, would often visit the islands in the fall, often to hunt and fish. The Bournes even had a duck blind on a separate nearby island.

Yet, I suspect, many of the Gilded Age families returned to enjoy the autumn colors on the St. Lawrence River in their beloved Thousand Islands. The grand cities like New York City, Philadelphia, and others simply couldn’t provide the abundance, wide-range, and intensely beautiful autumn scenery the area offered them.

Leaf peeping in the Thousand Islands is a memorable experience. The densely deciduous forests along the river and on the islands turn vibrant, awe-inspiring colors. Leaves fall into the water and paint an unforgettable tapestry. Bright reds, oranges, and yellows dot the landscape, with more subtle hues of pinks, purples, and peach filling in the autumn color wheel. If you haven’t been to New England in the fall, you won’t regret adding it to your bucket list.

But why is it so beautiful here? Cooler temperatures in late summer combined with plenty of sunshine, often leads to brighter colors. But freezing can kill the leaves prematurely. As you’ll recall from your biology classes, photosynthesis breaks down chlorophyll, yellow pigments in the leaves become visible, and the leaves lose their green color. Reds and purples come from the sugars trapped in the leaves.

Ideally, an early moist growing season, a dry late summer, and a sunny, warm fall with cool nights, create the most stunning colors of the autumn season. And here, along the St. Lawrence River, this is often the case.

The St. Lawrence River autumn usually peaks around the first of October, reflecting these colors on its clear water and multiplying the breathtaking scenery. You can take boat cruises around the color-bursting islands until mid-October to see for yourself. Though timing can vary from year to year due to weather and the increasing length of nights, you won’t want to miss it—at least one time in your life.

About Reagan’s Reward:

Reagan Kennedy assumes the position of governess to the Bernheim family’s twin nephews, and her life at Cherry Island’s Casa Blanca becomes frustratingly complicated. Service to a Jewish family and tending to eight-year-old mischievous boys brings trouble galore.

Daniel Lovitz serves as the island’s caretaker and boatman. When he tries to help the alluring Reagan make sense of her new world, her insecurities mount as her confidence is shaken―especially when she crosses the faith divide and when Etta Damsky makes her life miserable. As trouble brews, Daniel sees another side of the woman he’s come to love.

Finalist in the 2020 Selah Awards, Reagan's Reward will touch your heart.

About Susan:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than twenty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books.

Her first two books of The Thousand Islands Gilded Age series, Devyn’s Dilemma, and Katelyn’s Choice have each won multiple awards, and book three, Peyton’s Promise, comes out May 2022 with Rachel’s Reunion in November. The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, Christmas Charity, and Sara’s Surprise, and Reagan’s Reward, are also award winners.  

Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, two children's picture books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan makes her home in Colorado Springs and enjoys traveling around the world. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com for more.

The Historic Wolfe Island, Canada

The history of Wolfe Island, the largest of all the 1,864 islands in the Thousand Islands, dates back to the early 1600s. Wolfe Island forms a natural boundary between Canadian and United States where the St. Lawrence River meets Lake Ontario. The island is only one-to-seven miles wide but it’s twenty miles long, and today, much of it is a huge wind farm.

Samuel de Champlain is believed to be the first white man to explore the island in 1615 when stopped by after fighting the Iroquois Indians. In 1675, King Louis IV of France officially claimed the area, giving a man named La Salle the area for hunting and fishing. La Salle, in turn, was to maintain a garrison, build a church, pay a tidy sum of money, and “domesticate” the Indians. Yet there is no evidence that he did any of it.

Jacque Cauchois took over the garrison called Fort Frontenac in 1685 and after his death, his heirs managed the area, where settlers called Marysville their home close to the fort. The land remained in the Cauchois family for over 100 years, until it was sold in the early 1800s to David Alexander Grant and Patrick Langan for one shilling an acre.

During the Revolutionary War, 1776-1783, British soldiers oversaw the island and British loyalists sought refuge on the island, working the land and some settling there.

In 1792, the island was named Wolfe Island after British General Wolfe. With only one town, Marysville, its year-round population of less than two thousand reaches either the Canadian and American mainland by ferry—or walking over the ice.

During the War of 1812, Scottish settlers came, battles were fought around the island, and the population increased. In 1823, the settlement the Ardath Chateau became the centerpiece for the settlement, known locally as the “The Old Castle”. It had 25 rooms, a dungeon, a carriage house and servants' quarters. It was razed in 1929. Besides the castle, there were only fifteen families on the island.

By 1861, the population grew to thirty-six hundred, many of the families Irish immigrants seeking a better life from the Potato Famine years. One of those families was mine. In The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, you’ll learn so much more about this fascinating island, history, and culture.

About The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy

After struggling to accept the changes forced upon her, Margaret Hawkins and her family take a perilous journey on an 1851 immigrant ship to the New World, bringing with her an Irish family quilt she is making.

A hundred and sixty years later, her great granddaughter, Maggie, searches for the family quilt after her ex pawns it. But on their way to creating a family legacy, will these women find peace with the past and embrace hope for the future, or will they be imprisoned by fear and faithlessness? https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06X3YX5YS

About Susan:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than twenty times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books.

Her first two books of The Thousand Islands Gilded Age series, Devyn’s Dilemma, and Katelyn’s Choice have each won multiple awards, and book three, Peyton’s Promise, comes out May 2022 with Rachel’s Reunion in October. The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, Christmas Charity, and Sara’s Surprise, and Reagan’s Reward, are also award winners. Susan’s book awards include two Illumination Book Awards, the American Fiction Award, the Indie Excellence Book Award, and two Literary Titan Book Award. Reagan’s Reward is a finalist in the Selah Awards.

Susan is also a published author of two premarital books, two children's picture books, stories in a dozen compilations, and hundreds of published articles. Susan makes her home in Colorado Springs and enjoys traveling around the world. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com for more.

The Mighty St. Lawrence River

by Susan G Mathis

The bi-national St. Lawrence River drains more than a quarter of the Earth’s freshwater and is two-hundred and fifty feet at its deepest point. It flows through both the U.S. and Canada and includes the Great Lakes. It's one of the largest in the world, and its waters reaching deep into the North American continent. Thus, the St. Lawrence River—and the Seaway—is a vital geographic and economic waterway that is part of the Great Lakes system. The river connects the lakes to the Atlantic Ocean and provides important navigation for ocean-going vessels.

The river is about eight hundred miles long and drops two hundred twenty-six feet between Montreal, Canada and Lake Ontario. It includes the world’s largest estuary, and there are three primary regions:

• The freshwater river between Lake Ontario and Quebec City

• The St. Lawrence estuary from Quebec City to Anticosti Island

• The saltwater Gulf of the St. Lawrence that leads to the Atlantic Ocean.

Two years ago, I had the privilege of cruising from Boston to Quebec City. Sailing through the Gulf of the St. Lawrence and down to Quebec City, my husband and I enjoyed the beauty and wonder of this mighty river. But it was even more special for me since I wrote the true story of my ancestors taking this same path in my debut novel, The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy.

Back in the 1850s, tens of thousands of Irish fled to countries such as America and Canada through the St. Lawrence River in famine ships, hoping for a better life. These countries and others welcomed them with open arms. But getting from Quebec City to the Thousand Islands Region was no easy task.

In the 1850s, they used a French batteau—a large canoe—to take passengers up the two-hundred and fifty feet of falls and rapids to get to the Upper St. Lawrence, home of the 1,864 Thousand Islands. In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to bypass these dangerous waters and link the Great Lakes with the St. Lawrence River and the ocean through a series of canals, locks, and channels.

St. Lawrence Fish
Commercial fishing and pollution have depleted fishing, but conservation is helping balance the river, little by little. Salmon, herring, and sturgeon have been overfished, but sports fishermen—and women—still enjoy many stretches of the river famous for their small and largemouth bass, northern pike, carp, and muskellunge (a.k.a. muskies).

Animals of the St. Lawrence
About eighty-three land and aquatic mammals call the river and its gulf home, including the beluga whale. The river is also part of the Atlantic Flyway, where at least 400 species of birds, such as bald eagles, ospreys, and black terns, reside and migrate. During the early 1900s, the fox, beaver, mink, and muskrat were threatened by the fur industry, but most have come back to a healthy level.

River Plants
More than 1,700 species of plants include the rare lady’s-slipper orchid. Springtime blooms beautiful, summer is splendid, and the autumn is epic. It truly is a lovely piece of the world.

What else would you like to know about the mighty St. Lawrence River? Leave your answer or comments on the post below and join me on the 19th for my next post.

About The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy:

After struggling to accept the changes forced upon her, Margaret Hawkins and her family take a perilous journey on an 1851 immigrant ship to the New World, bringing with her an Irish family quilt she is making.

A hundred and sixty years later, her great granddaughter, Maggie, searches for the family quilt after her ex pawns it. But on their way to creating a family legacy, will these women find peace with the past and embrace hope for the future, or will they be imprisoned by fear and faithlessness?

About Susan:

Susan G Mathis is an international award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Susan has been published more than 20 times in full-length novels, novellas, and non-fiction books.

Her first two books of The Thousand Islands Gilded Age series, Devyn’s Dilemma and Katelyn’s Choice are available now, and she’s working on book three. The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, Christmas Charity, and Sara’s Surprise, and her newest, Reagan’s Reward, are also available. Susan’s books have won numerous awards, including two Illumination Book Awards, the American Fiction Award, the Indie Excellence Book Award, and the Literary Titan Book Award. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com for more.

 

The Thousand Islands’ White House

Casa Blanca is one of the most well-preserved Gilded Age cottages along “Millionaire’s Row” in the Thousand Islands and the setting for my latest novella, Reagan’s Reward. Set on the downriver tip of Cherry Island, just off the mainland shore near Alexandria Bay, NY, this white house is one of the most photographed and touted mansions on the river.

 

Emily and Albert Pullman built the original Melrose Lodge in 1880, and in 1897 Luis Marx bought it for $3,500. This American businessman owned tobacco and sugar plantations in Cuba. He and his wife, Eugenia, renovated and enlarged the small lodge into a three-story, twenty-five-room palatial mansion. The wrap-around veranda captures the main channel sights of passing ships and boats, spectacular sunsets, and views of other islands. Marx even installed a grand electric fountain on the front lawn that had been featured in the Chicago World’s Fair, and many enjoyed passing by the island to see it.

 

The work on the mansion was finished just in time for their daughter’s wedding. On June 30, 1899, Mary and Henry Bernheim were married on the island. Unfortunately, after only five years, Eugenia died at Casa Blanca in 1902. The Bernheims continued to summer on the island, with frequent visits from Luis Marx, until it was sold in 1926.

 

In 1962, the current owners saved the deteriorating Casa Blanca from destruction. They restored and renovated the mansion to its original grandeur, right down to the teaspoons and stained-glass transoms. 

 

The house is a Gilded Age living museum with everything like it was nearly one hundred years ago. The reception hall/living room has pressed tin ceilings and side walls. Two player pianos and a pump organ, bentwood Thonet furniture from Vienna and Fostoria glass, a collection of blue and white Meissen china and the butler's pull station, take visitors back to the early 1900s. The paneled staircase has a stained-glass window at the landing, with a scene depicting pheasants on the river in the morning light. On the second floor are four master suites with a total of thirteen bedrooms and screened sleeping porch. The third floor, originally the servants’ quarters, hosts several bedrooms, a bath, and a plethora of antique toys, quilts, and more. The home can sleep twenty-eight. Moreover, there are several outbuildings, including a Laundry House, Ice House, and the Boat House that has an entire apartment on the second floor and houses a fleet of boats. 

 

The family enjoys summering here and welcomes frequent guest, including me. It’s been opened to the public for fund-raising tours, teas, and weddings to benefit the Thousand Islands community. The mansion was even featured on Sweet Retreats. 

 

About Reagan’s Reward:

In my sixth Gilded Age story, Reagan’s Reward, it’s the summer of 1912. Reagan Kennedy assumes the position of governess to the Bernheim family’s twin nephews, and her life at Cherry Island’s Casa Blanca becomes frustratingly complicated. Service to a Jewish family when she is a Gentile and tending to eight-year-old, mischievous boys yields challenges galore.

 

Daniel Lovitz serves as the island’s caretaker and boatman. He tries to help the alluring Reagan make sense of her new world, but she calls into question his own faith background and forces him to face the hurts of his past. Then there’s the jealous lady’s maid who seems intent on wedging herself between them. Can he and Reagan ever find common ground on such a small island? 

 

Susan G Mathis is an award-winning, multi-published author of stories set in the beautiful Thousand Islands, her childhood stomping ground in upstate NY. Her first two books of The Thousand Islands Gilded Age series, Devyn’s Dilemmaand Katelyn’s Choice are available now, and she’s working on book three. The Fabric of Hope: An Irish Family Legacy, Christmas Charity, and Sara’s Surprise are also available. Susan’s books have won numerous awards, including the Illumination Book Award, the American Fiction Award and the Indie Excellence Book Award. Visit www.SusanGMathis.com for more.

 

Website: www.SusanGMathis.com/fiction

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SusanGMathis

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@SusanGMathis

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susangmathis

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/susangmathisaut

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6044608.Susan_G_Mathis

Amazon: Susan G Mathis author