if you have built castles in the air...

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost, that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. - Henry David Thoreau

This past weekend we camped in the 1000 Islands Region, on the Canadian side of the St Lawrence River, which was just a short hour or so drive from home. We were delighted to explore the nearby Boldt Castle on Heart Island,New York. It is such a majestic place - the island and castle are beautiful, and the story behind the castle is fascinating. George C. Boldt, proprietor of the famous Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, was building the castle for his beloved wife Louise, on the heart shaped island. When Louise died suddenly, Boldt stopped the construction of the castle and never set foot on the island again {read the entire story here}.

To get to the island we set out on a boat from Rockport, which was a few minutes drive from our campsite. The weather was not great this weekend, but the rain held off for the trip out to the island.

The 1000 Islands Region is so picturesque, and the homes are just amazing. The boat's tour guide said that this cottage is on an island that is Canadian land and the flagpole {on the other side of the bridge} is on an island that is United States land...

Heart Island is in the United States, so we needed our passports to visit the island. This is where you 'cross the border'...

I took so many photos of the castle is was hard to narrow them down, but here are a few of my favorites.

This is the Power House...

and this is Alster Tower...

The Arch...

This is the Yacht House, which is located on Wellesley Island {we didn't go this time, but when we come back, we will take the tour that includes it}...

It was built to house the Boldt's three yachts and house boat, a workshop, etc, - now you can see antique boats on display there.

You can see from the sky in my photos that the nice weather did not last long. The rain started again while we were on the island, stopped for a bit...

and then started again while we were on the boat trip back!

Maybe you can tell from my long post that we had a great time? This is definitely somewhere that we will visit again {and take our family and friends too, when they come out east...}!