Trip duration: 3 days, July 2022
Thousand Islands... does the name automatically remind you of a certain delicious dressing? Curious whether there's a connection? Read on.
Now that we are slowly resuming travel, we decided to visit our family in Toronto suburbs. They helped plan and join on this super fun road trip to explore Thousand Islands and more.
Day 1 - Thousand Islands
We left from home a little after 10 am and drove to Rockport, ON. The drive itself was fairly uneventful but after the parched brown hills of California, it sure was nice to see the lush greenery and the occasional glimpse of Lake Ontario and later the St. Lawrence river. We arrived at Rockport around lunch time.
After purchasing tickets for the cruise, we started looking for food. There are just 2 restaurants there, and with only one of them operational on that day, it turned out to be a bit of a wait before we could be seated. The food at Cornwall's Pub turned out to be pretty good and we followed it up with the local Kawartha Dairy ice cream that was absolutely delicious.
After some time we lined up to board the Thousand Island cruise operated by Rockport Cruises.
This archipelago of 1864 islands are located on an 80 km stretch of the St. Lawrence River, which straddles the border of Canada and United States, was discovered and named "Thousand Islands" by the French. In order to qualify as an island, the piece of land needs to be at least 1 square feet in area, support 1 tree and stay above water 365 days a year. The area has a lot of sunken ships at the bottom of the river and therefore is a popular spot for scuba diving.
The cruise lasted about 2 hours and went by notable view points and gorgeous waterfront mansions.
Thousands Islands Bridge
Built in 1937 and primarily maintained by the American side, it's a bridge system over the St. Lawrence river connecting US to Canada.
Thousand Islands Tower (aka Skydeck Tower)
Located on Hill Island on the Canadian side, this tower offers fabulous vistas and a birds eye view of the region... up to a distance of 60 km on clear days. Unfortunately for us by the time we were done with the cruise the tower had closed.. so we merely saw it from the cruise.
Statue of St. Lawrence
Located on the bluffs just east of the Thousand Islands Bridge, the 9 tonne white limestone statue of St. Lawrence is hard to miss. Seen only from the water, the statue holds a gridiron over which St. Lawrence was said to have been roasted.
Fiddler Island
This island has an "entertaining" story. Back in the day this island housed a fiddler who would entertain tourists cruising the river and in return they would throw coins at him.
Shortest International Bridge in the World
Zavikon Islands is home to the world's shortest international bridge, connecting an American island to a Canadian island on the St. Lawrence river. The bridge itself is only 32 feet wide and is adorned with an American flag and a Canadian.. along with a Hungarian flag to honor the family that owned the islands.
Boldt Castle
Located on Heart Island near Alexandra Bay, NY is a premier attraction in the region. Originally a private mansion built by American millionaire and hotelier George Boldt, it is now maintained as a tourist attraction. Boasting 120 rooms and a glorious faรงade, it looks like something straight out of a fairytale and was inspired by castles from Prussia, where George Boldt was originally from.
In case you are still wondering about the connection of this region with the dressing, it was actually created by George Boldt's personal chef.
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| Approaching Boldt Castle |
If you are visiting from US or have a US visa, you should make a stop here to tour the castle. Cruise ships from both sides of the river offer the option to stop here and it is an official Port of Entry for US. Unfortunately for us, one of my family members was traveling sans passport, which prevented us from landing at the island and exploring the castle. However the cruise did take us very close to the castle which allowed us plenty of photo ops. Besides the main castle, some of the key structures visible from the cruise include:
After the cruise, back at Rockport we had some coffee from a local store before heading to the cute little town of Gananoque for dinner.
Once there, we hung out at the waterfront for some time and the kids had fun at the Joel Stone Heritage Park following which we got dinner at Milano Pizzeria.
Day 2 - Kingston
After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the historic town of Kingston.
Located on the north shore of Lake Ontario at the mouth of the St. Lawrence and Cataraqui rivers, Kingston was the capital of the United Province of Canada from 1841-1844, under the British rule and to this day remains an important military installation. Known for its striking 19th century limestone architecture, this city is a popular base for exploring the 1000 islands region.
Here are some of the points of interest we explored. The trolley tour was unfortunately not operational so we ended up walking/driving to them.
City Hall
This beautiful building is a designated heritage site and used to offer self guided tours in the pre-pandemic era. The building still functions as the city's administrative center and historically housed governments, bank, police headquarters etc.
Confederation Park
Across the street from City Hall is this beautiful park along the lakefront, boasting of a fountain, visitor center, old train engines and the Kingston sign. It is a fun place to visit and connecting the two POIs is a rainbow colored pedestrian crossing. This is a popular location for free music festivals and similar events and is also home to remnants of old fortifications from the British era.
Shoal Tower
Kingston Penitentiary
Built in the 1830s, it is a former maximum security prison and was one of the oldest prisons in continuous use in the world at the time of its closure. It had been home to many of Canada's most dangerous and notorious criminals.
Tours are offered of this now popular tourist spot but honestly visiting a bunch of ancient cells didn't quite excite us, not to mention they were completely booked for the day.. so we ended up visiting Canada's Penitentiary Museum located across the street, which explains the history of Kingston Penitentiary and other correctional centers. It also houses pictures, replicas, historical records and so on.
We hopped back into the car for a short drive to the next POI.
Bellevue House National Historic Site
Bellevue House was the home of Canada's first Prime minister, John A. Macdonald and is notable for its non-symmetrical Italian villa style of architecture.
Unfortunately for us the interiors were undergoing renovations and we were unable to enter the beautiful building. We did however explore the garden and a little museum of sorts that was set up at the visitor center.
By the time we were done, we were quite famished and went to a local Smokes Poutinerie for some really delicious poutine. Beware of the portion sizes though (Psst! Even the medium is huge)..
St. Mary's Cathedral
Fort Henry
Located at Point Henry, a strategic, elevated point near the mouth of the Cataraqui River, the fort was constructed during the War of 1812. It was built to protect the Rideau Canal and is the largest fortification west of Quebec City.
At present it is a living museum. Uniformed military interpreters known as the Fort Henry Guard staff the fort and conduct demonstrations of British military life and tours for visitors.
Once we arrived there, we waited for about 20 minutes for the next tour. The tour was quite interesting and informative. Once that was done we explored the fortifications as well as climbed to the top of the fort to watch various demonstrations.
We then headed back to the City Hall area.
Springer Market Square
Located behind the City Hall, this square is the location for the weekly farmer's market as well as other public events. We stopped at Kingston Coffee House for some coffee and hot chocolate for the kids before heading back to the hotel.
Day 3 - Sandbanks Provincial Park
On our final day we visited the beautiful Sandbanks Park for a fun beach day.
Located on Lake Ontario, this park offers the best sandy beaches in the province of Ontario and is known for its picturesque sand dunes. Reservations are required hence do plan accordingly.
It was a cloudy day and the water was a bit cold.. but that did not stop us from swimming and splashing around in the water. It felt like a swimming pool given how shallow it was for quite some distance into the lake. We hopped a couple of beaches and had a wonderful time. In between we had lunch at Currah's Park Store and Grill located inside the park.
After getting some coffee/ice cream at the same store later in the afternoon, we headed out. We stopped at Lake on the Mountain, a beautiful lake located 60m above Lake Ontario with views towards the Bay of Quinte.
We took pictures and explored the short trail along the lake shore before heading back to Toronto.
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