1) Go into town by boat and let wrapping a towel around your waist and shoving your feet into flip-flops pass for “getting dressed.”  Take special note of the fact that no one will bat an eye at you walking down the street dressed like that.  This is taking “river casual” to the extreme, but it’s also very liberating!

2) Walk across the 1000 Islands Bridge.  One side of the American span of the Bridge has a sidewalk and pedestrians are welcome.  Park at the foot of the Bridge in the 1000 Islands Welcome Center parking lot.  When you get to the middle of the Bridge (the highest point) stop and take your own postcard photo.  If you’re very brave and not given to height sickness, look over the edge and straight down at the river, 150 feet below. 

3) Try the “original” Thousand Islands Dressing at the Thousand Islands Inn in Clayton.  Blended from a century-old recipe that the Inn’s owners still keep secret, the dressing originated with the wife of a Clayton fishing guide. The guide served the unique salad dressing as part of the “shore dinners” he offered his customers. The recipe for the dressing was eventually given to the owner of the Herald Hotel, which is now known as the Thousand Islands Inn.

4) Drive up close to a big ship and yell and wave your arms until somebody in the crew waves back.  If you’re really lucky, the captain will blow the ship’s horn. The St. Lawrence Seaway runs through the 1000 Islands and a bonus for boaters is the ability to get up close to the ships as they’re passing by (of course you don’t want to get too close!).  Often the foreign crews of the ocean-going vessels are fascinated with the region and are taking just as many photos from their incredibly high perch as you are from water level!

5) Find the Lost Channel.  On the Canadian side of the River near the Canadian span of the 1000 Islands Bridge is a beautiful passage dotted with tiny islands.  This quiet, hidden channel earned its name in 1760 when a British warship lowered a boat there to warn another British vessel of French and Indian attackers. Later, the small boat and crew could not be found; even the spot where they had been lowered from the larger ship could not be relocated.  
 

 

Boldt Castle corridor, photo courtesy of Dr. George Burden

6) Go to Boldt Castle and run down the long tunnel pretending you’re in a romance novel.  This works best in a dress but is fun for anybody.  The floor of the tunnel is dirt and one side of the corridor is lined with windows that face trees and the river, this makes it very easy to imagine yourself the tormented soul or stalked heroine, racing against time to escape the clutches of a nemesis lurking somewhere in the ancient castle!  Actually, the tunnel runs from the pool area on the lower level of the Castle to outside on the east end.  Had the Castle ever been inhabited, the tunnel would have served as a means of moving goods from the docks to other parts of the structure without being seen by the family or guests.

7) Show up late for something and casually say you’re on “river time.”  Used as an excuse for being late or for not doing something you just don’t feel like doing, “river time” is a popular expression among locals and seasonal residents.  It is indicative of the fact that time in the Islands moves at a more leisurely pace, no one hurries, there is never a rush hour, and you really just don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.

8) Trek out to Frontenac Crystals Springs to get some drinking water and check out the trout in the spring-fed pond.  The site of the water plant, on County Route 4 outside Clayton, was formerly a hopping night spot and hotel known as “Tiffy’s.”  In its heyday, patrons were known to leap off the bar’s balcony into the trout pond.  Now there’s a nifty do-it-yourself spring water filling station called The Water Shed right next to the bottling plant and owners keep the picturesque pond stocked with rainbow trout.

Horne's Ferry at Cape Vincent, NY

9) Take the ferry from Cape Vincent to Wolfe Island.  Horne’s Ferry has been operating out of Cape Vincent for more than 200 years.  The ferry will take you and your car across the invisible underwater border to the largest of the 1000 Islands.  Wolfe Island, located in Canadian waters where Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River meet, boasts a charming village where shops and overnight accommodations can be found. Be sure to dine at the acclaimed General Wolfe Hotel.  

10)  Experience the River at dawn.  Scout out a likely spot the day before and set your alarm for 4 or so.  There is nothing quite like watching a veil of mist lift off the surface of the water at dawn.  If you’re quiet you’ll hear the splash of a fish jumping, the brief struggle as a Great Blue Heron seizes its breakfast, or maybe the deep rumble that’s felt more than heard and signals the impending passage of a freighter.  These are sights and sounds that are experienced only when the day is very young, before the river’s human inhabitants come to life.