With all the world turmoil, there’s no better time to ... put a thousand islands in your life!
Certainly January’s Dan Denney’s Through the Ice - A Tale of Survival caused the most web traffic on our site, and thankfully we don’t have a story of equal suspense. But we do have a follow up article with some of the wonderful comments sent to Dan. We also have interesting features with Mark Wentlings’ Floyd Carter’s Motor Iceboat; and Robert Matthew’s How Dixie II got its name… with special thanks to Bill Schroeder, of Lawrenceville, New Jersey for supplying photographs and memories.
Captain Brian Johnson pays tribute to the late Charlie Brooks from the Gananoque Boat Line in Tribute to Cap’t Charlie; and although not planned, Tom King contributed a number of his late father’s photographs of the Gananoque Boat Line, taken over a several decades in time for the GBL 60th Anniversary.
Kim Lunman brings us Calumet Island's Lost Castle. Kim pays tribute to local historian Rex Ennis who also provided TI Life readers with a copy of a compilation of the guest registry for the Frontenac Hotel, which can be reviewed in Hotel Guest Registry: Fill in the Blanks.
Grenell Island’s writer, Lynn McElfresh presents The Narrows, describing how she walks in the morning and writes in the afternoon, while Cooperstown writer, Tom Pullyblank shares another chapter in his thriller of his forthcoming novel, Napoleon’s Gold; a new excerpt.
New Contributor
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Tom King - Gananoque Boat Line–Photo Memories
Tom and his wife Marion have lived in Milton, Ontario for the past twenty-five years, where they both worked and raised their family of three children; Kris, Mike and Becca. Tom still has a strong attachment to the Thousand Islands, having grown up in Gananoque and being a “river rat” from a very early age. The family tries to return to the islands every summer and for the past few years have been renting a cottage on Sampson (a.k.a. Heritage) Island, just out from Gananoque.
When Tom’s father, Jim, passed away several years ago, Tom inherited his very large collection of 35 mm. slides. The boxes of pictures sat in the garage for several years before Tom had an opportunity to do anything with them. He finally started sorting through them about two years ago and scanning the “keepers”. Being an avid boater as well, the subject of many of Jim’s pictures was the St. Lawrence River and the Thousand Islands. Tom has named the images “The J.W. King Photography Collection” in honor of his Dad and is sharing the images so that others can enjoy them as well.
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A Champion Leaves the River
On February 11 the River lost a great champion with the sudden death of Peter Macklem, (1931-2011). As a long-serving president of the Canadian Thousand Islands Area Residents Association he worked tirelessly to carry out the mission of the organization. Founded in 1975, TIARA is an association of over 600 landowners, both year-round and seasonal, in the Canadian Thousand Islands, who are concerned about the protection and future of this beautiful area.
Although well known for his efforts to promote life in the Thousand Islands, Peter was also a giant in his profession. A graduate of Queen's University, Kingston ON, he graduated with his MD from McGill (Montreal ) in 1956. He was a medalist of the American College of Chest Physicians (1979), a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (1982), an Officer in the Order of Canada (1988). He received Honorary Doctorates from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (1987) and the University of Athens (1997). In 1991, he received the John B. Stirling Medal, given to an outstanding graduate of Queen's University. He was awarded the Gairdner Foundation Wightman Award in 1999 and the Michel Sarrazin Award, Club de Recherche en Sante du Canada, in 2003.
His most recent initiative involved the completing the final stages of having the St. Lawrence River in Ontario declared a Canadian Heritage River. TI Life joins his friends and colleagues in offering our condolences to his wife Joy, his children and their families.
Important News from Clayton
Clayton’s Thousand Islands Regional Dock has been approved by the United States Department of Homeland Security as a 105c Port of Entry. Dennis Honeywell reported this has taken two years to organize but this new ruling will allow the Village of Clayton to have the only deep water dock in the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River that can accommodate vessels that are “foreign registered”.
Prior to this designation by Homeland Security, Clayton could only accommodate commercially operated passenger vessels flying the United States flag. The Village will be able to offer complete U.S. Customs & Border clearance as well as Immigration clearance for non-U.S. passport carrying passengers, including cruise ships. As Dennis says, “ Our regional dock offers well over 600 linear feet of deep water (26'-29') dockage. We also offer amenities such as fuel, water, electricity, sewage offloading, supplies (both hard & soft) and the many attractions that are available in our community. Local restaurants abound within walking distance of the dock, as well as several museums and historical districts. We are within 25 miles of a commercial airport and major shopping areas”.
Events in the Region
It is not too soon to be sending TI Life your list of important events for the season. Send them to susansmith@thousandislandslife.com and then check out our Events page often…
An example is the Third Annual War of 1812 Symposium. “We established the symposium in advance of the war’s 2012 bicentennial to help develop a broader public understanding of the War of 1812, so important to the evolution of the United States and Canada,” said Barbara O’Keefe, President of the Fort La Présentation Association. “The annual symposium is a vibrant forum of scholars from both sides of the boarder presenting informative seminars to an enthusiastic audience of academics, history buffs and re-enactors.”
The War of 1812 in this region, and its wider implications, will be topics at the Symposium in Ogdensburg, NY on April 29-30. The five presentations by authoritative Canadians and Americans are: Ogdensburg and Prescott during the War of 1812, Paul Fortier; American supply efforts on Lake Ontario: “Cooper’s Ark,” Richard Palmer; “Colonel Louis” and the Native American role in the War of 1812, Darren Bonaparte; The war on the St. Lawrence River, Victor Suthren; and Excavation of American Graves at the 1812 Burlington Cantonment, Kate Kenny. The post-dinner address by Patrick Wilder is the Battle of Sackets Harbor.
TI Life Facebook Update
Facebook: 611 fans and counting. We continue to have readers posting photographs and messages. Don’t be shy, please keep them coming!
By Susan W. Smith, Editor susansmith@thousandislandslife.com
Thanks again to Ian Coristine for sharing our header images and to editor and proof reader, David Ray and Jane Taylor.