Places

A proposed anchor tourism attraction for the Thousand Islands is a huge step closer to opening its doors on Brockville’s...

We’re here! We arrived on the island in the middle of a glorious sunny day. The crossing was a little bumpy but Linda at...

“I wouldn’t live anywhere else... I don’t think you can beat it!” Antoine ‘Tiner’ LaRush “People are drawn to this hou...

A handful of brave souls ventured out in the cold for the grand opening of the newly renamed Thousand Islands National P...

The Thousand Islands Navy, or the Admiralty as it is known by some, was established in 1940 by W. Grant Mitchell, my gre...

The sandwich board points to a Flea Market and each time I see it I experience the thrill of the hunt!   In fa...

I’ve only been working with the Thousand Islands Land Trust (TILT) for a little over a year, but in that short time I fe...

Remington died of appendicitis in 1909 at the age of 48. Theodore Roosevelt...

Riverquest...It’s all about inspiring curiosity! So whatever things you are “In Quest of”, be it adventure...

“It began as a spark of an idea that grew from conversations about the wonderful ‘Island’ stories...

It’s time to head north. I get emails from non-River friends all the time asking, “When are you going back to the cabin ...

This is how -  we -  Heidi and Konrad Linckh, came to buy Hill Island's Skydeck Observation Tower. There is d...

The decade of the 1920s is well remembered as a time of rapid growth in the American economy and the development of pers...

Now That We’re Here, Where Will We Stay? Some people collect postcards or stamps but my efforts  turned to acquiri...

"Enough of that! Now for the really thrilling news... I soloed on Sunday, April 29! Yip, I SOLOed!

“...the burning of the Sir Robert Peel Steamer, by a band of masked villains – [was] outdoing the worst deeds of the worst ...

The memories most dear to me are the times I spent with my Grandfather. He was so proud to show-off his first born grandson to the River captain community in the 'Burg...

So what's different? Who out there remembers the 1000 Islands from the 60's and can compare it to today? Let me take a stab at it...

Since 2004 my family and I have been visiting our secret garden cottage retreat, on the shores of the Thousand Islands R...

Island residents face their toughest winter in years. The ferry Wolfe Islander operates on an erratic schedule because o...

It’s estimated that around 5 million people in Canada and 20 million people in the United States are of Scottish decent....

For the first time since the Thousand Islands Playhouse was formed in 1982, a new Artistic Director has taken the reins....

In the fall of 1940 officials from the United States Defense Department made a quiet trip to Alexandria Bay, NY. It was ...

Early in September, 1927 a steam-powered barge appeared on the water off Snowshoe Point near Henderson Harbor in eastern...

When people hear the word ‘volunteer’ a lot of things may come to mind. For me, volunteering as a way to give back to my...

My boots tap on the faux-wood floor as I walk into Leeds County Books in downtown Brockville. The brightness and warmth ...

My father-in-law used to joke that the most expensive piece of artwork he owned was the wooden blue heron that sat on th...

My thanks go to Brian Winter, the archivist for the Whitby Ontario Library for sharing this 1927 Toronto Daily Star arti...

It's a new song about our favorite spot in the World. The 1000 Islands. It's written by a local performer called JPShaggy

My grandfather, Thomas Mitchell (1913-1990), told me many stories about life on the river during the winter months. Many...

One of the little known historic sites on the Canadian mainland is the area around Sheriff’s and Lindsay’s Points west o...

I love looking at photographs of the Thousand Islands. In fact, I can never get enough of them, so when I learned that D...

The date was February 1838. Action in the Upper Canadian rebellion had abated on Navy Island on the Niagara River and ha...

In early February TI Life received a note from Rob Pakan.  He gave a heartfelt thanks to TI Life and our many autho...

You can see the utter joy on their faces as children of the congregation come forward to ring the chapel. Lots of childr...

His name has become quite familiar in the Thousand Islands in recent years even though he hasn't been there in almost a ...

I’ve heard stories, seen pictures and I’ve even seen the dusty stuffed trophies mounted...

There are times in one’s life when the stars seem to be in alignment and maybe this to be one of those times.  It i...

Throughout the winter season Dr. Richard Withington  provides a unique service to Round Islanders.  He writes ...

In mid-September 2011, I visited the Thousand Islands briefly from my home in East Virginia to gather material for an ar...

Were you around this summer to see photographers and videographers with cameras in hand shooting from the air, on boats,...

The day that she and partner David Belding bought their first two pigs is the day Dani Baker thinks her mother rolled ov...

As we approach the holiday season it is appropriate to reflect on our circumstances that might otherwise be taken for gr...

It's the towering tree that you first notice about this little island west of Brockville. It almost resembles a palm tre...

Island neighbor, Catherine Hinds, tells me the water was so low the year she was born, that her parents could walk from ...

“There’s just gott’a be a better way to earn a living than this!” Grant ‘Lindy’ Lucy, machine operator at Parmenter &am...

Excitement is in the air! We are heading downriver on an October Saturday, cutting through the rippling waters of the St...

. . . Here I am again, sitting in my car on the Prescott/Ogdensburg international bridge, waiting in a line of traffic. ...

The history detectives at the Leeds and the Thousand Islands Archives (LTIArchives) are hard at work, constantly in search of their quarry.

 Anne and Charles Phillips honeymooned in the Thousand Islands in 1929. Before they left, the bride of a Methodist ...

Bounce! Bounce! PLOP! And the phone was gone. It was a blustery day and the river was so rough my husband changed to car...

Surfing the internet one day, I landed on a 1000-Island tourist attraction and found myself staring into the picture of ...

It was September 21, 1812 - 200 years ago, the first shots on the St. Lawrence River frontier rang out in Gananoque. &#...

Bob, raised in Endicott NY often tent camped at Wellesley Island State Park. I am from small town Nebraska. Today we div...

The Great Lake Swimmers literally swam and dove into the St. Lawrence, spending a hot summer day here in August filming ...

When you live on an island, boats are important. In the early days, most people got to and from the island via a steamer...

No I’m not talking about making a new dive site by sinking a ship with a rocket. I am talking about a lost shipwreck tha...

“No story of a small privately-owned firm such as Mitchell & Wilson Ltd. can be...

The history of every legendary figure includes tall tales, deliberate embellishments, and apocrypha. Bill Johnston, the ...

Temagami Island   I am in Chippewa Bay 10 miles below Alexandria Bay. Seven miles wide here and blows like hell ev...

Sam Grenell first laid out lots for summer cottages on Grenell Island in 1879. By the turn of the century there were ove...

2012 marks the 175th anniversary of the 1837/38 Upper Canadian Rebellions. This is a chapter in that story which has a F...

Dave and Mary Roberts signed a lease to open their privately owned public aquarium...

It has been a roller-coaster since I first saw Kim Lunmen’s June 2011 article  Fulford Yacht's Historical Homecomin...

I’ve always held a fascination with history, especially along the river. Whether it was the wreck of the Riverside near the rift...

Bob kicked the clod of earth that had covered the artifacts and out fell a brass tag that was about two and a half inches...

The 3-ring, leather, binder is the best “read” I have had in many years. Neither a novel or a piece of non-fiction it is...

During my first week on the island, July, 1975, I went to the Grenell Island Store/Post Office to mail postcards home to...

Though her journey to year-round Thousand Islands life was more of a self-described “gradual wading in” than “plunge,” my friend Elizabeth “Liz” Price-Kellogg

If Minna Anthony Common had a Rock Ridges Trail blog I would have had it bookmarked, or better yet I would have pinned i...

A kitchen party in the 1950s, rural Canada. A small, tightly-knit, stable, island community in the mouth of the St Lawre...

The Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II celebrates a remarkable 60 years on the throne by a monarch who ha...

I grew up in rural Maine with “back-to-the-land” parents, so naturally I couldn’t wait to move to the big city...

Gone in 5 minutes… Every story I’ve heard about fire on the islands usually had the phrase…it was gone in 5 minutes. ...

"I immediately saw the potential..."

Chapman Shoal is located between Round Island and Pine (AKA: Beckwith) Island in the St. Lawrence River downriver from C...

How it all began… Caroline and I have all of Ian Coristine’s books. We hadn't met Ian but I was always envious when his...

Author's Note: I first met Mary Hewitt in the summer of 2010 and interviewed her several times near Rockport at her ma...

The first sign of the shipping season came early, one full day early to be exact. Mississagi made its way from Hamilton...

If there is one thing that Grenell Island does not need, it’s more numbers. There are Lot Numbers, Fire Numbers and the ...

My husband, Jon, and I moved from the Washington, DC area to Clayton in fall 2010 after a few years of dreaming of year-round River living.

We rowed carefully into the bay at Georgina Island, one trainee looking expectantly into the water off the bow, waiting to spot ...

Early postcard scenes of the Canadian Thousand Islands published by the Detroit Photographic Co.

I live a long way from the Thousand Islands but my quest to discover who designed my home in Worcester, Massachusetts le...

The citizens of Round Island are gathering at the dockside post office under a sapphire blue sky on a Sunday afternoon i...

“How many cottages are on the island?” This is usually the first question I’m asked when I begin to describe life on Gr...

This doctor doesn't just make house calls. Dr. Dick Withington, known around this stretch of the River simply as 'Doc,' ...

"Show Girl" is the name of a pristine vintage launch that was built in the shop of the Hutchinson Brothers Boat Works in 1921

The 1876 St. Lawrence River Chart No 6, drawn by the US Army Corps of Engineers, listed a wreck off Washington Island in...

In 1838, William "Pirate Bill" Johnston served as admiral in the rebel forces that repeatedly attacked Upper Canada, and...

The Grindstone Island community gathers for the last church service of the season, hand in hand, around the old poplar t...

A Gananoque businessman and sailor who loved to explore the St. Lawrence River

From my very first summer on the River, I’ve heard the story about Harry Chalk and his tin cup. Harry was the intrepid c...

Getting to Grindstone - First glitch, the boys had thrown locking hitches on the dock lines. NEVER a locking hitch after November 1!

I probably have a dozen things with the word Grenell on them: t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, rain jackets, canvas bags and...

From the moment the anchor emerged dripping from the waters of the St. Lawrence River, the twelfth grade students of Tho...

I had no idea as to its value and asked the dealer the price. She held up two fingers but did she mean two dollars, twenty dollars or two hundred dollars?

Before my first visit to Grenell in 1975, my then fiancé - now husband, Gary, showed me the lot map of Grenell drawn in ...

Some good things start with death. When my father's Uncle Luther died in October 1952, Big Bob was glum. "You’d’ve like...

"Garden Island grew from merely a dot in the wilderness to be the home of hundreds - it made a bit of history all its ow...

It’s a question that is so often taken out of context. Does size matter? More times than not the response is – No. Howe...

From the day the Grenell Island Community House was dedicated in 1934, the southwest corner room was designated as a lib...

The trek to the post office to retrieve the mail is a daily ritual on Grenell. It’s rarely a straight shot there and bac...

It ended up being a love story of sorts. When one of my coworkers mentioned that her sister-in-law’s family was responsi...

This story first appeared in the Kingston Whig-Standard as: “1946: End of the ferry crises” on November 17, 2006. The tr...

Six blindfolded men and women board a boat in the middle of the St. Lawrence River and are taken to a century-old castle...

The 1000 Islands is a playground for a multitude of summer water-based activities. Swimming, rowing, kayaking, wake-boar...

Without the motor power, we still felt the boat dancing on the rocks and getting pushed around by the waves.

It is not often that we hear that legislators and/or government officials in the United States and Canada are “doing som...

They say every man is an island. Farhad Vladi says every man can own an island. Vladi, as he is known in international ...

Located near the foot of the island, just down the sidewalk from the Grenell Island Chapel, stands the heart of Grenell—...

Varick Chittenden founded the non-profit organization, TAUNY (Traditional Arts in Upstate New York), 25 years ago. Altho...

In late August, I received a copy of Thousand Island Park: The Story of an American Eden, authored by Clayton J. Butler....

Louise Gaylor Cooke deserves special recognition for her dedication in preserving the history of Point Vivian.  We ...

The Canadian Geographical Names Data Base at Natural Resources Canada is the repository for official names records...

Island life is all about boats, so why did it take Grenell Island Improvement Association 91 years to come up with the i...

In the 1980s, while working at St. Lawrence Islands National Park, I became involved with the writing of the history of ...

Andrew Keech, and his young family, settled on a farm near Clayton, New York, around 1830, thus continuing more than 150...

Official names of places and features in the United States are selected by the Board on Geographic Names...

It was famously dubbed the Castle of Mysteries by the New York Times more than a century ago and today it still holds mo...

Enterprising, accomplished, and a passionate champion for the Thousand Islands, Leonard Stratford is literally on top of...

Two old cottages beneath a fistful of pines—that was my first impression of what was then known as Ogden Point.  Be...

Cangarda, the century-old luxury yacht that once sailed the St. Lawrence River  as Senator George T. Fulford's Mage...

A few weeks ago, Sue-Ryn Burns called the TILT office asking permission to release a Great Horned Owl at the Crooked Cre...

George C. Boldt, who famously built a castle for his beloved bride on Heart Island in what would become the most tragic ...

Imagine if there was no gas station near your home, no mechanic to fix your car, or, when at home, no place to park your...

The first Christian denomination on Grindstone was known as Christian Order founded by elder Jason McKee of Stone Mills ...

I met many interesting people around the park but one particular gentleman stands out in my mind. Joe Pullaw was an old river rat, probably sixty years my senior...

The portal to our magical island world starts in Fishers Landing at Chalks Marina. I think my heartbeat doubles as soon...

"The House that Jack Built", a 161-page illustrated catalogue that examines Sherman Pratt’s remarkable and little known residence on Niagara Island...

Sporting a weathered Commodore's cap to Sugar Island's opening encampment ceremonies complete with traditional bugle pla...

Because of daily walks on Wellesley, rarely does a day pass that I’m not out on the River. I can’t imagine visiting the ...

"There's something pretty special going on here" says Scott MacCrimmon surveying the crowded room. It’s early January in...

Part II of a two-part biography of Henry R. Heath, a pioneer promoter of the Thousand Islands.  This is the second ...

It's one of the most familiar landmarks off the shores of Clayton, visible from the quaint village's waterfront patios a...

The last two months I’ve written about my walks on Wellesley. But as with anything in life, sometimes it’s not the desti...

Pullman Island stands for everything that was grand about the Thousand Islands during its gilded era a century ago and a...

Thousand Islands Life thanks author Dan Denney for sharing this harrowing experience with our readers.  No matter h...

Very few of the boaters who stop by Van’s Motor Marine in Alexandria Bay have any idea that they are docking at one of t...

Some islands have names with stories that are just meant to be told. This little known Thousand Island off the shores of...

For me, walking in nature and writing are somehow connected. The more I write, the more I need to walk. In order to writ...

Who knows the correct answer? If you are a “subscriber” to TI Life, then from November to April, Canadian photographer ...

“Camp Grindstone,” written by Henry Eckford and illustrated by William Allen Rogers, appeared in the August 1885 issue o...

We usually close up, leave the island and head south after Columbus Day. This year we left early as our son Rob got marr...

No trip to this area would be complete without a cruise of the 1,000 Islands. My narrated two-hour cruise aboard the Sea Prince 11 was the best.

A well-recognized structure among the islands is The Thousand Islands Bridge, operated by The Thousands Islands Bridge A...

As a nautical hitchhiker, I've explored the Thousand Islands by tall ship, cruise ship, power boat, canoe skiff, Sea-Doo...

My brother and I spent every summer weekend on Calumet Island in the 1960s...

Looking up the history of Hill Island's Lot #7 we discovered monsters and murderers...

My co-workers warned me that June seems to skip right into September and everything in between is just a blur. How true it is,

Marilyn Lee stepped out of the classic wooden boat Teal and onto the shores of Fairyland Island for the first time in 47...

“The real drama came when a boat ferrying a dozen of our weddings guests, including my wife Nina, began to take on water over the transom...

Edwin A. Link could fix most any machine, but all he really wanted to do, was fly...

Tucked in a corner of Sackets Harbor is a reminder of our military heritage, and of the generations of veterans who live...

What’s in a Building? Bricks, mortar and a lot of wood. But the Gananoque Canoe Club (GCC), now known as the Thousand Is...

As our neighbor says, “Cottage life isn’t for sissies.” He says it with a smile though and we all know what it means.

Non-island friends are always curious about how we get things to the island. There’s only one answer…by boat.

Betsey Fitch of Rutland, NY was given Lot 16. Lots 19 and 20 were sold to William Wells of Augusta, Upper Canada for a total of $1,340.00.

March and spring may share the same month on the calendar in the Thousand Islands but they are so very often not on the ...

The Darlingside store is located on the St. Lawrence  River, east of the Thousand Island Bridge, on the Canadian sh...

"...My parents remembered Alexandria Bay when it was only a “wooding station: where boats landed for fuel.

Listen to the audio version as read by Jan Eliot  Some islands tell a story. Grindstone Island tells many of them....

The island road twists through a series of snake-like turns and suddenly there it is - Thousand Island Park- a bit of Am...

Flags abound in the islands. At Grenell Island’s July 2009 regatta, participants were asked to count the flags as they p...

It wasn’t used and it took up too much space. Yet, chopping it up with an ax and burning it was not an option.

The capitalists, the builders of our country, made the Thousand Islands their playground in what we call today the “Gold...

"Tidd’s Island: a History of its People and Their Stories" was published in July of 2009

By the time I first arrived on Grenell Island in 1975, my husband’s family had already been on the Point, for nearly a h...

The first Wolfe Island lighthouse was built on the eastern end of the island in 1861...

Storybook bridges. Broomstick Castle. An historic boathouse and an idyllic summer retreat called The Folly. This is Fair...

The Pullmans were the first of the islanders to arrive by private railroad car -a sumptuous conveyance, as might be expected of the railroad car builder.

The Ontario landscape has long been known for its ideal geographical location for growing grapes. However, to many of us...

When my husband proposed to me back in 1974, he asked if I would consider getting married on the island. At that point i...

Mary Lynn Johnston was a Mille Roches girl She had an important chore, while her Mother ran a rooming house And her ...

In 1988 I went to England to carry out research at the National Maritime Archives in Greenwich and the

Painted over 40 years before, it is the center line of what once was a two lane highway which ran along the shore of a very different River.

We're not talking "Pony Express", but about a more-personalized mail service than most receive today, a service that is cherished and greatly appreciated.

It was a cold and rainy day on June 1st – but the invitation to meet Mike Franklin, Patricia Tague and Rhea Jenkner and ...

Great Lake Swimmers Back in River Tony Dekker, the lead musician of the Great Lake Swimmers, rests his hand on the helm...

What went down in history as the Battle of the Thousand Islands ended when the French and Canadian defenders struck thei...

    The following was received in mid-April: Dear Susan, ...

As the new season begins on the River, I’m pleased to offer this Sixth online edition of POLLACK’S GAZETTEER OF THE THOU...

The Peacock Yacht House succumbed to a fire in early 1990’s leaving only the

The tradition of worship in Half Moon Bay began in 1887.  People came from neighbouring islands and from Gananoque ...

Comfort Island is for sale. . .  When Paul Malo created Thousand Islands Life in 2006, he created a Properties page...

It can be said every island has its magic. But not every island has its own magician. Honey Bee Island is the summer ho...

The Thousand Islands Biological Station (TIBS) is located on Governor's Island, near Clayton, NY, and is an important re...

Are the remains of Geronimo in the Thousand Islands? The legendary Apache Chief died

Have you seen the terns circling over their nests on the Eagle Wing Shoals? When was the last time you walked the Macshe...

When I envisioned a visit to the Thousand Islands Winery, I imagined the grandeur of Boldt Castle, the upscale atmosphere that typifies the Saint Lawrence River experience. I expected a graying gentleman

This is the first day of a new month. We all have been hanging around ...

In November we received a note from Marnie Ross, a member of the Canadian Thousand Islands Watershed Land Trust, “Would ...

Each month I seek links to the Islands which highlight the area's history and activities, to emphasize why the Islands s...

GRENADIER ISLAND: June Hodge was born in a houseboat on the St. Lawrence River.

Our story begins

Rexford M. Ennis is the author of several dissertations on Thousand Islands history; often presented to an appreciative ...

This is the fifth online edition of “Pollack’s Gazetteer of the Thousand Islands of the United States and Canada in the ...

It is almost Christmas and I am about to buy several boxes of candy to give as presents. Of course I know all about See’...

"Brockville’s Waterfront" first appeared in the Brockville Recorder and Times on August 30, 2008 and subsequently was pu...

HILL ISLAND - To many, the Canadian Shield is the quintessential Canadian landscape—the rugged “north”, ...

There can be no disputing Clayton is the boating capital of the Thousand Islands both on land and in the water. This small U.S. town on the St. Lawrence River has been transformed ...

CLAYTON, NY The salad dressing that put this place on the map might have a slight geography Challenge.

Many of the officers who fought in the British campaigns during the War of 1812 are commemorated in the Brock Islands. W...

Throughout the winter, I will provide a number of links to demonstrate how our region of the mighty St. Lawrence River s...

DARK ISLAND N.Y. It's hard to know what to pack when you're going to spend the night in the Royal Suite of a castle as ...

DARK ISLAND N.Y.: Scott Garris gets to be king for a night almost every night of the year at Singer Castle. The 46-year...

Beginning on Saturday, July 5, 2008 and appearing every Saturday through Labour Day Weekend, Kim Lunman's series entitle...

When Paul Malo created Thousand Islands Life, the magazine, in 2005, he did so with a hope that much of the "past" would...

  CARLETON ISLAND This is the second story in a series written by staff reporter, Kim Lunman, for the Brockville...

Feature story and photographs by Mike Franklin I recently discovered the Rosemount Inn & Spa in Kingston and the ar...

More than a Salad Dressing… Years ago, I met a young medical student and I was telling her about my favourite vacation r...

Dedication: This fourth online edition and all subsequent editions of “Pollack’s Gazetteer of the Thousand Islands of th...

This article, written by Paul Malo, was originally posted in the old format of TI Life as part of the series Grand River...

Consistent with our mission of raising the bar, Thousand Island Life seeks to recognize exceptional quality. Thousand...

Towards the end of the twentieth century, Thousand Island Park was not the place that is now, when the twenty-first cent...

Obscurity … has hung like a cloud of oblivion over the history of this island

The Gananoque Inn & Spa, Gananoque Ontario At the turn of the twentieth century fast rail access made the Thousand ...

Before we had hotels, we had inns. Before we had inns, we had taverns. The earliest accommodations for visitors on the r...

Most of us ask what a place offers us;  fewer of us ask what we can offer the place.  Thousand Islands Life co...

The major photographer of the Thousand Islands, A. C. McIntyre began taking daguerreotypes in the mid-nineteenth century...

The Clark family of Comfort Island in 1893 acquired the first houseboat on the river, the Comfort (later Balboa). As Pau...

Help Me Catalog the Thousand Islands. International Collaborative Effort Sought Since appearance of the last issue o...

Photographs of Brockville by Brockville resident, Stephanie L Woods.  2007  King Street Old Post Office ...

Phil Amsterdam, himself an old tour-boat guide and boat-line operator, complains about about sitting on his Cherry Islan...

Standing on the peninsula-like head of Carleton Island ...

  The following presentation has been adapted from an article that appeared in the Thousand Islands Sun Vacationer ...

Clayton's Carl Frink was known as inventor of the steel snow plow. His Frink Sno-Plow Co. by the 1930s had become the largest producer of snow plows in America. The Clayton plant closed in 2000, after the firm became Frink-America, Inc.