Boldt Castle -- A Gift of Love

After docking at Heart Island, we disembarked, got our tickets for Boldt Castle, and began walking up to the castle.

The landscaping was beautiful!

Boldt Castle was built by George Boldt who was general manager of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City and the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia.  He built the home as a present to his wife, Louisa Boldt, but when his wife died in early 1904, all construction ceased on the property.  For 73 years, the property was left abandoned to the weather and to vandals.  In 1977, the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority bought the property and yacht house for one dollar with the agreement that all revenues obtained from the castle operation would be applied towards restoration.  Nearly $15 million has been spent on improvements but the goal is not to finish the castle but to restore it to the state it was in when construction was halted

How romantic!  Chuck said to me, "How about I give you Boldt Castle for an anniversary gift (our anniversary was the next day)."  For an hour anyways!  (That's how long we had before we had to get back on the boat!)

We began our tour of the castle on the first floor.

The front parlor

The billiards room

One of many outside porches.

The dining room

I love the window seats at the back of the dining room,

The butler's pantry.  Is that the butler I see?  :)

In several of the rooms, they had pictures of what the room looked like before the restoration.

Maid's Dining Room (before)

Maid's Dining Room (now)

The Kitchen (before)

The Kitchen (now)

We next walked through the Servants' Dining Quarters.  I'm sure the servants would have worked very hard but as nice as this dining room is, I think I would not have minded being a servant at Boldt Castle!

Next, we enter the ball room...

...and then, the library.

The Library (before)

The Library (now)

What a beautiful mantle!

After touring the 1st floor rooms, we walked up the grand staircase to the 2nd floor bedrooms.

Stained glass dome over the staircase.

George Boldt's room.

Louise Boldt's room.

The bathroom -- no outhouse here!

Clover Boldt's room (their daughter)

The family room.

This was all of the restored areas of the castle.  We were able to continuing walking up to the other floors to explore them.  None of these rooms had been finished.  Instead, they were left in the state they were in when construction was halted in 1904.

We could see the top of the dome from the 4th floor.  While working on this post, I found out that this dome, the marble floor, and the grand staircase woodwork were not original but modern innovations.

From these upper floors, there were balconies where we could walk out to see the grounds and St. Lawrence River below.

Another cargo ship going out the St Lawrence River.

One of the many castle towers.

Yep, that's a statue of a big buck on top.

After walking through the inside of the castle, we began exploring Heart Island and the other structures surrounding Boldt Castle like the "playhouse".  The Boldts actually lived in the "playhouse" when visiting in the summer while the construction of Boldt Castle was ongoing.

Bowling alley.

View of the river from inside.

We also walked by the Entrance Tower,

and a gazebo,

before coming to the Power Station house.  That's the nicest "power station" we have ever seen!

The landscaping and these statues were quite amazing too!

We quickly walked by the Deck Tower also.

Boldt Castle can be used for weddings and other events.  Can you imagine having your wedding here?

Boldt Castle is beautiful and amazing in its design, location, and architecture.

And as we could tell by the scaffolding, restoration is still ongoing.

I'd say that Boldt Castle was a pretty nice anniversary present...even if it was just for an hour!  :)