The Lonely Islands

"WILLIAM MCNEIL:

First settler Chippewa Bay
emigrated to this area
from Vermont prior to 1812
His home was a cave and
he lived off the land."

My dad often reminds us of the proverbial "simpler times" as we pass this sign on our yearly trip to the Thousand Islands region in upstate New York. Indeed, things have changed a bit since Bill and his rocky domicile. Chippewa Bay now boasts a U.S. Post Office, a general store, and not much else. And that's exactly how we like it.

While it was settled way earlier (according to the helpful sign), the region became popular at the turn of the 20th century. In the days before air conditioning, wealthy vacationers fled Manhattan in droves and headed north to cooler climes. Daily train service brought illustrious families like the Pullmans and the Astors up to the St. Lawrence, the waterway that runs between New York from Canada and defines the region. In those glorious pre-income tax times, no expense was spared in the creation of castles for George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, and Frederick Bourne, of Singer Sewing Machine fame, replete with boathouses and ballrooms; secret passageways, seaplane hangars and squash courts. And speaking of secrets...Yale's Skull and Bones maintains a retreat on Deer Island.

Once the Golden Age ended, the area returned to its sleepier summer roots, the sort of quiet atmosphere that it cultivates today. (No one would confuse it with the Hamptons, that's for sure.) There's no real estate market to speak of; instead, houses just pass from generation to generation. Nor has there been much change to those homes--the remoteness makes construction difficult and expensive--so they stay the same from summer to summer, living time capsules filled with yellowing copies of Popular Mechanics and National Geographic and 1960s-era cooktops and fridges (from when power was brought over from the mainland).

The fresh water makes it a haven for antique boats and Jet-Skis alike (no salt, no corrosion, no problem), but the rocks and shoals make it a foe for both (we've got a first-gen Jet-Ski from '91 currently making a nice home for some fish on the bottom...).

Every once in a while, some attention is brought to the area--be it a Singer Castle cameo The Skulls (the horrible Paul Walker movie), or a nod as a preppy summer retreat by The Official Preppy Handbook--but for the most part, it's a well-kept secret.

Let's keep it that way.