Great Loop: Thousand Islands – Picnic Point to Singer Castle

Days 167-169: July 3-5, 2023

Picnic Point at Canoe Point

Arriving in the Thousand Islands we decided to anchor at Picnic Point by Canoe Point State Park. It was a popular anchorage and island park for the locals, but we found a spot and stern anchored, so the bows of the boats were into the wakes from the passing tubers.

It was a nice place to relax, as you can see with Mayli hanging in Steve’s chair hammock.

Passed converted silos into guest cottages

On July 4th we headed a little further north to check out Singer Castle, checking out the Thousand Islands along the way. Fun facts: there are over 1800 islands making up the Thousand Islands, and to qualify officially as an island, the land must have at least one square foot of earth above water and support at least one tree. There’s technically a tree on the white rock with birds, though it was questionable if still a living tree.

Dark Island / Singer Castle

Our next adventure was Dark Island, home of Singer Castle. It has a great day-use dock for people like us. We arrived at a great time as we were the only people there and our tour was just us, missing the tour boat crowding.

Frederick Gilbert Bourne was the president of the Singer Manufacturing Company — yes, the sewing machines. He had Singer Castle built in 1903 to be like the castle described in Sir Walter Scott’s book Woodstock. It included secret passages, a painting with eye-hole peeping, and even a dungeon.

We ended the July 4th holiday with some water fun, tubing, and relaxation. The weather and anchorage were so nice we spent an extra day hanging out to enjoy it. All in all, it was a great holiday!