Мың Аралдағы Болдт Сарайы

Landmark in Thousand Islands, New York State

Boldt Castle is a major landmark and tourist attraction in the Thousand Islands region of the U. S. state of New York. Open to guests seasonally between mid May and mid October, it is located on Heart Island in the Saint Lawrence River. Heart Island is part of the Town of Alexandria, in Jefferson County. Originally a private mansion built for American millionaire George Boldt, it is now maintained by the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority as a tourist attraction.

George Boldt, proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City and manager of the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, and his family enjoyed an earlier frame cottage on Heart Island (the island's original name) for several summers, which they greatly expanded. In 1900, George Boldt launched an ambitious construction campaign to build a huge masonry structure, one of the largest private homes in the United States. He engaged the architectural firm G. W. & W. D. Hewitt and hundreds of workers to build a six story castle as a present to his wife. In addition, four other masonry structures on the island are architecturally notable. Equally distinctive is a huge yacht house on neighboring Wellesley Island, where the Boldts had another summer home and a vast estate, incorporating farms, canals, a golf course, tennis courts, stables, and a polo field. The construction of Boldt Castle ceased abruptly in early 1904 after the death of Boldt's wife, Louise Kehrer Boldt. Boldt never returned to Heart Island, but continued to spend summers in the 1000 Islands until his death in 1916. For 73 years, the castle and other stone structures were left exposed to the harsh winter weather and vandals. The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired Heart Island and the nearby yacht house in 1977,

Today, Boldt Castle is accessible by ferry or tour boat from Alexandria Bay, New York, Clayton, New York, Gananoque, Ontario, Rockport, Ontario, and Ivy Lea, Ontario. Most of the grounds and buildings can be explored by the public for a fee. The 1969 children's novel Secret Castle by Anne Colver is about the castle and Alexandria Bay.