Friday, July 24, 2009

I'm tired of castles in the air...I've got a dream I want the world to share....

We boarded the Uncle Sam Boat tour for a 3 hour cruise and a stop at Boldt Castle.

Here is a little river history....


This is the statue of St. Lawrence which overlooks the river. The river was founded on St. Lawrence Day; thus the name.


Entering the castle (from the tour boat).
There are as many stories about the islands as there are islands (1,854) and the most beautiful views you could imagine but I will focus on the castle since that is where we spent a large part of the day.

This is the yacht house which believe it or not in the 40 years I have been coming to the river I have never visited. I have been at the castle itself probably 30 times....Salt having lived on the river for 48 years had never even visited the castle. Until his semi retirement, he worked 7 days a week in the summer so it was never in the cards until now.

When I started coming to the castle in 1970 it was still in total despair....everything was crumbling, the walls were nothing but graffiti and many of the mantles, moldings, etc. were either destroyed, stolen by vandals or sitting in their original crates in the weather.

This was the caretaker's dining room.....not too tough to take. The splendor of the golden era of the St. Lawrence....I wish I could go back there for about a week!!

Here is the write-up on the PDQ (Pretty Damn Quick) which was the boat George Boldt's daughter frequently drove....

Can you even start to imagine docking this baby?????

I included this picture just so you can get an idea of how the inside of the boathouse is finished.....

Here we go inside the castle. They have so much more done than when I was there a year ago. The downstairs is almost totally finished.....

Here is the grand entrance way....
The Billiards Room (a portion of it).

The reception room......

The grand dining room....
The original Boldt china.........

Boat entrance..... with the 3 beautiful stags.

A close-up of one of the stags on the castle......

The library.....These mantles throughout the castle are beautiful!

The Ballroom which was not finished last time I was there is graced by this organ.....

Mr. Boldt was very fond of stained glass.....this is the skylight over the grand staircase.....The picture does not do it justice. I was going to take a closer one when we went up to the 3rd story but I forgot....
And here we are on the marble staircase. This stairway is now the sight of many wedding photos.

Mr. Boldt's master suite......

They are now working on Louise's master suite (the wife).....wouldn't you think if her husband was building her a summer home like this she would at least sleep with him???????
The Powerhouse....
generators inside the powerhouse.....

This is the fountain where JoeDee Messina filmed her "Burn" video.


Unfortunately, the Playhouse was closed for renovations so we were not able to tour it. I have been inside before and can't wait until it is restored. It has a bowling alley, a stage, etc.

The gardens are magnificent....since the castle was to be a Valentine's present for Louise, the theme of the hearts can be seen throughout the castle....in flowers, stone, wrought iron and wood.

More hearts.....

And here we are at last.....home after an exhausting day. Since we ate dinner at the Brass Tacks in the Bay, we all went in and collapsed on the deck.


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