Actually, 1865 islands. Formed from a precambrian rock bridge, Canada claims more of the individual islands.

 The USA claims more land area (some of the islands are quite large and have schools and businesses for year round residence) and more of the water surface in this part of the Saint Lawrence River exiting Lake Ontario. The First Citizens called it the “Garden of the Great Spirit”. The mob played cat and mouse with the Feds here during Prohibition as the Islands created countless places to hide the booze.

Many Manhattan celebrities had homes here including Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein and George Bold, the owner of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Bold built a castle for his wife (a Tudor version of the Taj Mahal story) who died without inhabiting it. The castle below  is the smallest of the three structures on the island. We enjoyed a 2.5 hour boat ride to explore both the Canadian and American sides.

Also, Bold’s personal chef, Oscar, created the salad topping: Thousand Island Dressing. It is made with mayonnaise, chives, paprika, garlic, and salt and pepper. Chili sauce is then swirled across the top to suggest the sunsets here, and then finely chopped dill pickles are sprinkled over the top to suggest the 1000 islands. One of the best versions of this dressing is used as the “Secret Sauce” on In-N-Out hamburgers in California, a secret to their success. You can even order fries, “Animal Style” which means topping the fries with Thousand Island Dressing and freshly fried onions, and raw onions, way better than the Quebecois favorite, Poutine, which tops fries with gravy and cheese curds, and looks like vomit. I am sure reasonable minds can differ on the best way to mess with a french fry.