We are looking for a friend or friend of a friend to rent our home while we are on America’s Great Loop. Here is the description of our home.
Estimated time for our Great Loop:
July 7, 2024 through the end of July 2025
Our house is more than just our home, it is our sanctuary. Our home is a place where we rejuvenate ourselves. It's a place where we can relax, enjoy a cool beverage on the deck with friends and watch the boats, yachts, and big ships travel the mighty St. Lawrence River. The views of the bay and the shipping channel in the St Lawrence River are stunning!
We have a beautiful ranch style home that sits on a small
hill overlooking Brown Bay. We have two bedrooms and two bathrooms that will
easily accommodate four people. The laundry room is just off the master bedroom.
Our kitchen is open and food preparation is easy with lots of room and light to
work in. However, outdoor cooking on our grill is a real treat in its own
right! Our dinner table is placed in front of sliding glass doors so we can see
the river, but in the summer, we eat most of our meals outdoors. Our front deck
faces the St. Lawrence River and provides a spectacular view. Our large oak
tree provides comforting shade from the sun and heat. It's the perfect place
for cocktails! We have wonderful neighbors in our small 18 family association
on a private road. We recently paved the road to our home and also our
driveway, which has parking for four vehicles. We have our own boat house on our waterfront property where you can swim, canoe, or pedalboat. There is also an association dock for swimming and a small association boat launch.
While we love living on an island and boating to our
favorite restaurants for dinner in both the US and Canada, driving to anywhere
is as simple as getting on Interstate 81 and crossing the Thousand Islands
Bridge. There is a Price Chopper supermarket just across the bridge. We are 30
minutes from Watertown and Fort Drum. If the last-minute need should arise to
get bread, milk, or other grocery items you need, the recently renovated
Wellesley Island Market has reopened for business and includes gas pumps, a
liquor store, and an ice cream window. They also offer breakfast items and
take-out pizza, sandwiches, and subs.
Wellesley Island is just about centered in the Thousand Islands
area of the St Lawrence River. While the house sits in a rural setting, the
villages of Alexandria Bay and Clayton are respectively only six and seven
miles away. Both villages are small river front communities with plenty of
shopping and dining opportunities. Alexandria Bay, affectionately called Alex
Bay by the locals, caters to the tourist scene so there are more dining, clubs,
and novelty shops than in Clayton. As a result, the nightlife is a little livelier
in Alex Bay. Clayton enjoys a more upscale and relaxed atmosphere. Fine dining
can be found in both villages but we prefer Clayton when looking for a quiet
dinner out. Fine dining can
also be found on the island in the summer at the Thousand Islands Club. More casual meals can be found in the scenic Thousands Islands Park community at the Guzzle.
Canada is only a five-minute drive to the border and the
city of Kingston in Ontario is about 40 minutes. The Canadian villages of
Gananoque and Brockville are very much like the U.S. villages of Alex Bay and
Clayton. Shopping and dining establishments are abundant in these waterfront
communities as well, but with a decidedly more conservative feeling. Kingston,
our personal favorite, is very much alive! Kingston is a waterfront city and is
located where Lake Ontario transitions into the St. Lawrence River. Fine
dining, shopping, concerts or simply enjoying the sunshine on the waterfront
park lawn can all be found in this magnificent city! Kingston has a European
flair about it, at least to us anyway, and draws us back time and time again to
enjoy its sights, sounds, smells and its friendly people.
There are several reputable tour boat companies that run
regularly scheduled tours through the Thousand Islands. Uncle Sam Boat Tours is
based in Alexandria Bay and offers several trips varying in length from one to
three hours including trips to Boldt Castle on Heart Island and another, much
longer trip to Singer Castle on Dark Island. They also offer sunset dinner
cruises on weekends. Clayton Island Tours is located at the village docks in
Clayton and offers tours among the Thousand Islands. They also offer glass bottom
boat tours and wine tasting tours with Coyote Moon Winery. The Canadian
villages of Gananoque and Rockport also have similar boat tours. Several golf
courses can also be found in the area.
The Thousand Islands Seaway Wine Trail parallels the St
Lawrence River and two of the five wineries are very close. The Thousand
Islands Winery is just across the river and has a wonderful selection from
which to choose. Coyote Moon winery in Clayton makes a fantastic Chardonnay and
boasts a wine tasting bar on the waterfront with live music on weekend
evenings. Great fun! The Cape Winery, Venditti Vineyards, and Otter Creek
Winery round out the rest of the wine trail.
Scuba divers will love diving in the cool waters of the St
Lawrence River. There are more than 30 shipwrecks to explore in the Thousand
Islands area alone! Water clarity is excellent and averages 30-50 feet thanks
to the zebra mussels filtering the water for us.
We are just a few miles from Wellesley Island State Park.
Here you will find a nature center with programs, a beach with facilities, a
marina, and many hiking trails. There are several other state parks within a 30
minute drive as well.
Wellesley Island is also beautiful in the winter. We see
lots of wildlife, including deer, turkey, and many other birds. When the bay
freezes, we often have good ice skating. And you can find trails for cross-country
skiing and winter hiking at the state park. We don’t often get large amounts of
snowfall like other areas of the north country.
