What Round Island has: The purest and most invigorating air, the clearest and most delicious water, the pleasantest drives, inviting walks, beautiful views, unparalleled scenery, facilities for amusement, accommodations for rest, cleanliness, healthfulness, between thirty and forty cottages, an elegant hotel, fifty-five acres of lawn, a two-mile driving track, bathing houses, and every convenience to make cottage or hotel life charming.
THOUSAND ISLAND PARK.
More widely known, perhaps, than any of the other St. Lawrence resorts, is the great camp-meeting park of the Methodist denomination bearing the above title. It is located at the upper end of Wells Island, and has rapidly grown to large proportions, combining, as it does, the religious, social and pleasure-seeking elements, often united in the same individuals. It has a large village of permanent cottages, which is greatly increased in the summer by the “cotton houses” of those who come for a brief stay, either in attendance upon the religious services or for a short respite from business in camp life. It has a post-office, public buildings, stores, and the conveniences of town life, together with boat houses, landings, dock room, etc., and being in the main channel of the river, it is readily accessible to visitors, as the boats make it one of their important landings.
WESTMINSTER PARK.
The lower portion of Wells Island is also under the control of a religious association, being owned by a regularly chartered society called the Westminster Park Association. With the usual conservatism of people of the “orthodox” faith, there is nothing of the camp-meeting order here, although services are held in Bethune chapel every Sunday during the season. The Park comprises about five hundred acres, occupying an irregular neck of upland, rising in some places to a commanding height, overlooking the scene for miles in extent. Tasteful cottages occupy the building lots into which a large portion of the Park has been divided. An elegant hotel, called the Westminster, under excellent management, is kept in first-class style, at from two to three dollars per day. Directly opposite from this park, on the New York shore, is
ALEXANDRIA BAY,
Sometimes called the “Saratoga of the St. Lawrence.” As a summer resort, it is fairly entitled to the name, being one of the most popular watering places in America. Its summer hotels are among the most commodious and attractive to be found anywhere, while private cottages and villas have sprung up on every available site, both on the shore, and on all the islands near. The facilities for fishing and boating, combined with the pure and invigorating atmosphere, and the beautiful scenery, attract to the place a tide of summer visitors, ever increasing in volume with each succeeding year. Alexandria Bay is only twelve miles from Clayton, and the approach, by boat, is charming, as the pretty cottages come in view all along the shore, succeeded by the imposing hotel fronts as the harbor is neared. Among the handsome villas, that of the late Dr. J. G. Holland. “Bonnie Castle,” is a conspicuous object, occupying a promontory which projects just below the landing.
THE THOUSAND ISLAND HOUSE,
A [view] of which we herewith present, is one of the finest hotels, both in point of its general arrangements and the natural advantages afforded by its location, to be found at any pleasure resort on the river. It is built on the solid rock, near the steamboat landing, and its windows command an extensive prospect, both up and down the river and across the Bay to Westminster Park. The view is still further expanded by ascending the lofty tower which adorns the center of the structure, rising 160 feet above the foundation, and surmounted with a balcony, affording an outlook of surpassing loveliness and grandeur. The hotel is the largest on the river, and will accommodate 700 guests.
