Clayton NY 🏰

Clayton Marina   June 21-23rd

Our friends left Oswego while we went on a road trip to Niagra Falls.  They went to this little town called Clayton NY.  This place was not on our radar at all.  Actually we were not sure where we wanted to go after Oswego.  We wanted to see the 1000 islands and Bolt Castle but we hadn’t planned that far ahead.  After contacting Jody and finding out that she loved this little town we decided to head there.  (Stalkers! LOL!)

We pulled into the Marina and we were reunited with Chasing Eighty and Curti-Sea.  We headed out for lunch all together and the girls went shopping in this little town.  I just loved it and found lots of cute things.  Shopping is a luxury on this trip so I really enjoyed  browsing through the shops.

The main reason for coming here was to go see Bolt Castle.  Normally you were able to take your boat and tie up at the island to take the tour,  but They have had so much rain that the docks were underwater.  It meant that only tour boats were allowed.  They raised the docks  so  people could still visit.  We booked a tour on a local tour boat.

Bolt castle was build by a man who I had never heard about but soon learned he was behind running the Waldorf Astoria in NY.  He eventually owned it and also started services for customers such as room service and concierge.  He was a man before his time and created hotel hospitality that we see in hotels today.  He built this castle as a symbol of love for his wife.  There are heart shapes in the design and he even carved out a section of the island to make it heart shaped.  The castle never got finished because she died suddenly at a young age.  Mr. Bolt was so heart broken that he never returned to the island.  It fell into disrepair and was vandalized.  Today it is being restored and open for tours.  The top floors were left as they were.  Sad story but a real work of architecture and design.

I was a bit sad to leave this place but it is just like all the others. Some towns are great, some are just ok.  This one was great! I hope to come back one day.