1000 Islands Vacation Day 4: Jacques Cartier State Park and More
On Day 4 (Wednesday, June 22) of our 1000 Island Vacation we visited four New York State Parks: Keewaydin State Park, Kring Point State Park, Jacques Cartier State Park and Grasse Point State Park. We also visited the Chippewa Bay area and, later in the evening, downtown Alexandria Bay. In my first Day 4 blog post I wrote about our Keewaydin State Park visit. My second Day 4 blog post was about our visit to Kring Point State Park. Today’s blog post is about our visit to Jacques Cartier State Park, what we saw at a scenic overlook near Chippewa Bay and our lunch stop at Schermerhorn Harbor in Hammond, NY.
The third park that we visited was Jacques Cartier State Park. We used our Empire Passport for admission to the state park. Jacques Cartier State Park is located approximately 22 miles north of Alexandria Bay. Our highlights during our visit to this park included watching a freighter on the St. Lawrence River, the view of the Canadian city of Brockville, a playground and a sandy beach. We spent about 15 minutes at Jacques Cartier State Park.
Welcome Sign
Federal MAAS Ship
This bulk carrier ship, sailing under the flag of Barbados,
passed by the Canadian city of Brockville.
During our entire stay in NY’s 1000 Islands region we were so close to Canada that our mobile phones hooked up to Canadian cell towers. I scrutinized our AT&T cellular bill for the time we were on vacation. I wasn’t surprised to see usage from Canada on the bill. A quick call to AT&T reversed those charges.
The trees in front of the Federal MAAS ship are located on small Canadian islands.
We saw the Federal MAAS ship once again 27 miles south and 2 hours later, while visiting Grass Point State Park.
It was a weekday, when we visited Jacques Cartier State Park.
Our visit to NY’s 1000 Islands region took place a week, maybe two weeks,
before the start of the summer season.
I am sure that the playground and beach have been full of people since our visit.
Ready and waiting …
Driving south on Route 12, we stopped at a scenic overlook near Chippewa Bay. We saw Singer Castle, located on Dark Island, way off in the distance.
Singer Castle
The 1000 Islands Tower is visible also in the photograph displayed above. I would like to take a boat tour to Singer Castle the next time we visit the 1000 Islands region. I would like to visit the 1000 Islands Tower in Canada as well.
We ate lunch at Foster’s Harbor Inn, located at Schermerhorn Harbor in Hammond, NY. I ordered chicken tenders, French fries and coleslaw. Bob ordered a buffalo chicken wrap with house chips and onion petals. Our lunches were OK, as was the service. It was our most expensive meal (approximately $32.00), while on vacation. The cost seemed exorbitant for what we ate. Neither of us would want to return to this restaurant, as there are many other good, less expensive choices. In fact, we would have preferred a picnic lunch at one of the state parks!
My next 1000 Islands Vacation blog post will provide details and photographs from our visit to Grass Point State Park.
The Beauty Around Us 
3 Responses to “1000 Islands Vacation Day 4: Jacques Cartier State Park and More”
Many, many years ago (about 49) I visited a tower in the 1,000 Islands region. I’m not sure if it’s the same tower you pictured, but I do know the view was spectacular.
Yes, I’ll bet that there are many more people swimming and at the beach now than when you were there…
Would love to take a boat tour and see that castle sometime.
Hugs,
Betsy
Well done