- [Katie] I'm Katie.

- [Jason] And I'm Jason.

And we're public media documentary filmmakers from Rochester, New York.

- [Katie] We've spent the past few years getting a behind the scenes look at some of the coolest places in New York State.

- [Jason] And now we're inviting you along for the ride.

Join us as we explore and discover some of the amazing people, places, and stories that make this state such a unique place.

I have an off the record question for you.

- Yes.

- Haunted?

- The more we've talked to the people they're kind of scared of us.

This is "Fantastic New York."

(upbeat music) - So Boldt Castle, is this just a fancy house that someone made look like a castle, or is this the real deal?

- This is the realest deal you'll probably get anywhere in America.

- Really?

- Yep.

This is a full blown medieval Victorian style castle on a five acre island, complete with its own pump house, yacht house, playhouse that has its own bowling alleys in it.

- Like a stone castle.

- Yeah, and in fact, the owner of the castle, George Bodlt, owned his own quarry that a lot of the marbel came from.

- I haven't been to the Thousand Islands since I was a teenager and I do not remember seeing a castle.

How is this in New York state?

- Well, Jay, lemme set the scene for you.

Alexandria Bay, New York, 1872.

What was once a sleepy logging community on the St. Lawrence River exploded into a millionaire's playground when railroads were bringing people further and faster than ever before, and entrepreneurs were taking full advantage of the nation's fledgling tax system and growing economy.

These were the new rich, and they were different.

They weren't aristocrats.

Becoming rich later in life meant that you had a lot to prove to your new social peers.

And rather than retreating into the mountains like the Vanderbilts or Rockefellers, the new rich wanted to be on display, to really show the world, Hey, the American dream, I got it.

And what better stage to flaunt your wealth from than an island.

Singer Sewing machines, Macy's department stores, Red Rider B-B guns are just some of the fortunes that resided on the river.

George Boldt was among this crowd.

Amassing wealth beyond comprehension from his years at the helm of the world's largest hotel, the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.

In a single day at its peak, 20,000 people walked through its lobbies, 5,000 meals were served, and 34,000 pounds of ice were used.

The cultural relevance of this landmark cannot be overstated.

Feeling rightfully unstoppable in a world of unlimited possibilities, George set out to both the largest, most impressive dwelling on the St. Lawrence River as a gift to his wife Louise.

And what sits on Heart Island today is proof of that dream.

But just as every fairytale needs a castle, they also need a tragedy.

- [Jason] While the rest of the base slept in, we set out by barge to get our first look at Boldt Castle.

(upbeat music) - [Katie] Today, we joined the 200,000 others who will visit the castle this year.

Nice smoking lounge - [Jason] Get a nice cigar and a book.

- If that is the type of fish that's out there swimming in that river, consider me never ever going in that river.

(ambient music) Wow.

Oh my gosh.

(ambient music) God, do you see the detail on the chairs of the hearts?

- [Jason] Oh my gosh.

It's like every single detail of the house has something interesting in it.

Like, I mean, the faces and the woodwork.

- [Katie] Yeah, I wanna know about this.

Is this rich mahogany?

(upbeat music) - [Jason] Wow, this view.

- [Katie] We've reached the summit.

- [Jason] Look at that.

Like, look at the hearts in the stone.

It's impossible to visit Heart Island and ignore the obvious theme.

Louise Augusta Kehrer was born on Valentine's Day and married George Boldt when she was 15 years old.

They had two children together who were teenagers when the family purchased the island.

The Heart Motif serves as a token for Louise, and a nod to the Boldt family crest.

Construction began in 1900, employing hundreds of workmen both on the island and at nearby quarries.

Expense was a minor consideration.

Work was nonstop until January of 1904 when George Boldt sent a telegram from New York halting construction and sending the workman home.

Louis had died from heart failure in their apartment in Manhattan, She was 41 years old.

- [Katie] Struck by grief, George never returned to the island and the castle was left unfinished.

Frozen on the day the telegram arrived.

It remained that way for 73 years enduring abuse from the elements and pillaging from vandals.

If not for the heavy stone masonry the castle would not have survived.

That began to change in 1977 when the Thousand Island Bridge Authority purchased the island for $1, pledging to revive the castle and preserve it for future generations.

It wouldn't be easy but there were clues waiting for them in the basement.

- [Jason] Oh wow.

Building materials were left in their original shipping crates.

- And check this out, bathroom tiles still packed in sawdust.

I mean that just goes to show how suddenly construction just ended.

- And I can't imagine just abandoning building materials, everything.

- Dude was heartbroken.

A few million tourists later, Boldt Castle is finally the gleaming icon it was meant to be, inviting guests to explore its belly below ground up to its towers overlooking the river.

- [Jason] Our tour guide Claire, took us to an area that is off limits to the public, revealing the reality the Bridge Authority faced when they took control of the castle 40 years ago.

- [Claire] Just follow me, this is the unfinished servants quarters.

So this resembles most of what the castle looked like when the Bridge Authority acquired it.

- Wow.

- In 1977.

- [Jason] So this entire building looked like this when the Bridge Authority acquired it?

- More or less, yes.

There's definitely sections in better condition, there were sections in much worse condition.

So this is a really good example of original millwork that was left at the castle.

We use a lot of the millwork for patterns and then replicate it and use it when we restore rooms of the castle.

- That's really interesting.

So the original pieces that were found in the castle are used to create what you see when you come here, correct?

- Correct.

(upbeat music) - [Jason] That was gonna be my next question.

Am I gonna fall through this floor?

- [Claire] No.

No, I'll be the Guinea pig.

No, none of the castle floors you'll fall through.

- [Jason] Okay, is there a different floor I might fall through?

- Wow.

I haven't even been back this far.

This is pretty cool.

- As the person who falls everywhere I go this will be interesting.

- [Claire] Yeah.

So this is just old exhibit.

It's like plexiglass.

There's more- - [Jason] So is that, are these like original pieces?

- [Claire] The stuff that's tagged for sure.

Basement, wind- - Winder rear.

- Winders rear.

- [Jason] Location, question mark, that's the one.

(upbeat music) - [Claire] So this is the third floor, very much like the second floor.

Not as much millwork up here, but there is kind of a stage plaster area.

And you can see some of the plaster moldings, and some of the patterns used.

- Would this just be found like scattered throughout, or did it like take this off of something?

- I think it's a mixture of both.

Some pieces were still intact to the structure, and others were either vandalized, or some, a lot of it was removed that way, but some was probably found laying around as well.

The castle was basically open to anyone that wanted to come by a boat, and a lot of people would come here, and leave their mark on the interior of the castle walls.

It's kind of part of its story.

Obviously, we don't encourage people to add to it now.

- [Jason] That's what pens look like in 1925.

Oh my God, I mean like, I can't believe it's not more faded.

Like this looked like it was written yesterday.

24.

- Not a lot of people touching this- - 1918.

- What?

- 1918, July 28th, 1918.

Think though that people maybe just wrote like ridiculous dates down.

Like they were here in like '68, and they're like, yeah, 1937.

- Oh.

- That's what I would do.

(ambient music) To think that the entire building looked like this, and now what it looks like.

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Jason] Like the amount of work that went into making this place as beautiful as it is, is - [Claire] Yeah.

So since the Bridge Authority acquired the property in 1977, they've put over 50 million into restoration work in the castle.

- I mean, you can tell.

I mean, it's- - Yeah.

- It is beautiful.

- Yeah.

(ambiemt music) - [Katie] Another notable structure on the island is Alster Tower.

Built before the Castle Project started, it's supposed that George and Louise stayed there on their visits during construction.

And like everything else on the island the tower suffered from decades of neglect.

(door knob clanking) - [Claire] Welcome to Alster Tower.

- [Jason] Oh, wow.

- [Claire] It has a bowling alley in the basement, has a stage theater for plays.

So it really was an elaborate man cave, if you will.

- It doesn't matter what time it was, man caves always a thing.

- [Claire] This is called the shell room, and you can kind of see how like the ceiling structure would've looked like a scallop shell.

Okay, let's go up, up, up, up.

Very cool part.

- [Katie] What?

- [Jason] This is so cool.

- [Katie] Were they ever intended to actually walk around up here?

- [Claire] I don't know, probably not.

- [Katie] I don't know.

They have these exterior little porches to hang out.

- [Claire] Don't you just wanna like hang out here in a chair and read a book?

Like no one would bug you ever.

- [Katie] Right.

I mean, it's just like so crazy that they have this and was like, no, I need 120 more rooms.

- [Claire] Anything off of that first floor gradually gets smaller and smaller.

- To get from room to room you'd have to go outside and up around, that's so- - And I mean, I don't know if there was plans for restrooms in the upper levels, but that is a whole logistical thing to think about at night.

All right, we're gonna keep going.

(upbeat music) So the next set of staircases that are on the interior of the tower, we just need one person at a time to be on them because they are a little bit older.

- If I fall, it'll be fun to watch.

(upbeat music) I didn't fall.

(upbeat music) - [Claire] It's terrifying.

- [Katie] Everything is just slowly closing in on you.

- Oh, it really does just go.

- Yes - It's cozy.

So the tower is very unique, and as a result of that it is basically a maintenance nightmare and very difficult to keep accessible to the public.

The stones have contracted and expanded through winters and summers for years, and that causes leaks.

The roof line is very unusual, and there has to be interior drainage systems put in place because it was so leaky and exposed to the elements when it was acquired.

- Wow.

- The foundation that faces the river also had to be completely reinstalled.

Foundations in the Gilded Age were just dumping stones.

There was no inspections, there was no safety requirements.

So this really took a lot of overhaul to even have it open to the public.

And now we are starting to address interior work.

(ambient music) - So they built this incredible structure.

How do you walk away from something like this?

- I guess George was a true romantic in the fact that he was building this extraordinary place, and then was so devastated that he just couldn't bear to be around something that reminded him of Louise.

- What happened after construction stopped?

- So the castle was left to the elements.

It was run as a tourist attraction, but the castle was never lived in, so many parts of it were unfinished.

And after hours, there was no security on the island.

And people could come here by boat, and party and hang out and- - I wanna hear more about that- - No.

- People getting rowdy in the castle.

- Yes, apparently it was quite the place.

- [Jason] The thought of this grand structure sitting vacant for 70 years really intrigued us.

There had to be stories of what went on in the castle before the Bridge Authority took it over.

After several phone calls and a short drive, we meet John.

He grew up in the Thousand Islands and boy did he have stories.

So how long have you lived in the Thousand Islands?

- Well, I'm a native of here, so I'm what they would call a river rat.

And my grandfather was a tour boat captain, had his own small tour boat in the 1920s.

- Wow.

- And even in those days, all of the tour boats from Clayton, Alexandria Bay, Rockport, Gananoque stopped at Boldt Castle.

And those who wanted to get off could get off and go through the castle that wished to do that.

- So I've been told stories of people living here going to the castle after hours, enjoying themselves, any truth to this?

- Once in great while we, I did participate with others of my age that would go to the castle after hours when there was no security guards and no security cameras.

And this, I only did this on one occasion, it was a dare, and we were young, foolish, crazy, and very impressionable.

This was considered to be one of the rites of passage for a river rats and here on the St. Lawrence.

We were talked into going into the castle at night, working our way up what is now the grand staircase, up into the upper sanctums of the castle, and we shimmied up a long plank through a porthole and out onto the flat part of the roof.

And from there we were able to access the statue of the hart, but when we got up there we would have to scale some of those slippery tiles that the roof is constructed of.

I did get up to the hart, had my hands on it as if I was mounting a horse.

There was no way that I was gonna ever climb up there.

I thought I would knock it off and fall 150 feet to the ground.

At any rate, I don't remember my compatriots names nor would I divulge those names if I did remember them.

So that was the story, basically, of one of our rites of passage at Boldt Castle.

I will not do that again.

- I can't say I blame you.

Thank you so much for sharing your story with us and I'm so happy that you're here to tell us about it.

- Well, and I am as well.

Glad to be here.

- [Katie] After speaking with John, we thought of the thousands of names marked on the unrenovated walls at the castle.

Each name reflected another story just waiting to be told.

With that in mind, we headed just across the river from Boldt castle to Alexandria Bay.

A commercial hub at the turn of the century, during this time of year Alex Bay is bustling with tourists and locals.

The streets are lined with restaurants, gift shops, and excited travelers.

- [Jason] As we explored the town and started asking questions, we hoped to discover even more stories about Boldt Castle.

What we found shocked us.

- I grew up in Syracuse.

I've heard about Boldt Castle since I was a little girl, and we would come up here on kind of family vacations, and we heard the story of George Boldt building this castle for his wife Louise and then she died.

And when she died, all work stopped.

That's the story we're told, all work stopped, everyone left the island.

- [Jason] You said that's the story we're told, is there another story?

- There could be, but, and I've heard a few variations.

I have heard that maybe she ran off with the chauffeur, maybe she ran off with the gardener.

Maybe she was sick and depressed, and perhaps helped herself to her demise, I don't know.

So there a lot of theories out there, but I just kind of like to think that, you know she died and all work stopped.

- So I was raised, and my children were told the same story of Boldt Castle, that Louise Boldt died, and that George never finished the castle because his heart was broken.

Then, I don't know, maybe 10 years ago there was a book that came out and we were kind of shocked.

There was another rumor of Louise running away and we're not sure now what that- You know, is it a rumor, we're not sure, and I guess we were in shock that something else was told.

- Why do you think locals might be sensitive to that other story getting out?

- We like the other story.

It's a happy, sad, bittersweet story with romance to it, and I think that belongs with the castle.

So maybe that's part of what people don't like to hear another story.

- [Katie] The more people we spoke with, it became clear there was more to this story than met the eye.

Not everyone would agree to talk about it on camera but the local rumors about Louise painted a very different picture than the well-known story.

The rumors seemed to stem from a book written by Paul Malo who interviewed countless locals and Boldt family members.

With this new information in hand, we met with Judy Keeler, a local historian, to gain some perspective.

Doing our research, hearing from a lot of local people, there's a rumor that Louis Boldt didn't die, that she ran off to France.

Is there anything you can- - Yes, I've heard that, and there are people who swear that that is true.

Paul Malo, he did a lot of research and a lot of searching, and his theory is that Louise Boldt was different from women at her time.

She was young when she was married, and he was older.

And she was a helpmate to him when she was involved in his business.

As she got older, she was kind of pushed out of the picture.

So Paul's theory is that Mrs. Boldt was basically a work widow, and she got a little heavy, at that time you went to spas and the women did and so forth, and he thinks that her heart attack, that is what I think on the death certificate was caused by diet medication.

So his theory is that she did die.

There are other very strong theories that she didn't.

- What a story, what a mystery.

Like this stuff only happens in books, you would think.

And you know what a woman accepts a gift like that?

It had to scare her.

I mean, if she did run away, I think I could see why.

- Well, Paul's other theory is that all she wanted was her own home.

That if she was at the Waldorf, I'm sure that their apartment complex was way above the top.

But if the King of Prussia came then they came into her territory.

She didn't have her own space is his theory.

So what she just wanted was a house.

She didn't want anything that grand, that it got bigger than it was intended than she would've liked it to be.

I mean, that's my speculation.

- I know Boldt didn't leave in 1904.

- No.

- When the Castle Project was canceled.

- Right.

- But it still left a pretty big hole.

Can you tell us how the community felt the impact of that?

- Well, the workers left with the intent that they would come back, and so the traditional story is they left all their tools, and all the materials that they were working with at the castle, and expected to be called back.

Couldn't you imagine them just looking at disbelief that you would start something with 122 rooms, and all these outbuildings and then just quit?

I don't think for a while they thought that that was the end.

But in thinking about that, if Boldt Castle closed down now, it would have a much greater impact than when it closed down then.

- [Katie] Regardless of why the project stopped, it created a lifeline for the community extending into the future.

Right now Boldt Castle is the largest tourist draw in the area, employing hundreds of locals throughout the year.

Though George never stepped foot on Heart Island again, he continued to maintain and frequent several other vacation properties in the Thousand Islands.

He died of a heart attack in Manhattan 12 years after Louise.

- [Jason] But what really happened to Louise, we may never know.

Boldt Castle has her death certificate and the locals have their stories.

Until the family secrets are wholly unearthed, we are left with a fantastic story of love, loss, and heartbreak.

(upbeat music)