Bonus post: Alexandria Bay and the T*I*S*T
A bit of fiction from 1979
Every once in a while, my journals included entries that cross the line from diary to something else. Sometimes they are attempts at fiction, bits of poetry or even partial drafts of research papers. Because these are long and not usually connected to the more mundane entries for that date, I am transcribing them separately as bonus posts. This was the beginning of a fictionalized account of our two years in Alexandria Bay, NY, working for the Thousand Islands Summer Theater.
The first time we saw Alexandria Bay was March 18, 1973. I don't usually have a good memory for dates, but this one was easy to remember.. The hotel where we had lunch was still festooned for the St. Patrick's dance held the night before..
I try to be optimistic about the future. On this trip, I was doggedly looking for the bright side. The bright side was hard to find on that March day.. The weather was cool, very gray, and incredibly damp.. The town was closed for winter except for the spot where we had lunch.. Alex Bay makes its living during the 26-week tourist season, then closes up shop. The upcoming season would fill the three-block stretch of gift shops and eateries with tourists, but currently, it was a gloomy sight with weathered facades and closed windows..
"This place is so grim," Jim muttered.. We walked down Main Street from end to end, searching for any reason why someone would want to spend a two-week vacation there. We were going to spend the entire summer. “What do they all do here? “I wondered aloud, hoping to find some fascinating hang out that would make my misgivings go away. The closest thing to it was a crumbling castle on a nearby island, built by millionaire George Boldt, owner of the Waldorf Astoria, as a gift for his wife. Her sudden death in 1904 halted work on the “Rhineland castle”. The huge unfinished edifice with a romantic backstory seemed like a promising place to hang out with my lonely thoughts until I realized I was unlikely to be there when I was not surrounded by swarms of tourists.. The Thousand Islands is a water-centric place where boats are the kings. Visitors unfortunate enough to have no boat (or even a friend with a boat) are packed like gaily dressed sardines into tour boats that leave hourly for a cruise of the entire area. A popular extra is the side trip to Boldt Castle. This was to be no Byronesque hideaway, but a water-bound asylum for people with sunburns and pocket cameras.
The major tourist activity in Alex Bay, we decided, was spending money, either on the souvenir paraphernalia or on food and drink. The gift stores were full of T-shirts, postcards, bumper stickers and other items with which to remind the buyer that one had been there. It surprised me at the time that some enterprising soul was not selling souvenirs by mail to people who can’t go on vacation. This would seem to be an excellent idea all around, as many of the visitors seem to spend the bulk of their time comparison shopping for tchotchkes. This would eliminate hours of driving, not to mention the bill for lodging and food. Food was even less promising than the gift shops. Of course, our experience was limited to the huge old frame hotel in the center of town, where, amid last night’s tattered green decorations, we had an unsatisfying lunch of egg salad sandwiches and very cold potato chips. They had been stored in the refrigerator to ward off the soggies. It hadn’t worked.
Still, we were committed. The town fathers had decided the tourist needed a little cultural stimulation, and we were part of the plan to provide it. For eight weeks that summer, there would be theater on Main Street. Jim and I, thank God, were responsible for the physical realities of sets and costumes. “Thank God” because good stagecraft is one thing and good theater is another. Good theater is difficult enough in the best of settings, but in Alexandria Bay it seemed out of the question.
Boldt Castle was purchased by the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority in 1977 and renovated as a tourist destination, so it is no longer a romantic ruin. Mixed feelings…
If you want to see it but can’t get to Alexandria Bay, the movie Fear No Evil (1981) was filmed there.
And of course, you can now purchase all the Alex Bay souvenirs you want on the Internet.