Author Topic: Historical Thousand Island Homes (Read 710 times)

khurram · « **on:** September 24, 2011, 04:08:10 AM »

Historical Thousand Island Homes

Before Palm Beach, Sun Valley and Aspen became the playgrounds of wealthy there were the Thousand Islands.

khurram · « **Reply #1 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:08:17 AM »

The Thousand Islands History

The Thousand Islands run for about 50 miles along the Saint Lawrence River between New York and Canada. The chain includes almost 1,800 islands ranging in size from Wolfe Island at 40 square miles down to just a few square feet of rocks with one tree. (Rocks have to have at least one tree to be considered an official Thousand Islands island.)

In addition to the region’s popularity as a vacation destination, the famous salad dressing was named after the islands. Thousand Island dressing was developed by a local fishing guide’s wife. The dressing quickly became a regional favorite and became popular across the country after it was picked up by George Boldt for use in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

khurram · « **Reply #2 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:08:26 AM »

Estrellita on Fairyland Island

Trude B. Fitelson | Prudential 1000 Realty

According to an 1880s article in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Fairyland Island got its name from the Ohio family who bought the land in 1873 and brought their invalid daughter to the island hoping for a cure. Peter Hayden was a rich horse collar manufacturer from Columbus, Ohio, who bought the island as a summer home for his wife and children. The family eventually built three large residences on the island including circa-1904 Estrellita, which means “little star” in Spanish. Stories conflict on whether the daughter ever recovered, but the Fairyland name and Estrellita live on today.

khurram · « **Reply #3 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:08:34 AM »

Estrellita on Fairyland Island

Estrellita is over 5,000 square feet and is a Queen Anne-style home with eight bedrooms, five bathrooms, butler’s pantry, Japanese pump house, solid cherry paneling, boathouse, about 75 leaded windows, and a footbridge that connects the home to over two acres of park-like trees and gardens. The current owners have restored Estrellita to its original period detail. They even removed a kitchen remodeling job that a prior owner had done in order to give the kitchen a more authentic early-1900s look. The asking price is $1.25 million.

khurram · « **Reply #4 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:08:41 AM »

Comfort Island

The home and island are both called Comfort Island. It was built for Alson E. Clark, a wealthy Chicago paint manufacturer, in 1883 and has remained in the Clark family ever since. Alson paid $1,100 for the two-acre island and another $12,000 to build the Victorian-style home. Extraordinarily high ceilings kept the house cool in the summer. Water was pumped from the river to the home’s water tank by a windmill.
The home passed down through the Clark family, including Alson S. Clark who became a well-known impressionist landscape painter in the 1920s and ’30s. His work can be seen on several of the walls in the house.

khurram · « **Reply #5 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:08:50 AM »

Comfort Island

The home was mostly empty from the 1930s until the 1960s. Its towering cupola was destroyed by lightning and the boat houses fell into the water. Things got so bad that passing tour boat narrators made fun of the home, telling their passengers that the house – its exterior paint peeling, extremely faded and sorely in need of a paint job — was owned by a paint manufacturing company. The family made extensive repairs in the 1960s and 70s including adding a boathouse, docks and, yes, new paint.

khurram · « **Reply #6 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:08:57 AM »

Comfort Island

Comfort Island is 4,680 square feet with eight bedrooms, three bathrooms, maid’s quarters and a kitchen with original appliances. Most of the furniture is antique, and the Clark murals are included in the sale. It has been on the market at $1,495,000 but auction bids starting at $595,000 are now being accepted on the home.

khurram · « **Reply #7 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:09:05 AM »

Ina Island Home

The history of the Ina Islands home is sketchy. The island was originally called Venus Island by the British who controlled most of the region in the early 1800s. It was purchased around 1871 by Samuel Briggs from Chicago for $150, and he renamed it after his wife Ina. It was then sold to the Hagen family from Rochester, N.Y., at about the time the home was built in the late 1800s. Arthur Hagen owned the American Laundry Machine Company and developed the commercial laundromat concept.

khurram · « **Reply #8 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:09:13 AM »

Ina Island Home

The Ina Island home is remarkable for inlaid woodwork on the floors, stairs, walls, ceilings and built-ins. The estate is over 7,600 square feet with 18 bedrooms, 14 baths and six fireplaces.

khurram · « **Reply #9 on:** September 24, 2011, 04:09:22 AM »

Ina Island Home

Other features include a tennis court, stone seawalls and landscaping, a wrap-around porch, deep water docking, a gazebo and an enclosed octagon-shaped outbuilding. The price is $2,299,000.

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Author Topic: Historical Thousand Island Homes (Read 710 times)

khurram

Historical Thousand Island Homes

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