CLAYTON ISLAND TOURS

CLAYTON ISLAND TOURS Boldt Castle & 1000 Islands tour, Rock Island Lighthouse on a Glass Bottom Boat Tour, Islands Light We are the 1000 Islands Premiere Group Tour specialist!
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Experience the grandeur and beauty of the 1000 Islands Region the Clayton Island Tours way! Scheduled Boat Tours and private Charters in the 1000 Islands and Motorcoach, Group Tour and Corporate Event Planning in Clayton, NY. Scheduled Tours May 15 through October 11, 2021.Clayton Island Tour’s professional tour guides will share the legends and lore behind the Thousand Islands region on a 1.5 or

3.5 hour scenic boat tour. Daily scheduled tours include Boldt Castle and Two Nation Tours, Rock Island Lighthouse on a Glass Bottom Boat Tours, Grindstone Island and Two Nation Tour, Sunset Cruises and more! You will enjoy magnificent views of premier sights with opportunities to view giant Great Lakes freighters, lighthouses, magnificent island homes and the Thousand Islands International Bridge up close. If you’re looking for a fun group outing or private party we will create a custom private charter to suit your needs and make sure it’s a success. Tour Planning and Receptive Services - Motorcoach, Group Tour and Corporate Events! Tour planning available year round! Call us today to reserve your event for 2021 and beyond!

07/19/2025
07/18/2025
07/18/2025

We are 31 days away from AnchorCon 2025! The lovely St. Lawrence River has been host to amazing events this year, and our turn in just around the river bend!
Grab your cosplay and your tickets and come out to see:
Celebrities
Art
Vendors
Panels
and more!
Our team is excited to see you for year FIVE and they will return to our regularly scheduled programming as soon as they finish their comic book break!

07/14/2025

We still have a few tickets for next weeks Sunset History Boat Tour to Calumet Island on Wednesday July 16th.
Your ticket includes a hot dog cookout with all the fixings! Call the museum at 315-686-5794 to reserve your tickets for this fun evening.

Clayton Island Tours offers daily boat tours to Boldt Castle on Heart Island
07/12/2025

Clayton Island Tours offers daily boat tours to Boldt Castle on Heart Island

Boldt Castle is a major landmark and tourist attraction built in 1900-1904 in the Thousand Islands region of the U.S. state of New York. Open to guests seasonally between mid May and mid October, it is located on Heart Island in the Saint Lawrence River. Heart Island is part of the Town of Alexandria, in Jefferson County. Originally a private mansion built by American millionaire George Boldt, it is today maintained by the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority as a tourist attraction.

George Boldt, general manager of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City and manager of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia, and his family enjoyed an earlier frame cottage on Hart Island (the island’s original name) for several summers, which they greatly expanded. In 1900, George Boldt launched an ambitious construction campaign to build a huge masonry structure, one of the largest private homes in the United States. He engaged the architectural firm G. W. & W. D. Hewitt and hundreds of workers for a six-story “castle” as a present to his wife. In addition, four other masonry structures on the island are architecturally notable.
The construction of Boldt Castle ceased abruptly in early 1904 after the death of Boldt’s wife, Louise Kehrer Boldt. Boldt never returned to Heart Island, leaving this structure as a monument of his love. For 73 years, the castle and other stone structures were left exposed to the harsh winter weather and occasional vandals. The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired Heart Island and the nearby yacht house in 1977, for one dollar, under the agreement that all revenues obtained from the castle operation would be applied towards restoration. Photo by

Join us for a two hour tour in the heart of the 1000 Islands on the St. Lawrence River. Our narrator/guide shares histor...
07/11/2025

Join us for a two hour tour in the heart of the 1000 Islands on the St. Lawrence River. Our narrator/guide shares history of the area and points out highlights on a 20 mile journey through many of the islands between Clayton and Alexandria Bay. Sights include Boldt Castle on Heart Island, Sunken Rock Lighthouse on Bush island, Rock Island Lighthouse on Rock Island, Million dollar homes, Millionaires Row , and we may even get up close to a Great Lakes Freighter or ""Salty"" as they travel the Seaway Shipping Channel to/from the Great Lakes and Ports around the world.

Circle Sunken Rock on our "Islands, Lighthouses and Castle" Tour! 2 Hours, no stops, circle Boldt Castle, Sunken Rock, ...
07/05/2025

Circle Sunken Rock on our "Islands, Lighthouses and Castle" Tour! 2 Hours, no stops, circle Boldt Castle, Sunken Rock, and Rock Island Lighthouse.

Sunken Rock Light on Bush Island in Alexandria Bay, New York. It opened in 1847 and was converted to solar power in 1988.

Happy Presidents Day from the Staff at Clayton Island Tours
02/17/2025

Happy Presidents Day from the Staff at Clayton Island Tours

02/16/2025

Visit Boldt Castle - 1000 Islands, NY this summer with Clayton Island Tours!

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Clayton, NY

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 6:30pm
Tuesday 8am - 6:30pm
Wednesday 8am - 6:30pm
Thursday 8am - 6:30pm
Friday 9am - 6:30pm
Saturday 8am - 6:30pm
Sunday 8am - 6:30pm

Telephone

+13156864820

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Captain David Kay and Clayton Island Tours

Who would have thought that fifteen years ago David and Virginia (“Ginny”) Kay would dream of starting a boat tour business in Clayton? … it fit right in with their already established business “The Chateau Country Inn”! David, who is a ship’s Captain for “Lindbald Expeditions” on the National Geographic’s Sea Bird remarked, “As I Captain the “Sea Bird” along the West Coast of the United States and Mexico on nature cruises, I have seen some of the most beautiful places, but none compare to the beauty and nature of the 1000 Islands and the St Lawrence River.” After convincing Ginny this would be a great retirement opportunity, they opened Clayton Island Tours (“CIT”). Buying their first boat, the “Miss Clayton” with a passenger capacity of 44 and hauling the boat from Florida with their Granddaughter Sylvie, the business opened in 2005. The business was located at the Chateau at 39621 NYS Route 12 with the boat docked at the small marina behind the Inn. As all residents born and raised in Clayton, showing off the beautiful Islands in front of Clayton was the idea. David soon realized that the famous Boldt Castle was the most requested attraction, so he quickly started regular tours to the Castle and Millionaires Row. These tours circle Wellesley Island for the “1000 Islands most unique boat tour experience.”

The following year brought a move for CIT to downtown Clayton and the subsequent building of the “Island Girl”, a 57-passenger boat. The Island Girl was built with the assistance of Don Badore and his staff at DB Fabrications in Clayton NY and launched in 2007. At that time the Island Girl gave CIT a boat large enough to hold a full Motorcoach so David was able to begin marketing to motor coach companies in order to promote visits to the 1000 Islands. The Receptive/ Tour planning and Event Planning department was developed under the direction of Debbie Scholes. If you see a Motorcoach in the Clayton area you will most likely see Debbie sharing the history and beauty of our small village.

Spending six months a year as Captain on the “Sea Bird” on week-long Cruises all about nature, David still wanted to bring Nature tours to the St Lawrence River. Clayton Island Tours ran nature tours that included a stop at Grindstone Island’s Picnic Point with nature walks. When the “Night Heron”, a 48-passenger glass bottom boat became available for purchase, David knew it would fit right into the plans of showcasing the beautiful nature above and below the waters of the St Lawrence River. The tour runs twice daily with a stop at Rock Island Lighthouse, located on Rock Island, owned by the NYS Parks, it is the newest attraction in the 1000 Islands. The stop gives visitors an opportunity to view the lighthouse keeper’s cottage and, for the more adventurous, an opportunity to climb to the top of the lighthouse tower to enjoy a panoramic view of the 1000 Islands. After the regular tours are completed for the day, the doors that allow viewing through the glass bottom are dropped down and the Night Heron becomes a wonderful party boat with a licensed bar and plenty of room for food and dancing.