Bylines and Byways AN ODE TO THE THOUSAND ISLANDS Nobody could best describe the sheer beauty of The Thousand Islands except Walt Whitman, one of Americas greatest poets, in an stanza of his poem, A Song of Joys, written in 1855: O boating on the rivers, The voyage down the St. Lawrence, the superb scenery, the steamers, The ships sailing, the Thousand Islands, the occasional timber-raft and the raftsmen with long-reaching sweep-oars The little huts on the rafts, and the stream of smoke when they cook supper at evening. The Thousand Islands is an archipelago of 1,864 islands stretching some 80 kilometers at the very point where Lake Ontario discharges into the Saint Lawrence River. The Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario), the worlds largest deposit of freshwater, is shared by the United States and Canada, and the one outlet that drains this gigantic body of water to the Atlantic Ocean is the Saint Lawrence River. The Great Lakes region contributed greatly to the economic growth of both countries, and is an ecosystem as crucial to the wellbeing of our planet as the Amazon Rivers rainforests. By volume, the five lakes contain 54% of all liquid freshwater on earth. By itself, Lake Superior is the worlds largest lake. Not only the economy of two of the richest countries and the global significance of this ecosystem are of immediate benefit, but the area has also some of the worlds most beautiful places. The Thousand Islands - Frontenac Arch region has been declared by UNESCO as a World Biosphere Reserve in 2002, making it a common heritage for mankind. The Thousand Islands territory is shared by the province of Ontario and the state of New York. At the junction where Lake Ontario meets the Saint Lawrence River is the historic city of Kingston. My visit to Kingston was motivated by my interest in seeing the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes as a way of generating ideas with the plan of the National Museum to establish the National Maritime Heritage Museum in Butuan. It is quite a big project and it will take years to realize, but we are confident that under the incumbency of Director Jeremy Barns, this is pretty much doable. The Thousand Islands is a major tourism destination in Ontario and Upstate New York. Its sheer beauty could enchant anybody. So the last weekend was quite an adventure for me to join my son John and his wife Connie and their two kids to visit Ottawa, Kingston and Brockville. Actually, it was my second visit to Kingston, and I shall be reporting on what I saw and learned out there in my future posts. There are three jump-off points for a tour of the Thousand Islands: Kingston, Gananoque, and Brockville. This is apart from some places at the U.S. side where one can also take a tour. Weve chosen the Brockville segment, although there seems to be some viewpoints that favor the Gananoque segment as the more spectacular, with the Boldt castle in an island as among its main attractions. But that would be for the future, God willing.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 07:01:51 +0000
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