Hillmanns 37

THE HILLMANNS OF BROOKLYN

CHAPTER 37

1928

The Thousand Islands

In 1928, after the Hillmanns went to Niagara Falls they journeyed up Lake Ontario towards the St. Laurence Seaway.  They stopped at Boldt Castle in the Thousands Islands.  Marian Hillmann is my paternal grandmother. It just so happened my maternal grandmother, Audrey Eggert, was from a town a little more than an hour west of the Thousand Islands.  This is the area where I have spent the summers of my life.  I was thrilled when I saw the Hillmanns in the same place.  This album shows the Hillmanns in the Thousand Islands in 1928 juxtaposed with pictures of Lily and I in the Thousands  Islands in 2004 and again in 2015.  If you ever get the opportunity to  take a sightseeing boat around the Thousand Islands, its a beautiful place to visit.

That's quite a pose Rosie is striking.  

Marian tells us from her hotel she could see Heart Island.  The building closest to the water is the playhouse, the larger building is Boldt Castle

The closest I took to Marian's picture is this one with the playhouse in the forefront and the castle behind.

The Hillmanns' albums clearly show us that steamers were the airplanes of their day.

Rosie on board

Young Lily on board

Older Lily on board

Marian the Second on Board

We are approaching Boldt Castle

Arrived

The playhouse, built for the children

Marian on the roof of the playhouse.  There are no pictures of us on the roof of the playhouse because they don't let you do that anymore.

Marian tells us she is with Henry Brill. Wikipedia tells us there was a famous psychiatrist named Henry Brill.

Henry Brill (October 6, 1906 - June 17, 1990) was an American psychiatrist and educator. A native of Bridgeport, Connecticut, he earned both his undergraduate and medical degrees from Yale University. After receiving his M.D. in 1932, he began a career in the New York state psychiatric system, culminating in the directorship of Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, NY from 1958 to 1974. At its height in the mid 1950s, Pilgrim was the largest mental institution in the world, with a census of 13,875 patients. Brill also served as Deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene from 1959 to 1964.

Lily at Boldt Castle. Boldt Castle is hollow inside. It was never completed. While it was being built Mrs. Boldt died. Mr. Boldt stopped building. In recent years the Thousand Islands Port Authority has been working on completing Boldt Castle, which is a huge task. When we were there, the dining room had been completed.

We're leaving Boldt Castle.

The Tudor buildings were originally the boathouses for Boldt Castle as there was not enough room on the island to house all of the Boldt boats. 

A boathouse, imagine that.

The Hillmanns continue their journey up the St. Laurence

Hillmanns albums come out on Tuesdays. Next week we are going to Montreal.