If you doubt that New York State is one of the most beautiful states in the country, you haven’t been to the Thousand Islands to help bolster your belief. The sad thing about living anywhere is that people don’t seem to visit those places of interest within their reach. We’re always off to Florida or Yosemite or North Carolina. We don’t always want to spend the money or time going to somewhere within our own state borders. Although, if the relatives visit, we’ll spring for a trip to Niagara Falls.

Why is that? People in all states express the same tendency.

Thanks to a family wedding, I was in the Thousand Islands last weekend. Our relatives rented out an island for their daughter’s wedding, complete with a giant house with a big front porch and docks and hammocks and lots of room to run around.

It may sound impressive–and I’m not going to argue the point–but when you realize that there are more than a thousand islands ebbing and flowing in the Saint Lawrence River, it’s a little less impressive. There are lots of little islands with houses on them. And back in the day, you could get one pretty cheap.

It’s an interesting story how there came to be more than a thousand islands in that river. Glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago scraping sediments and exposing the rounded knobs of an ancient mountain chain. When the St. Lawrence River flooded the area on its path to the Atlantic Ocean, 1000 hilltops became the 1000 Islands.

I sort of like the sound of a 1,000 hilltops, don’t you? But the truth is, the Thousand Islands should really have been named “Almost 2000 Islands.”

There are, quite unbelievably, more than 1,800 islands that mark the border between the United States and Canada in the Saint Lawrence River. To officially qualify as an island in the Thousand Islands, the land must have at least one square foot of earth above water and support at least one tree. With over 1,800 islands, there are lots of qualifying islands and lots of good stories to tell.

Long before Europeans settled the area, the Iroquois and Algonquin Indians spent their summer months fishing and hunting there. Lore has it that the God Manitou said to the Indians: “I will give you paradise, if you stop fighting.” According to legend, the Indians did not stop fighting so Manitou put paradise into a bag and threw it into the horizon. The bag broke apart and a thousand pieces fell down into the St. Lawrence River, creating the Thousand Islands.

Shortly after the Civil War, the popularity of the Islands increased with an improved transportation system. Wealthy sportsmen and gentlemen from leading US cities wanted a piece of heaven there since money can certainly buy you beauty. The social era of Alexandria Bay began when George Pullman, of railroad fame, invited General Grant (then running for President of the United States) to visit his island home. The media accompanying him helped to bring nationwide attention to the Alexandria Bay area. Thus began the Gilded Age in the region, when wealthy industrialists arrived and built stunning mansions on many of the islands and claimed all that beauty as their own.

But enough of the facts. The true reason to visit the Thousand Islands is that the region is really dripping with scenic beauty and the romanticism of a better day. It’s a slow-paced, bring-a-book kind of place, where you might spend your day on a grand tour boat whistling by the many islands gawking at mansions and castles, or shopping in one of two lakeside towns that dot the bay, or sitting on your hotel balcony overlooking the river and enjoying the view. This is no place for overly adventuresome plans, like rocking climbing or zip lining, although fishing and swimming are common. Really, the best things to do there require little of you. You can visit a museum of antique boats, rent a canoe or a bike, order up some seafood at a quaint little restaurant, or if you really need a little more zip in your day, there’s white water rafting outfits where you can get your scream on.

It’s truly thrilling to watch the tankers and immense cargo ships passing by as they make their way through the Saint Lawrence Seaway. You could pass an entire day doing just that.

And you have to sample the infamous 1000 Islands salad dressing, too. There’s a lot of reasons to visit, and the salad dressing is just one. Best time go? Summer or fall. How far? Less than five hours. It’s just north of Syracuse.