(Scroll down for directory)
After arriving, your first stop should be the Chamber of Commerce, in the heart of the village on historic Riverside Drive. The friendly staff will answer all of your questions, and help with maps, guides and anything else you need. With so many choices, your most difficult decision will be where to begin!
Why not take in a museum? Clayton is home to three museums and an opera house. Take a leisurely stroll around the Village browsing our art galleries and shops for gifts and keepsakes.
Explore the beauty of the 1000 Islands aboard one of our local tour boat operators which depart several times a day offering narrated tours of Clayton and the 1000 Islands region.
Almost every weekend during the summer there are events held at the Recreation Park Arena including a Boat Show, Dog Show, Food & Wine Festival, Decoy & Wildlife Art Show, Collectibles Show, Antique Show & Sale, Juried Craft Show and a Model Train Fair.
Want to take a moment to just relax? Why not treat yourself to a massage or facial at a day spa or maybe a haircut? Clayton’s salons welcome walk in visitors.
The local library on John Street welcomes visitors, and has Internet ready computers where you can check your e-mail. You are also welcome to join us on Sunday morning at one of our many friendly churches.
You can easily use Clayton as your vacation “home base,” with the Minna Anthony Common Nature Center, miniature golf, a go kart track, the Thousand Islands Bridge, historic Boldt Castle and Singer Castle, the Tibbits Point Light House as well as Alexandria Bay, Cape Vincent and the Canadian border all close by.
Rock Island Lighthouse Clayton Island Tours
Business Description
Board the Night Heron, our incredible glass-bottomed boat, and get an unparalleled view of underwater life in the clean waters of the St. Lawrence River.
Travel to Rock Island and spend one hour visiting the island where you can climb up in the lighthouse tower and look over the St. Lawrence River. Visit the lighthouse keeper’s home that is now a museum and gift shop.
Walk the island and see the building once used to store whale oil for burning in the lighthouse. Peer through the unique glass bottom boat to see native fish of the St. Lawrence, as well as countless other natural wonders beneath the waves of the Saint Lawrence River. The tour is guided by our historical and naturalist narrators with unique knowledge of the Thousand Islands.
Rock Island Lighthouse is located in the Thousand Islands about 4.5 miles northeast of Clayton, Jefferson County, New York, off of Fisher’s Landing. Originally commissioned in 1847, it is one of six lights put up along the St. Lawrence River to guide traffic to and from Lake Ontario through the waterway.
The Rock Island station is the best preserved, as all of its structures still survive. It was refitted in 1855, rebuilt in 1882, and moved in 1903. The light was closed in 1955 after more a century of service. Today, the lighthouse and island are maintained by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation.
In 2010, restoration of Rock Island and its structures began, using federal and state funds. The goal of the work is to make Rock Island a tourist destination that describes the station and its keepers and gives a glimpse into life on the St. Lawrence.