Articles by 'Lynn E. McElfresh'
The Sheriff of Grenell sounds like something out of Robin Hood, doesn’t it? But once upon a time, Grenell Island h...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The River teaches us lessons and I learned mine one night while ki-YAKKING—thankfully without catastrophic
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Sometime in August — just as the summer season is coming to a close — five River women set aside a day just ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“Who lives in that cottage over there?” guests often ask as they point across the water at the cottage acros...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
In the 1960s, the Beach Boys were crooning about California Girls. But in the late 19th century, a young man’s tho...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Independence Day, or the Glorious Fourth, was a hugely celebrated affair back in the Gilded Age. Congress didn’t d...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
When was the last time you saw a rainy day postcard? Sure, we all like the postcard view of the world. The one where the...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
We bought our 14 ft. AMF Puffer sailboat in 1983; I was in my twenties. As a teen growing up in landlocked Central Illin...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
We were lying on our west rock last summer, soaking up sunshine and listening to the squeals of delight from children sw...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I never know what I might find when I go fishing, but I never expected to find a sea serpent, with three-inch teeth. Tha...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Fishing may have put the Thousand Islands on the map, but in the late 19th century, it was religion that organized the r...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“Now for God’s sake hold on a while. You make me so nervous and I can’t stand the pressure. If you must steal, steal from someone else..."
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
My favorite historic picture of our island was taken in the early 1890s in a cluster of rocks outside the backdoor of ou...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The first year we were married, husband Gary decided to build a boat in our living room. The idea seems absurd now, but ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
When I titled my June TIL article, “The Year of the Boots,” I didn’t imagine then that I would need to...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I often wish I had a time machine, to transport me back, to see what life was like on Grenell in past times. Several yea...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Even before we heard about the high water, we were alerted that we had beaver damage on our property.
Our trees have ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Thank goodness we bought our boots in Florida and brought them north with us. From what we’ve heard it’s hard to find bo...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The transition from our home in Florida to Grenell in mid-May is sometimes a jarring experience. Last May, our first mor...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“In case I meet someone who wants me to write for them,” I said out loud, to no one in the room. My neighbors were at th...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“Is that a black squirrel?”
I’m amazed at how surprised people are to see a black squirrel running ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“What can you tell me about the Grenell Island Yacht Club?” I get asked that question a lot. My answer—not much. All I k...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“Where are you from?” This is usually one of the first questions asked when we meet people while we are trav...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I’ve enjoyed watching clouds all my life. They are like expressions on the face of the sky. The sky’s expressions are so...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
We don’t have one workshop on the island, but two. Sometimes it feels like we need to have two because with six bo...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The west wind came up at 2:49 a.m. A huge gust shook the cottage and the windows creaked like they might shatter into pi...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
There have been hints all day:
a rustling behind a fern frond
a trail of glitter across a rock
a tiny acor...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
In 2014 we upgraded from “Say What”, our 36 ft. Chris Craft Cavalier, to “Miss MacDac”, a 41 ft....
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Our second day on the island, I woke up with a sore throat, body aches and chills. I hoped it was just a cold that would...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
One April morning, while still at home in Dunedin, Florida, I awoke to thunder from an approaching storm. A massive stor...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The first island I ever visited was Mackinac Island in Lake Huron. Sadly, I was only three and have no memory of the vis...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
When I tell people we live on an island, they invariably ask if there is a bridge. I always say no, because what they ar...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I heard a splash and looked out. A woman* had jumped off her boat in our little cove. With the bowline of her 23-ft boat...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Once upon a time there was a little girl who loved books. The summer she was 12 was the first of many summers the little...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
It wasn’t until I was packed up and ready to leave that I realized 2015 was a special year for me. I first came to Grene...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
It happened on a calm evening right after sunset, while light still lingered on the horizon. Islanders on the south side...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Pearl Harbor --- JFK’s Assassination --- 9/11 --...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“We should write a book.” It was just an off-hand comment made in the kitchen, as two neighbors made dinner. Or was it? ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Imagine being on an island and not owning a boat, at least not a motorboat. That’s how it was back in the 1880s. L...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
(WARNING: If you are afraid of snakes…do NOT read this article) *********** “Are there snakes there?” I demanded, prior ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The summer I was 14, I named my journal, “Summer is an Island.” No one would find that title odd now, as I spend my summ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Justin Heath has a dream that someday the sign on Heart Island will read: Boldt Castle & Formal Gardens. For some, the g...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Before he died, our neighbor Bill Wood, a part-time handy man on the island, always said that you can find anything you ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I found a treasure! Not gold coins or rare gems. It was a thin book wearing a dingy blue cloth cover with embossed gold ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I grew up landlocked. The only natural body of water in my hometown was called the Bone Yard Creek, which in reality was...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
In early May, Pat Carpenter packed up her car, left her maintenance-free condo in Columbus, Ohio, and along with her two...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
One of the joys of living on an island is introducing new people to the River and island life. I’d been coming to ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Thousand Island Park is no stranger to fire. On the night of August 13th, 2014, shortly before midnight, a fire was disc...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I have a love/hate relationship with Canada geese. One goose by itself I can handle, but as a group…oh, my! The n...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
We were crossing the channel Wednesday morning, May 28th when my husband, Gary, shouted out, “Ship!” I had been looking ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
My mother-in-law said when she was growing up, her relatives, the Pratts didn’t allow any weeding, raking or lawn mowing...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
It’s only a 5 x 8 book with 108 pages, but this little dynamo powers my unquenchable interest in Grenell Island history....
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
As I delve into Grenell Island history, the newspaper archive is a treasure trove of information. Sporadically throughou...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
For those of us who live at the foot of Grenell, Pullman Island is helpful for nighttime navigation. We depend on that r...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
About right now, I’m thinking about sitting on the dock, staring out at the St. Lawrence and sipping on a MacDac. It’s t...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Before my first visit to Grenell, my husband, then fiancé, tried to describe Grenell and surroundings. When he mentioned...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The closest I’d been to a traditional Thousand Island Shore Dinner is the banner hanging in my cottage kitchen. I’ve bee...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
A River Shirt is that special work shirt that is tattered, torn or splattered with paint, but it goes way beyond that.
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
We didn’t need another boat, but Gary and I fell in love with 1922 La Tâche when we saw her at Antique Boat America. We ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
When we bought our 1922 Lindsey launch in the fall of 2011, she sported the name 1922 La Tache for the favorite wine of ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
We had exciting guests the second week of July. The descendents of Sam and Lucy Grenell—Connie Grenell, his wife, Mary, ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I met Ann Davis in the Thousand Island Pavilion last month..
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
We’ve had a merganser nesting in the white pine outside our bedroom window every season for about four years now. We usu...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“The Russians are Coming! The Russians are coming!” Okay, I don’t think that’s actually what Stephanie Weiss, assistant ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
We’re here! We arrived on the island in the middle of a glorious sunny day. The crossing was a little bumpy but Linda at...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
It’s time to head north. I get emails from non-River friends all the time asking, “When are you going back to the cabin ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
When we travel to different corners of the world, I’m always amazed how often our experiences somehow link back to the S...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
It’s estimated that around 5 million people in Canada and 20 million people in the United States are of Scottish decent....
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
My father-in-law used to joke that the most expensive piece of artwork he owned was the wooden blue heron that sat on th...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
You can see the utter joy on their faces as children of the congregation come forward to ring the chapel. Lots of childr...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I’ve heard stories, seen pictures and I’ve even seen the dusty stuffed trophies mounted...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Editor’s Note: Congratulations to all Grenell Island residents – past and present - who participated in the island...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Sometimes Mother Nature needs a hand. Low water levels on the St. Lawrence presented environmental groups the perfect op...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Island neighbor, Catherine Hinds, tells me the water was so low the year she was born, that her parents could walk from ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Bounce! Bounce! PLOP! And the phone was gone. It was a blustery day and the river was so rough my husband changed to car...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“Please remember to dump your garbage far enough from shore so it does not wash back onto the shores of Grenell.” I foun...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
When you live on an island, boats are important. In the early days, most people got to and from the island via a steamer...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Sam Grenell first laid out lots for summer cottages on Grenell Island in 1879. By the turn of the century there were ove...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
If you cruise by Grenell Island after dark this month, you might notice something special. Grenell Island is glowing wit...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Grenellians have an intense attachment to the old launch "That’s Her". For me, the stories make her seem larger...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
During my first week on the island, July, 1975, I went to the Grenell Island Store/Post Office to mail postcards home to...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Gone in 5 minutes… Every story I’ve heard about fire on the islands usually had the phrase…it was gone in 5 minutes.
...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
If there is one thing that Grenell Island does not need, it’s more numbers. There are Lot Numbers, Fire Numbers and the ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“How many cottages are on the island?”
This is usually the first question I’m asked when I begin to describe life on Gr...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
A Story of Smugglers, River Pirates, Love, War and Freedom Fighters in 1838...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
From my very first summer on the River, I’ve heard the story about Harry Chalk and his tin cup. Harry was the intrepid c...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I probably have a dozen things with the word Grenell on them: t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, rain jackets, canvas bags and...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Before my first visit to Grenell in 1975, my then fiancé - now husband, Gary, showed me the lot map of Grenell drawn in ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
From the day the Grenell Island Community House was dedicated in 1934, the southwest corner room was designated as a lib...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The trek to the post office to retrieve the mail is a daily ritual on Grenell. It’s rarely a straight shot there and bac...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Augusta Cecconi-Bates is known as a composer of operas and operettas. Her most recent operettas were not only written in the Thousand Islands, but were inspired by characters
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Located near the foot of the island, just down the sidewalk from the Grenell Island Chapel, stands the heart of Grenell—...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Island life is all about boats, so why did it take Grenell Island Improvement Association 91 years to come up with the i...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Two old cottages beneath a fistful of pines—that was my first impression of what was then known as Ogden Point. Be...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
SHIP! It’s a game we started when my husband retired nine years ago. It’s nothing original. We actually got the idea fro...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I see ospreys almost everyday of the year. When I go to the grocery story, in the parking lot and ditto at the gas station...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The portal to our magical island world starts in Fishers Landing at Chalks Marina.
I think my heartbeat doubles as soon...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“I never touched a paint brush until age thirty-five,” Kelly Curry says proudly. But in the past decade, she has painted...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Because of daily walks on Wellesley, rarely does a day pass that I’m not out on the River. I can’t imagine visiting the ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The last two months I’ve written about my walks on Wellesley. But as with anything in life, sometimes it’s not the desti...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Last month, I gave you a peek at the trails of Wellesley Island State Park (WISP). This month, I want to take you ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
For me, walking in nature and writing are somehow connected. The more I write, the more I need to walk. In order to writ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
We usually close up, leave the island and head south after Columbus Day. This year we left early as our son Rob got marr...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I learned to fish here in the Thousand Islands the year before we were married. My husband, Gary, grew up fishing. It wa...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
“The real drama came when a boat ferrying a dozen of our weddings guests, including my wife Nina, began to take on water over the transom...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I remember the first time I saw a loon. It was in the early 1980’s, because we still had that small aluminum fishing boa...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
I read about the “Mystery of Maple Island” my very first season on the island. So I’m long familiar with the legend that...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
The schooner Roseway tied up to the dock at Frink’s Park in Clayton, New York, on June 25th. It was a cool, dreary, drip...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
As our neighbor says, “Cottage life isn’t for sissies.” He says it with a smile though and we all know what it means.
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Non-island friends are always curious about how we get things to the island. There’s only one answer…by boat.
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Music has been part of island life on Grenell since Uncle Otis had a heavy square grand piano pulled across the ice back...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
For me, there are only three seasons: Pre-River Season, River Season and Post-River Season. Pre-River Season s...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Flags abound in the islands. At Grenell Island’s July 2009 regatta, participants were asked to count the flags as they p...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
It wasn’t used and it took up too much space. Yet, chopping it up with an ax and burning it was not an option.
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Greg Lago welcomes winter. Everyday, snowy or not, Lago makes his way to his studio on James Street “The good thing abou...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
By the time I first arrived on Grenell Island in 1975, my husband’s family had already been on the Point, for nearly a h...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Janet was five, when her parents bought the cottage on Grenell Island, and it's where she spent her summers. She became ...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
When my husband proposed to me back in 1974, he asked if I would consider getting married on the island. At that point i...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
Spring of 2007, we returned to Grenell Island to find a display of breath-taking paintings in the Grenell Island Communi...
by: Lynn E. McElfresh
