A 4-Acre Private Island Compound With an 1880s Summer House, 3 Cottages and a Boathouse, Listed for $4 Million
Bedrooms: 11 Bathrooms: 4 Interior: 541 m² / 5,818 ft²
Lot: 1.58 ha / 3.9 acres
Amenities: 3 guest cottages, boathouse with protected deep-water dockage and upper-level entertaining space, direct St. Lawrence River frontage, beach and dock access, panoramic shipping-channel views.
Set in the St. Lawrence River near Alexandria Bay and only a few hundred feet from the Canadian border, the property includes an 1880s main residence, 3 guest cottages and a boathouse with protected deep-water dockage and an upper level for entertaining. The property is listed with Cathy Fiacco Garlock of Garlock Realty.
The 5,818 ft² (541 m²) main house contains 11 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms across three stories. When the current ownership group acquired Sport Island in 2019, the property had fallen into significant disrepair, and the first phase of work focused on stabilizing the historic buildings and making them weather-tight. The restoration included new roofing, windows and shingle siding, rebuilt porches, repairs to the island’s stonework and seawalls, and infrastructure upgrades.
Much of that exterior work is now complete, while the interiors remain unfinished. According to the listing, the 3 guest cottages are nearly complete, with new cabinetry, wainscoting and moldings, while the main residence still needs to be finished by its next owner.
The Thousand Islands as a Gilded Age Summer Retreat
By the late 19th century, the Thousand Islands had become one of the Gilded Age’s fashionable summer retreats, drawing wealthy families from New York, Philadelphia and other major cities to build cottages, private-island residences and elaborate summer estates along the St. Lawrence. The era produced everything from grand hotels and yacht culture to landmarks such as Boldt Castle, begun in 1900 on nearby Heart Island.
The story of Sport Island begins with one of Pennsylvania’s most prominent 19th-century industrial families. Asa Packer, founder of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University, built a substantial transportation and industrial fortune and became a major figure in Pennsylvania business and politics. In 1872, his 22-year-old son, Harry E. Packer, purchased the then-unnamed island in the St. Lawrence River for $100 and developed it into a summer retreat.
The main cottage is believed to have been built around 1880, the same year the family commissioned an iron bridge linking Sport Island with neighboring Little Lehigh. The bridge became one of the defining visual elements of the two-island retreat and appeared in early-20th-century postcards and other historic views of the Thousand Islands.
After Harry’s death in 1884, the property eventually passed to Elisha Packer Wilbur, Asa Packer’s nephew and a former president of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Under Wilbur, the original cottage was substantially enlarged. Period newspaper reports record the Packer building being refitted in 1888, followed by a major addition in 1890.
More than a century later, the extent of that expansion became visible again during the present restoration. As portions of the house were opened up, the owners were able to identify elements of the earlier cottage still incorporated within the larger late-19th-century residence.
By the end of the century, Sport Island had developed into a sophisticated summer retreat with landscaped grounds and its own private lighting system. Period descriptions record a gas plant capable of supplying roughly 200 lights across the property, followed around the turn of the century by an electric-light plant. The family also kept a distinctive side-wheel yacht named Sport.
Wilbur continued to use Sport Island as a summer residence until his death there in 1910, and members of the extended family remained associated with the property for decades afterward.
Sport Island and Little Lehigh were historically connected both physically and as part of the same family retreat, but the two later entered separate ownership. In 1946, initial newspaper reports described both islands as part of the same sale, though subsequent reporting clarified that Little Lehigh had been retained by Dorothy MacSherry, a granddaughter of Elisha Packer Wilbur. From then on, the two islands were separately owned despite remaining connected by their ornamental bridge.
Over the following decades, Sport Island changed hands several times and gradually fell into disrepair. By the early 2000s, the historic residence had returned to the market as a fixer-upper, at one point asking $1.8 million.
That changed in 2019, when a new ownership group purchased Sport Island for $1.25 million and began the restoration now visible throughout the property.
In 2021, the same ownership group acquired neighboring Little Lehigh Island for $925,000, temporarily reuniting the two historically connected properties under common ownership.
There were subsequently much larger plans for the islands. In 2022, developer Jake Johnson proposed a seasonal resort spanning Sport Island, Little Lehigh and several neighboring islands. The concept included accommodations across several houses, around 30 marina slips, a tiki bar and an event venue.
The proposal generated opposition from neighboring island owners and does not appear to have moved forward. Instead, Sport Island and Little Lehigh were eventually brought to market separately.
Little Lehigh, comprising approximately 0.8 acres, was listed independently in November 2025 for $1.195 million. Its restored 1,694 ft² cottage has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, along with wraparound porches, original woodwork and wainscoting, and protected deep-water dockage. The property entered pending status on July 10, 2026.
Sport Island remains available at $3.995 million. The current offering encompasses approximately 3.9 acres, with the main house, 3 guest cottages and boathouse forming a compact private-island compound.
For whoever takes on Sport Island next, the purchase is less a turnkey private-island escape than an opportunity to complete the restoration of a surviving 19th-century summer retreat in one of the St. Lawrence River’s most storied summer regions.
All photographs belong to the listing agency. See more at Garlock Realty.
