Where Lake Ontario squeezes into the head of the St. Lawrence River, Cape Vincent sits on a headland that looks out over islands and blue water, with Canada across the channel. The town was shaped by French connections: its name honours Vincent Le Ray, whose father, James Le Ray de Chaumont, owned huge tracts of land here in the early nineteenth century and brought French settlers and investors, and legend says Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte hunted in the neighbourhood after exile. A French festival in July keeps that heritage alive, and the main street has a few stone buildings and small shops.
Out at Tibbetts Point, at the end of the peninsula, a white lighthouse built in the 1820s stands at the exact spot where lake becomes river. The grounds are open for walks and picnics, and in clear weather you can watch lake freighters pass in the channel, their enormous hulls sliding by slowly. Wolfe Island, in Ontario, is a short ferry ride away, and from there another ferry goes on to Kingston, though ferry timetables and border rules need checking before you plan to cross.
The ride from Rochester follows the Seaway Trail, the 518-mile scenic route along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, which is signed throughout. The last stretch is flat and quiet, with farms, stone walls and views of water. Surfaces are good, curves are gentle, and the main thing to watch for is summer wind off the lake and tractors on the road. Sunsets over the water are long and luminous, and in September the light turns golden.
Cape Vincent is a small place, with limited services, so Clayton, about twenty miles along the river, is the better stop for fuel and a wider choice of restaurants. Watertown and Kingston, across the border, are the larger centres. Fresh fish and chips, local cheese and strong coffee are easy to find, and a lakeside picnic at the point is a good plan. June to early October is the comfortable season, while winters bring heavy snow off the lake and some businesses close.