Clayton sits on the St Lawrence River in New York's Thousand Islands, small enough to feel like a village but serious about boats. Its waterfront has the easy rhythm of marinas, tour docks, summer cottages, and freighters moving along the Seaway.
The Antique Boat Museum is the main reason to stop. It gives the river's wooden launches, skiffs, houseboats, and resort-era wealth a proper stage, and it is much more interesting than the words "boat museum" may suggest.
Clayton works best as a slow spare day on the river. Add the Thousand Islands Museum, the Thousand Islands Arts Center, and a beach or picnic at Cedar Point State Park, and you get a compact version of the American side of the Thousand Islands without the heavier resort bustle of Alexandria Bay.