Campobello Island in New Brunswick Canada on the Bay of Fundy
Just next to the cool little Maine town called Lubec is Canada's lovely Campobello Island:
Roosevelt-Campobello International Park
Now folks from the states know about the US National park system, but Roosevelt Campobello is an International park. It is on Canadian soil and has some intriging tie-ins to quite a bit of US heritage.
The park is a partnership with Canada and the US, and it was in that spirit that my visit to Campobello began. I knew I would enjoy it as the dual citizen tour-guide was very cute. She greeted us at the visitors center and took us on our walkabout around Roosevelt park, and through flower lined trails.. She talked about the history and the US - Canada partnership that the place embodied.
We treked through paths featuring multi-colored Dahlias, to an old an icehouse and other random buildings that were fixtures of FDR's lands here. Then we went to Roosevelt's cottage to get a 34 room peekaboo into the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Yep, lovely Campobello Island was a hang-out-spot and summer home for FDR and his family. The Roosevelt's were drawn to Campobello for its recreation offerings, nature inspired majesty, and the huge Maritime culture.
A nature walk down to the Bay of Fundy is in order at the park as well.
The international park offers a real history on into the life of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Moving on from the International park, and in exploring more of Campobello Island, I discovered the beauty-spot that is the lighthouse at Quoddy Head Harbor (East)
The East Quoddy Head Lighthouse: (a.k.a The Head Harbor Light)
Big thinking, high hopes, and getting a feeling for scale, is easy after a trip to one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. Yes, that's the Head Harbor Light or East Quoddy Head Lighthouse in East Quoddy Head New Brunswick Canada. Being a southerner, I fancied calling it Cootie-head for fun (though it wasn't pronounced that way). A walkabout around this lovely place is not done by just a drive and look approach. Even though there is nice parking at the lovely point. For a proper visit you have to do some clamboring and keep track of the time.
- go there at low-tide
- you will hae some time to clamber over to the lighthouse, but you have a little more than an hour before pumpkin time.
- wear some good sturdy shoes.
- You will clamber over big 20 foot rocks,
- walk on a nice sandbar
- climb a 20ft high rock which has a steel ladder bolted to it,
- and clamber up and down a good deal more.
Then you really arrive at the Quoddy head lighthouse. After you check out the lighthouse, don't forget to go to the very point of the rock the lighthouse sits on to do some quality whale-watching. . I had a good time going "GRONK" at the whales and they fed and played in the deep waters near the lighthouse.
But don't turn into a pumpkin! be out of there before the tides start to come in. This lighthouse is on the Bay of Fundy... and well... the Bay of Fundy is Fun, as the Bay of Fundy features the magic of 30-foot tides. So after a short visit, clamber back the way you came, go to the nearby point, and get your picnic and relax. Then you will watch something akin to Brigadoon vanishing. Yes, all of those big boulders, cliffs, sandbars and rocks that you just got personal with will vanish beneath the tides. Watching this Fun on Fundy can help you change the scale of how you think about things. People who get distracted too long and turn into a pumpkin will likely be camping at the lighthouse.
additional reference for Campobello International Park can be found at: fdr.net
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Dale Norris