Sunday, June 30, 2013

June 30 – Campobello Island


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Today we toured Campobello Island which is just a few hundred yards off the shore of the nearby town of Lubec, Maine but the island is part of New Brunswick. To get there you just cross a short bridge but you have to go through customs each way.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s family spent summers on the island. They and some other families donated their land to become an international park run by both countries.The park covers about 1/4 of the island.

First we went and toured the parents “cottage”.

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Inside we had “Tea with Eleanor”. Twice a day they serve tea and cookies while two volunteers give a hour long talk about the life of FDR’s wife Eleanor. She was quite an influence on her husband and hence the policies in the USA.

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Next we toured FDR’s cottage.

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Thirty four rooms, eighteen bedrooms and six bathrooms.

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They used this megaphone to call the children to lunch.

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We did a short hike from near the cottage which was supposed to be to a rock pillar called the Friar’s Head. The trail initially went through the woods and out to the beach. If it was low tide you walked the beach to get back.

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Once we got out on the beach the friar was nowhere to be found.

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Later when we were far down the beach we looked back and could finally see it. It would have meant a lot of scrambling over seaweed covered rocks to get close.

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We just wandered slowly up the beach checking for interesting items.

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This is the pier at FDR’s places. I guess they docked some large boats here. You can see the size of the tidal swing by the size of the poles and the tiny size of Jennie.

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We headed across the island to the eastern shore to our first stop at a picnic area overlooking Raccoon Beach.

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Next was Lower Duck Cove. It was even foggier here.

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I spied something bright off in the distance.

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As much as I would have liked to bring it to our cottage, it was just too big. I left it by the walkway for someone else.

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Next was Liberty Point at the very southern tip. It was very windy, foggy and cold here. We had to bundled up. There were several lookout platforms here.

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Lots of crashing waves as well.

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And the one on the other side of the point.

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The info boards talked of all the things you could not see.

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Next we moved from the very southern tip to the very northern tip to see the West Harbour Lighthouse. In contrast to the cold and fog in the south it was sunny and warm here.

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Unfortunately at anything but low tide the lighthouse is on its own island and this is as close as we could get.

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At low tide you are allowed across but you must watch the time.

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Down these steps.

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Across what I assume is a sand bar and up these steps on the other side.

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Off in the distance it was interesting to see the fog going up and over this island.

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Heading back south there were more derelict boats.

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This display was outside the Family Restaurant.

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Our final stop was the Mulholland Lighthouse right beside the bridge and back to the fog again.

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Then back across the bridge to home. Both times through customs were very easy. You can get to the island by ferry from Canada and the USA so it is not just day trippers and residents that use the bridge.

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Tomorrow we head back to Canada and Fundy National Park.

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