Campobello In November

A little chill is in the air, as I am looking across the dry brown gras along Herring Cove Beach. But the sun is out and warming just enough for me not to shiver. Besides, I am wearing a thick jacket. From where I stand, the dark blue sea is just visible above the brown grass. Except for the lapping waves along the beach, no other sound disturbs the peace of this Thanksgiving Day. And like the first American settlers gave thanks about their arrival in the new land, I am thankful for finding this paradise, called Campobello Island.

Being Overwhelmed On Campobello

It’s coming from our many visitors. They have been overwhelmed with the beauty and history of Campobello Island. When are YOU coming to be overwhelmed? We are now open all year round. We will give you a tour you will never forget. Simply call (506 752 1901) or use the contact form from this site. Walk over to the Head harbour Lightstation and enjoy an amazing experience. For accommodations please contact the Peacock House in Lubec, ME.

We Are Stretching The Season!

Are you one of those working throughout all summer and must take your vacation when everybody else is back at work? Or do you simply enjoy the quieter time of the year when accommodations are just waiting for you, and wait lines have vanished?

Either way, Campobello Island and neighbouring Lubec are looking forward to your visit this late fall and winter. Campobello Sightseeing has teamed up with the Peacock House B+B in Lubec and together we will make your visit memorable. The Peacock House, a stately historic building in central Lubec overlooking the Bay of Fundy, is an ideal location from which to explore Campobello Island and the near-by West Quoddy Lighthouse. For their off-season guests the B+B is offering 3 delicious meals a day!

Your days can be filled!

Our activities include wonderful hikes along lonely beaches, visits to our lighthouses, talks about history with locals, photography trips and sometimes local events.

                                  Discovering old trails in coastal forests

Nature Walks

                     View towards Ragged Point. Below: “Frog Rock” in March

                         Above: Mulholland Point Lighthouse

                     Light snow has turned the Roosevelt Cottage into a Winter Wonder Land

   CAMPOBELLO WINTER SUNSETS  

                                       A cold day in January

Tours are going to be tailored to your personal wishes. Just give us a call and we will arrange everything for you.

Summer Days

After many rather hot summer days, the weather changed today. Still, it was foggy in the morning, but when the wind switched to west, all fog and mugginess disappeared. While picking the first raspberries, a fresh breeze sprang up rustling the raspberry vines. Was this the very first feeling of a beginning fall season? Was this a warning that the warm and calm days would be over? Looking across the Passamaquoddy Bay the air was crystal clear. SEPTEMBER, I thought, but we only had August the 6.! This had been the last day of  FOG FEST and many weekend visitors would already have left the island. It had been 5 days of increased traffic and excitement. The attendence had been way up from last year. Down at Friar’s Bay, Jocie’s Porch had been a major fog fest venue with cars lined up on both sides of the road. People had flocked to the Whale Watch Tours at Island Cruises and we had been busy with giving van-tours. And now it wouldn’t be long until the end of summer vacations. Over the last 2months we will see the seniors coming on to the island. The gardens at the Roosevelt Park will be blooming with the giant Dahlias again. It’s all about Roosevelt’s “Beloved Island”.

New Novel By Campobello Author Bernard J. Bourque

MR. LOUIS Living on Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, Louis Pembroke is a scrawny and diffident twenty-three-year-old who believes that he is the reincarnation of Louis Howe, the diminutive, chain-smoking political advisor who became FDR’s secretary (chief of staff). Growing up, Louis Pembroke is psycologically and physically abused by his mother and, after her death, by an old aunt. At the Campobello Roosevelt International Park where he mows lawns, Louis has a chance encounter with eighty-five-year-old Richard Chresterton, an Englishman born in India who is rebuilding the Tyn-Y-Coed, a luxurious hotel that once existed during the glory days of Campobello’s resort era. Louis is given a job at the new establishment and develops a close connection with the owner. Accompanying Mr. Chresterton on a trip to India as his aide, Louis meets Aradhya in the slums of Dharavi. The complicated love they share and the trials they face lead to a process of renewal for Louis who must meet other challenges when he returns to Campobello. Mr.Louis is a story of adversity, love, death and rebirth. $13.95 available at Amazon or by contacting the author at bernard.bourque@nb.sympatico.ca The book has ISBN 978-0-9959301-0-0

Remembering A Late-Summer Day

A Hike through the Park It wasn’t quite 7.00am yet but first daylight filtered through the curtains. It made me aware of that we probably would have a sunny day, as otherwise it would be much darker with an overcast sky. Now, nothing gets me out of bed like a clear sunny day. Under circumstances like that, I just can’t find any peace under the covers anymore.                        From Campobello’s Fall Harvest sale At 10.00am I decided to make use of all this sunshine, grabbed the NIKON and Molly and took the van out to the park. No tourist had called - so I knew I had the day off. We went into the park’s natural area and parked at a place called FOX FARM. It is an open grassy area where there once was a fox farm. First I followed the main road towards Cranberry Point, but then I took the small hiking trail which goes parallel with the beach. I had a great view of Lubec with the International Bridge spanning across the Narrows. A last greeting from summer There were wet spots and small bridges over narrow creeks, lots of leaves on the ground and old withering mushrooms standing out of green mossy forest soil. The air had taken up all the smells of fall and forest and mixed with the salty ingredients from the sea. Molly was keeping herself a 30ft ahead of me and whenever I stopped to take a picture she stopped as well looking back as to say ”are you coming?” Yes, I was coming after her and since we were out of reach from the northerly wind I got pretty warm in my sweater and my jacket. Soon enough I had tied my jacket around my waist and was carrying the sweater across my shoulders. I had never been on this trail before, so it turned out to be a great discovery tour. Despite the fact that park personnel had kept this trail open and even fitted it with walking planks I doubt that many hikers had come along here during this summer. Everything looked very pristine out here. After being on the trail for about 1km I found a wooden bench where I sat down enjoying one of the most beautiful sceneries one can find around these parts. What a natural treasure we have here! A range mark stating the international boundary of Canada But I had to move on and then the trail came out to the road again, following it for a while, then led straight back into the woods again.  A sign said 1.3km to Fox Farm. So I trudged on between tall spruce and beech trees. Underway I caught glimpses of “Upper Duck Pond” which is really too shallow to stay flooded under low tide. It turns into a huge mud flat and the upper end is a salt marsh, a paradise for birds in the summer as many predators can’t get out there. Lubec and Campobello with connecting International bridge When I finally saw a lot of light appearing between the trees ahead, I understood that I had come to the end of the trail at Fox Farm and sure enough soon I could see our white van standing beside the road. The Lubec Light – commonly called “SPARKPLUG” Needless to say I could really feel my legs and it was just great to be able to sit down behind the wheel again. The total length of the hike was approx. 3.5km, (2 miles) not too much, but due to the varied terrain an almost 2 hour Sunday morning adventure. Upper Duck Pond View from Cranberry Point to the Gulf of Maine with Grand Manan in the background

Campobello Ferry On Special Order

When The Lord Moves A Church House moving  is a long standing practice in North America, but it is not an every day business to move a church across the water. And even more astonishing it is if the captain is the Lord himself. Mr. Stan Lord is the every-day ferry provider of Campobello Island and he is not afraid to use his special beach-going ferry for transport orders out of the ordinary. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/n-s-church-floats-on-water-toward-winery-1.1018664

A rare sight occurred in Walton, N.S., on Wednesday as a century-old church was ferried down the Minas Basin on a vessel captained by a man named Lord. The building — formerly St. Matthew's Anglican Church — is being moved to Avondale to become part of the new Avondale Sky Winery, owned by Stewart Creaser and his wife, Lorraine Vassalo. "We needed a building to make our wine in and to sell our wine in. We've moved an old barn to our property to make the wine in and this building will be used to sell our wine," Creaser told CBC News on Wednesday. St. Matthew's Anglican Church was built in 1844 and deconsecrated in 2008. Creaser and Vassalo bought the building for $1.67 — the same price the congregation paid for the church in 1844. While transporting the former church to the new site will cost thousands of dollars, Creaser said he fell in love with the building as soon as he saw it. "When you're in there it has this amazing, peaceful ambience," he said. "We really weren't looking for a church in particular but when we were shown it, we just really believed it was the right thing to do. It was a great old building, it's got a lot of history and it deserves to be able to live on." The journey of the nearly 30-tonne building is a complicated one that has already experienced delays. The building spent the winter on the Walton waterfront after poor weather conditions delayed attempts to move it last year. On Wednesday, a truck successfully drove the church on to a converted ferry that arrived in Walton for the day's high tide at 2:25 p.m. The church will now travel more than 45 kilometres down the Bay of Fundy to Newport Landing, then up the Avon River where it will sit overnight, just off Hantsport. It will be unloaded off the ferry at Thursday afternoon's high tide. Next week, it will be driven up a hill toward Avondale Sky Winery as nearby phone, power and cable lines are carefully disconnected. Creaser said he was originally hoping to transport the church on a truck for its entire journey. "There's a problem with the power lines between here and our location that there's major power lines and Nova Scotia Power would have to put power or turn the power off for a significant part of the whole county, which they just can't do," he said. Armed with cameras and chairs, dozens of people in the village of Walton came to the waterfront to witness the church's move. "Makes it a little exciting, just look around. I've never seen this many cars in Walton in my life," said one man. "I think it's just short of a miracle," said another. The captain of the ferry — named Stan Lord — said he had never experienced anything of this magnitude and was surprised to see so many members of the village show up for the occasion. "I said, 'Holy crap,'" Lord said, laughing. The crowd broke into cheers and applause as Lord pulled the ferry away from the waterfront. "Went to church there and there it goes now, right out to sea," said one woman.