9/27/2011

We had breakfast and showers and then drove to St. Croix Island International Historic Site about five miles from camp. It commemorates the attempted French settlement in Canada which led to the founding of New France. Lieutenant General Pierre Dugua set sail from France to North American in 1604 and after exploration he sailed into the Bay of Fundy and up the St. Croix River in early summer. He found an island to provide control of the river. His men started construction of fortifications and the ships returned to France leaving 79 men to spend the winter. By the time the ships arrived the next June 35 men were dead. Further exploration found a better place for settlement across the Bay of Fundy and St. Croix was abandoned. You can’t visit the island but there is an interpretive trail with statues that leads to the edge of the bay and you can see the island in the middle of the river.

We returned to the Casita and made lunch to take with us. We took pictures of low tide on the St. Croix River. This river has bore tides like the Cook Inlet in Alaska. We crossed the 45^th parallel and took a picture. We drove to Eastport, the easternmost city in the U.S. This city used to rival New York as a port. On the shore is a large statue of a fisherman. This statue was made by the Fox network for the TV show “Murder in Small Town X”. It is now dedicated to Angel Juarbe. He won the $250.000.00 prize for the TV show and soon after died as one of the first N.Y. fireman responding to the World Trade Center attacks. We continued on down the coast to Pembroke and went to Garnet Point on Cobscook Bay.

There are 68 lighthouses on the Maine coast and we went to the first one today. West Quoddy lighthouse is the easternmost point in the U.S. It is a beautiful lighthouse that is painted red and white.

After leaving the Quoddy lighthouse we drove across the Roosevelt International Bridge onto Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada. We went to Roosevelt Campobello International Park. This is the island where President Roosevelt’s parent spent the summers. He spent his summers there and after he married Eleanor his parents bought a house for them as a wedding present. We toured the house. The island has two lighthouse and we drove to both of them. East Quoddy lighthouse is only accessible during low tide. You have to climb three sets of iron stairs and cross rocks and a bridge. When we got there the sun and tide were perfect for pictures. Before leaving Campobello Island there is a picnic area with the Mulholland lighthouse near the Roosevelt Bridge so we stopped there also. We drove into the town of Lubec, Maine and then returned to the Casita. It was low tide so we stopped to take a picture where we were this morning at high tide