Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada is just across the short Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge from Lubec, ME. Not quite 1/3 of this island is taken up by the Roosevelt Campobello International Park, jointly administered by Canada and the US, preserving Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt’s summer home and surrounding land.
As a youth, FDR spent summers at the family home here, growing up to love and appreciate the rugged outdoors life of Campobello Island. He learned to sail, canoe, hike, climb, golf and swim, and it was here that he developed a passion for nature and the outdoors. His mother presented Franklin and Eleanor with their own home, adjacent to hers, in 1908.
The couple, along with their 5 children and staff, regularly spent a portion of the summer at the cottage, at least until FDR contracted polio in 1921. The ensuing paralysis and his growing political responsibilities made it harder for him to travel to the island, though he visited briefly 3 times as president. Eleanor and the children continued to use the summer home through the mid 1930s, although it fell into disrepair following FDR’s death in 1945. In 1952, the Roosevelt family sold the property to American businessman and philanthropist Armand Hammer and his brothers. The Hammers restored the cottage and opened it as a museum, deeding it to the Canadian and US governments in 1963 following Eleanor Roosevelt’s death. The Roosevelt Campobello International Park opened in 1964.
The park’s Visitor Center included an overview of the Roosevelt family’s longstanding relationship with Campobello Island, segueing to a moving exhibit reviewing the long and friendly history of the 2 countries. I was moved to tears.
Themes of the presentation (in both French and English) were the countries’ shared prosperity and open borders, our close relationships as trading partners and brothers in arms, respect for the environment, Presidents and Prime Ministers (including the FDR – Mackenzie King partnership during the Great Depression), as well as both countries’ rich and varied heritage and history as good neighbors and best friends. The recent political turmoil in the US and the White House’s inexplicable antagonism towards Canada seem to have escaped this little corner of the world. I still cried.
A guided tour of the cottage was reflective of the priorities, attitudes and benevolence of the Roosevelt family. Although a 34-room house sounds huge (ok, it is…), the rooms included 6 family bedrooms, 6 bedrooms for guests, and 6 more for staff. The living room was modestly furnished and wonderfully comfortable, including an upright piano, game table, book-filled shelves, a wide variety of seating, and large windows overlooking the bay. Eleanor’s ‘office’ included the desk from which she became famous for her prolific letter writing. The kitchen was quite modern for the times and was flanked by not 1 but 2 pantries, evoking significant pantry envy. Oh, and the outside decks overlooking the bay…
The island and the park provides some wonderful opportunities to explore by bike or on foot. Unfortunately, I appear to have picked up a mosquito-borne virus of some kind (most likely West Nile, the large red area surrounding the bite provided the first clue) in Lewiston and it has knocked me right off my feet. A quick visit to the hospital in Machias, ME (the closest facility to Lubec) confirmed it was not tick borne (bummer, there’s treatment for that…). I’m through the worst of it. Yay. Recovery is unfortunately slow and – much more unfortunately – involves avoiding exertion as the virus clears itself. So… we spent a few extra days at campgrounds in Lubec, in the park on Campobello, and (a glimpse into the future for our readers) in Saint John NB, frustratingly not doing what we’d most like to be doing, though slowly feeling stronger and better.
We finished our stay on Campobello by quietly touring the rest of the island. We enjoyed exploring Liberty Point, at the far end of a long gravel road through the park to the southern tip of the island, and the Head Harbour Lightstation at the northernmost point. We found similarities with Isleboro, where we visited our friends a couple of years ago. Islesboro has more people, however the two are about the same area and each has essentially one main road. Both have déjà-vu-inducing intersections, one with a little cluster of houses and a post office, and yet another with a few houses, a restaurant and a church. Each has a grocery store and an ice cream shop.
There were 2 ways for us to leave Campobello – we could head back over the bridge into Lubec or take a ferry to Deer Island and another from there to the mainland. We chose the latter as we make our way deeper into New Brunswick.
For anyone who’s interested, more Roosevelt Cottage, Campobello Island, and ferry pix…
