After our ferry ride, we were back in New Brunswick. Every Canadian province we visited has a different language preference. In Quebec only 8% of the population speak English, so French is the preferred language. Signs in Quebec are written in French first, then in English. In PEI 94% of the residents speak English. The signs there are English first, then French. In Nova Scotia (New Scotland) 92% of the people speak English. Some signs there are in English first, French second; and a few in the north are even in Gaelic. In New Brunswick, 66% of its population speak English, so New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province. Confusing, huh? Oui? Yes? Sláinte?
We continued south to visit Campobello International Park, once the summer home of the Roosevelts (the FDR variety). To get to Campobello Island on the New Brunswick / Maine border, we had to cross into Maine (which had the only non-ferry access point to the estate), go through customs, then drive back to Canada (the park is technically in New Brunswick) and go through Canadian customs. When we left Campobello, we had to go back through U.S. customs again. This time we had to answer a barrage of questions, show our car rental agreement, and open our trunk to show that we were not carrying arms, booze, drugs, cigarettes or illegal immigrants. Our first profiling: The Verenkoffs – must be trafficking something. We guess that our Quebec license plate must have troubled the custom’s officer.
We ran into some rain here, so our tour of the estate was a quick one. The Arts and Crafts style cottage has been impressively preserved. We also took the time to see the Hubbard cottage, the adjacent house, where the mother of FDR stayed. There we had the opportunity to attend a high tea and talk on Eleanor Roosevelt’s view of her husband’s years as POTUS, but we would have had to wait in the rain more than an hour. Regrettably, we decided to forgo the talk. Instead we stopped to see the striking red, white and blue striped Quoddy Head Light Station in Lubec, Maine. We are spending the next two nights in Bar Harbor (Baa Habba), Maine.
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Pretty sure this spot is haunted, watch out!
Yep, the camera has a ghost tracing device. Who ya gonna call, Ghostbusters!
How can I forget the play, Sunrise at Campobello?
Sara Roosevelt, FDR’s mother, was quite the piece of work. Poor Eleanor!
Autumn in this area is just lovely; so are all those trees.
His mother was a controlling matriarch. She bought the red house and gave it to Eleanor and Franklin in order to keep control. Unfortunately, Franklin caught polio at Campobello, was carried out on a stretcher and visited the summer home infequentlynthereafter.
Did you get to see a sunrise at Campobello?
No, but we did get to see water falling from the sky at Campobello.