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Bangor, ME → Lubec, ME → Bangor, ME 250.0 mi (402.3 km) |
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It’s a criss-cross kind of day, everyone!
This morning, I headed east from Bangor to visit a super-unique kind of national park. In fact, it’s a truly international one, because while it is situated on an island in New Brunswick, Canada, it also has deep ties to American summers, in particular, the summer retreats of the 32nd US President! After digging out my passport in Lubec and answering Border Control’s questions, I crossed the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Bridge into another country and another time zone (Atlantic) to see what I could see in Roosevelt Campobello International Park!
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The historic part of Campobello Island was a whole neighborhood of former “rusticators,” wealthy New Englanders who spent their summers on the rustic coast of Maine. This was made possible by the Campobello Company, who bought up the whole south side of this island in the late 1880s to create a summer retreat for folks like James and Sara Roosevelt. So it was here that their son, young Franklin D. Roosevelt, spent many summers, learning how to sail and later teaching those skills to his own kids! In 1908, Sara Roosevelt bought this big red cottage for Franklin and Eleanor as a belated wedding present, and it stayed here in the family all the way until 1951! It was refurbished and reopened as a Roosevelt Museum, but the museum owners then lobbied for the creation of this park, a memorial to the first family and a testament to the friendship between the USA and Canada. Consequently, Roosevelt Campobello International Park opened in its current form August 20, 1964!
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I strolled the grounds to see where the Roosevelts’ neighbors lived, though the deer flies were just starting to buzz! Much of the old rusticator neighborhood has been preserved by the park, including the cottage of St. Louis cotton broker, Louis Prince, reimagined as the Prince Café! I did’t stick around for a nosh here, though, because the folks at the visitor center gave me a time-sensitive, historic snack time recommendation instead!
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That recommendation was for Eleanor Roosevelt Tea, held twice a day and coincidentally starting just fifteen minutes after I arrived at the park! Wow! What a perfect way to sample history! I picked up my ticket for the 11:00 AM tea time and scurried across the road to sip some history!
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Tea time was going to be held in another former neighbor’s home, the Wells-Shober Cottage, originally bought by Samuel Wells, president of the Campobello Company who settled this part of the island, later inhabited by the Shober family from Philadelphia. Today, the cottage was hosting a marvelous setup of hot drinks and sweet snacks!
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Over local King Cole tea and Mrs. Roosevelt’s favorite ginger snap cookies, several rangers told us visitors lots of great facts about Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a shy kid with a speech impediment and a cruel grandma, but she grew up into the “Great Organizer,” who famously declined presidential drivers and security guards because they’d just get in the way. She made a mockery of segregation in the military, visited troops in the field, and pushed very hard for the passing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights! In short, she made waves that set a new standard for how the office of First Lady was run!
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After an hour of teatime and learning, it was time to venture out again. The morning clouds had practically vanished, and the thermometer had gone right up! I strolled past the cottage of another Roosevelt neighbor, one Gorham Hubbard, an insurance broker from Boston who designed his Campobello summer escape in 1892. While it was possible to go inside, I chose instead to enjoy the flower beds from without and seek cooler breezes down by the shore!
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And because it was getting so hot, I headed on down to the beach, where the ranger said FDR’s kids took some of their first steps! While the air was very still and not ideal for sailing, I could definitely see this being a perfect kayaking day or even a swimming day, but as soon as I got close to the water’s edge, I reconsidered! There were lion’s mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) bobbing all along the shore! This squishy critters can grow up to ten feet across and have tentacles a hundred feet long, making them the largest jellyfish species in the world! Luckily, these ones were pretty small and easy to avoid, so long as I didn’t take a dip. I decided to move on!
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The next closest historic spot was the Mulholland Point Lighthouse, completed by Angus Fisher in 1885 and first staffed by keeper, Malachi Parker. This 44-foot tall lighthouse was built to aid vessels that wanted to avoid the exposed waters of the open Atlantic and navigate the calmer, but shallower, waters of the Lubec Narrows! It was a great aid for inbound rusticators, all the way until 1963 when the very bridge I had crossed this morning lit up and made the Mulholland Point Lighthouse obsolete!
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The rocks around the lighthouse sure looked intimidating for boating, but boy, were they ever beautiful for strolling about! The calm summer day left the water crystal clear, despite the patches of knotted rack (Ascophyllum nodosum) popping up out of the mirror and making the coastline very slippery! This special seaweed has been harvested for centuries for its anti-inflammatory properties and vitamins. It’s also great at sucking heavy metals out of the water, which is useful for measuring environmental health but really dangerous if you’re harvesting seaweed in contaminated water!
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But I wanted to find a less treacherous beach and relax as the heat index climbed even higher, so I headed to the eastward end of the island to Raccoon Beach. I figured if this beach came recommended by other woodland critters, then it would be a great place for me to start!
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And boy, what a view from the top of the bluff! With wild roses abloom, I got to really appreciate the deep blue of those Atlantic waters and the deep brown rocks reflected in them! But it was also so hot that I really wanted to get closer to that water.
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So down I went! Raccoon Beach is under some steep cliffs, and descending the wooden staircase from the parking lot gave me an up-close look at resilient wildflowers that were clinging to life on the nearly vertical sand and stone!
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And then I was down on a real beach, sand, pebbles, seashells, and all! This side of the island, being less protected and open to the ocean, was breezier than the Narrows side, and I really appreciated that, especially since the sand was quite toasty on my toes! But gosh, it was pretty, and really secluded apart from a single couple picnicking on top of the bluff!
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I found a Jonah crab (Cancer borealis) that didn’t seem to mind the heat at all! These chonky crustaceans like to dig themselves into the sand to evade predators, and it just about worked on me. I wasn’t looking for a crabby snack, but I very nearly walked right past it! It was so still, I thought it was dead, but after one poke, it just grumbled in annoyance. Jonah crabs bury themselves for protection because they’re strong but slow from eating stationary seafood like mussels. Luckily, I hadn’t come upon a similar-looking rock crab, who would have pinched me right on the nose!
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Raccoon Beach was not super long, but it sure was serene! I strolled all the way to the end of the strand, where it was punctuated by a craggy hill of rocks topped by tenacious spruce trees. On both sides of this point were big, rocky tide pool areas, a little bit freer of slippery seaweed and therefore safer for frolic!
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Speaking of tide pools, I wanted to see what wonders I could discover inside these ones! In short, not a lot! There were snails of all shapes and sizes, but unlike the Pacific coast, I didn’t see any starfish, sea urchins, or any more scuttling crabs. I wonder if these pools are seasonal and not just boiled up by this heat dome, the way a different one did to the Pacific Northwest back in 2021!
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A little disappointed by those tide pools, I decided I’d pass the heat of the day in siesta, stretching out on that sunny beach and letting the coastal breezes wash over me! It was wild to think that I was relaxing on a beach way up in Canada, because it felt so Southern California. I could see why this climate drew so many folks here for so many years!
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The afternoon left me feeling thoroughly baked, but luckily some clouds began to roll in and cool things down. I crossed back into Maine and detoured south to stop off at a national extremity: the West Quoddy Head Light Station, ironically named because it’s actually on the easternmost point in the whole USA! I’ve now been to the easternmost and southernmost point in the United States, but I don’t think I’ll ever make it to the northernmost point (Point Barrow, Alaska) or westernmost point (Amatignak Island, Alaska)
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Named after the Passamaquoddy term for a fertile and beautiful place, this 1808 lighthouse with its signature 49-foot, candy-striped tower is absolutely picturesque! It was commissioned by order of President Thomas Jefferson, but the tower of today came about much later in 1858, along with a fresnel lens and 50-step spiral staircase leading to the top! It’s gone through all kinds of light sources from whale oil to lard to kerosene and finally electricity, all the while keeping its flash pattern of 2 seconds on, 2 off, 2 on, 9 off!
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The lighthouse was nearly closed when I arrived, so I didn’t have much time to immerse myself in its history (classic me!), but with operating hours wrapped up for the afternoon, I took some time to stare out over the Atlantic and enjoy those peaceful sea breezes. This was a super unusual national park day, and a check on my list that took some thought to categorize. Tomorrow will be less confusing, as I’ll be visiting Maine’s signature national park, which is instantly recognizable and deeply rooted in the American experience. I can’t wait to share it with you!
Back to Bangor!
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Total Ground Covered: 763.0 mi (1,227.9 km) |
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