#6: Campobello Island

At the far eastern point of the United States mainland is a point called West Quoddy Head, Maine.  This is an oddity in itself - the easternmost point in continental America is named "West?" - although it turns out to have a prosaic explanation: to the east of the point is a strait known as Quoddy Narrows, and thus the point lies at the west head of Quoddy Narrows.

But we're not here to talk to about West Quoddy Head.  Instead, let's discuss the piece of land that lies on the other side of Quoddy Narrows: Campobello Island, Canada.

The border between Maine and New Brunswick has long been a matter of some dispute.  There was a brief "war" over it in the 1830s which led to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842, which clarified (in the same sort of excruciating geographic legalese as previous border treaties) the boundary.  This seems to have applied primarily to the northern border, however.  The border in southeast Maine, based on the mouth and initial course of the St. Croix River, does not appear to have changed or been claimed differently from how we know it today at any point prior to 1842, as seen on the map here.

Which brings us to Campobello Island.  The odd thing about Campobello isn't that it belongs to Canada; that's been well-established since Jay's Treaty of 1794.  The odd thing is that it's a part of Canada that is only reachable by road from somewhere other than Canada.  That's right: while there are vehicle ferries from Canada, the only road bridge to Campobello starts in the small town of Lubec, Maine.

Bridge crossing from Lubec to Campobello.  Image from http://makemytripadvisor.blogspot.com/2011/05/canada-travel-sensation.html.

In the late 1800s, New England had become a place where the well-to-do from New York and other major cities came to spend time during the summers due to the milder ocean climate and open space to build large seaside estates.  Campobello, though officially in Canada, became a commonly-visited part of that trade.  In the mid-1880s, James Roosevelt, scion of a prominent American family, purchased several acres of land on the island and built a summer home there.

By the 1910s and 1920s, the resort craze had died out, and the island's main industry returned to fishing.  So why, in 1962, was a bridge built from Lubec to Campobello?  Well, you probably already know: James Roosevelt was the father of the 32nd U.S. president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and FDR summered on the island regularly from 1909 until 1921.  The bridge, indeed, is named the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial Bridge.

FDR isn't the only reason the bridge was built; Lubec, Maine and Campobello have expectedly close ties, and joining the two was the most reasonable location for a road crossing to Campobello, as the nearest Canadian mainland is roughly ten miles away, while Lubec is only a few hundred yards across a narrow channel.  But the 1964 opening of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park confirmed the utility of the crossing.

The park may be the oddest thing about Campobello itself, as it sits within Canada but is administered by a commission of citizens from both countries.  This makes it the only part of the National Park Service I'm aware of that one requires a passport to visit.

Google Maps image of the crossing between Lubec, ME and Campobello, showing the location of the international park.