The Little Island of Campobello

There’s a tiny Island in South Eastern New Brunswick that is home to about 900 people. For these 900 people, most of them are in the fishing, aquaculture or tourism business.

Being on the tiny Island, they are isolated from the rest of Canada except for in between June 29 & September 30th when a small ferry connects them to mainland Canada.

For the colder months of the year, the Canada Post delivery driver has to cross the bridge in Lebuc, pass through the border crossing into the USA, drive North 85ish km, cross the border crossing back into Canada and head to the St. Stephen Canada Post Office. He picks up the items bound for Campobello Island and checks into the border crossing in St. Stephen. Usually, this is where his problems start. Crossing into the states, it’s not legal to take weed across. So sometimes the American border guards will inspect the packages inside his vehicle prior to allowing him entry into the USA.

After they do inspect the vehicle, they’ll seal it up and he can be on his merry way to the Lebuc border crossing. On a good day, they won’t re-inspect him at that crossing. On a bad day, they will remove the seal and go through the entire process all over again.

For Campobello Island, things are a slower nature.

They do have FDR’s Cottage which is a very popular tourist attraction. FDR meaning, Franklin Delano Roosevelt that is. Behind the cottage they have a beautiful flower on the trees. Staff of the cottage swear that depending on how high off the ground the flowers are will determine the amount of snow we get….in 2014 when I was there the flowers were very high off the ground and it turns out the old folklore was right.

You may have heard former president FDR also has a connection to another maritime Island, Oak Island. He has ties to searching for the treasure there too, but that’s another story.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt kept the cottage on Campobello Island even when he was president. He visited it once during his presidency and the secret service didn’t really like the accommodations they had received.

I am sure the secret service enjoyed visiting the beautiful lighthouse tho, East Quoddy Lighthouse.

But back to modern-day now. Presently, the American and Canadian border is about to shut down. The residents of Campobello Island aren’t exactly sure what is going to happen.

On Campobello Island, there is one grocery store and a convenience store. The grocery store, Campobello Village Mart, announced (on Dec 31, 2019) to close for good on March 31st, just a few days away. A saving grace for the residents came through where someone else was going to purchase the grocery store. As of 9 hours ago, that deal fell through. The new owner had a change of heart due to the world economy.

The good news? The previous owner is going to keep the store open, as per above.

Living on the Island came with some decisions. For most, groceries and gas were a trip across the border into Lebuc. Now with the border set to close residents are worried about that. Crossing the border might now become a more difficult issue. Thankfully, the Campobello Village Mart will remain open as the former owner has agreed to keep it up and running in the mean time.

However, for most, things will certainly change depending on what happens with the border. If the Americans do decide to close it to the Island residents, things will certainly change.

Today one of the politicians dropped in letting residence know that the ferry will be running if the Americans do shut down the border to Campobello Island residents. This way, they’ll have to spend the hour driving/taking another ferry to the gorgeous little village called Saint George, which does have a grocery and a gas station. As well as this beautiful setting.