During the 1880's wealthy people had a lot of leisure time and the means to enjoy it. They sought locations near the sea or lake to help beat the heat of pre-air conditioned cities of that time. In 1881, the southern portion of Camponello Island was acquired by a consortium of businessmen from Boston and New York, who intending to develop the area as a fashionable resort, built 3 luxurious hotels.
Hotel brochures touted the clean, salt-tinged, balsam scented air and the awesome beauty. It also stressed the unequaled boating, abundant excursions by land and sea, and relief from hay fever. The American and Canadian press advertised Campobello as a summer resort.
Affluent families from Boston and New York and Montreal and Ottawa all flocked to the island for extended summer vacation. So many of them fell in love with the island, including FDR's parents, that they bought either an existing home and remodeled it or bought land and built a new large "cottage".
FDR grew up spending summers here and because of his love for the island, he started referring to it as his "beloved island." When he and Eleanor married, his mother bought the "cottage" next door to her and gave it to the couple. It was here that FDR became ill and had to be taken off the island on a stretcher. He was diagnosed as having polio. The master bedroom is upstairs. So, the few times he visited after he was confined to a wheel chair, he stayed in the tutor's room which is downstairs and the tutor had to stay with the children. Eleanor and the children continued to visit and stay for long summer visits. Another interesting fact, the children's tutor went with them because, even through the summer, their mother insisted that they have school lessons every morning until noon. There was a room in the house with their desks still in it.
The park was opened on August 20, 1964 with Prime Minister Lester Pearson and President Lyndon Johnson in attendance. The park is jointly owned and managed by Canada and the United States, created by a treaty that honors the memory of FDR and the legacy of friendship between the two countries. Almost everything in the house is original and as it was when the Roosevelts spent time there. They did have to replace some of the wallpaper, but it was done with an exactly replica. The house contains 34 rooms. Eighteen are bedrooms and six bathrooms. There are 76 windows and 7 fireplaces. There was no electricity nor phones.
It was well worth the visit. The tour of the house was free. They also have a walking tour through more areas of the property that they call the Fun Tour. They tell you all the scandalous things that happened on the island. I bet that is fun. The grounds are beautiful. The park opens on the Saturday before Memorial Day and closes the Saturday before Columbus Day.
You have to take your passport because you do go through customs. We had warned everyone that the custom agents don't kid around. So, be serious. We all had our sunglasses on and he told us to all take off our sunglasses. BIL was looking at his phone and the agent told him to put down his phone while he was talking to us. This guy meant business.
The city of Lubec is the eastern most city in the US and is a quaint, but quirky, city. Because the border crossing is there, they get a lot of tourism that they otherwise would not get. All in all, it was a great day.
A Methodist church in town had advertised all week that they were going to have a fish chowder dinner that evening. So, we stopped in for a bowl on our way back. Not only was the food really good, but the locals were very friendly and gave us some good information.
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| The "Cottage" |
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| There are beautiful flowers everywhere. |
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| The church with the fish chowder dinner. |
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