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Campobello Island

Coordinates: 44°53′N 66°56′W / 44.883°N 66.933°W / 44.883; -66.933
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Campobello Island
Port aux Coquilles (Seashell Harbour)[1]
Abahquict[1] ("Parallel to Shore")
Rural community
Head Harbour Lighthouse and station, Passamaquoddy Bay
Head Harbour Lighthouse and station, Passamaquoddy Bay
Campobello Island is located in Canada
Campobello Island
Campobello Island
Location of Campobello Island in Canada
Campobello Island is located in New Brunswick
Campobello Island
Campobello Island
Campobello Island (New Brunswick)
Coordinates: 44°53′N 66°56′W / 44.883°N 66.933°W / 44.883; -66.933
CountryCanada
ProvinceNew Brunswick
CountyCharlotte County
Erected1803
Government
 • MayorHarvey Matthews
 • CouncillorAlex Carroll
 • CouncillorKyle Fletcher
 • CouncillorDianna Parker
Area
[2]
 • Land39.59 km2 (15.29 sq mi)
Highest elevation
90 m (300 ft)
Lowest elevation
0 m (0 ft)
Population
 (2021)[2]
 • Total
949
 • Density24/km2 (62/sq mi)
 • Pop 2016-2021
Increase 8.8%
 • Pop 2016-2021 density24/km2 (62/sq mi)
 • Dwellings
612
Time zoneUTC-4 (AST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-3 (ADT)

Campobello Island (/ˌkæmpəˈbɛloʊ/,[3][4] also US: /-poʊˈ-/)[5] is the largest and only inhabited island in Campobello Parish in Charlotte County in southwestern New Brunswick, Canada,[6][7] near the border with Maine, United States.[8] It is the site of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park, Head Harbour Lighthouse, and of Herring Cove Provincial Park.

It has been an incorporated rural community since 2010 and is a member of the Southwest New Brunswick Service Commission (SNBSC).[9]

In 1770, the island was granted to Capt. William Owen, who named it in honour of Lord William Campbell,[10] who was governor of Nova Scotia, and noting "Campo Bello" meant "Beautiful Field" in Italian.[11]

History

[edit]
See also: History of New Brunswick
Captain William Owen

There are no traces of settlement by the Passamaquoddy or Norsemen who may have visited the island.[1] The first Europeans in the region were Pierre Dugua de Mons and Samuel de Champlain, who founded the nearby 1604 Saint Croix Island settlement.[12] It has been speculated that the fort of Jean Serreau di St Aubin, known to have been built somewhere in the Passamaquoddy Bay but vacated in the years surrounding King William's War and Benjamin Church's 1704 expulsion of the French from the Bay, may have been situated on Campobello.[13]

In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) made the island part of British Nova Scotia. The first known settler from the British Isles was James Boud of Kilmarnock, who settled in 1760.[1] Its first post office opened in 1795.[14]

In 1770, the island was granted to Captain Owen who immediately set to work building a town he dubbed New Warrington (Wilson's Beach, today) but after only a year on the island in June 1771, Owen was recalled to active military service; he never returned to Campobello Island although still advertising for industrious farmers to help settle it before his 1778 death in India.

During the War of 1812 the British Navy seized coastal lands in Maine as far south as the Penobscot River but returned them following the war, except for offshore islands. Capt. Owen wrote to the Prince Regent, noting that if the Crown insisted on ordering Campobello residents to perform military drills on the mainland as he had cautioned against, the Crown may find Campobello fighting against it, and stating "the Crown alone, without our consent, has no right to tax us".[14]

In 1817, the United States relinquished its claim to Campobello, Deer, and Grand Manan islands, in exchange for islands in Cobscook Bay. The provincial government of New Brunswick funded the construction of Head Harbour Lighthouse, or East Quoddy Head Light, in 1829; this light station would be a counterpart to West Quoddy Head Light which the United States built in the previous decades. As of 1842, Thomas Wyer was one of three commissioners of the lighthouses on Machias Seal Island, Campobello and at Saint Andrews.[15]

1837 advertisement by WFW Owen, seeking tenants for the island

In 1835, the illegitimate son of Captain Owen, Vice-Admiral William Fitzwilliam Owen, became sole proprietor of the island and took great interest in his advanced years in building the island community but struggled with an "addiction" to local women.[16]

In 1866, a band of more than 700 members of the Fenian Brotherhood arrived at the Maine shore opposite the island with the intention of seizing Campobello[17] but were dispersed by British warships from Halifax.[18]

British naval officer John James Robinson became owner of the island in 1857 by virtue of having married Owen's daughter.[19] In 1881, the widow of Capt. Robinson Owen sold 1,200 acres of the island to a group of American businessmen including James Roosevelt and the island was developed as a resort summer colony.[20][1] A luxurious resort hotel and many grand estates were built.[21] From 1883, the Roosevelt family famously made Campobello Island their summer home.[22]

Religion

[edit]

The journals of William Owen note that he held Anglican religious service in a shed for all the members of his new settlement on June 10 1770 just days after their arrival.[23] A Captain Robinson built a Baptist church at North Road that was destroyed and rebuilt following the Saxby Gale, and Wilson's Beach remained staunchly Baptist, while Owen built a new Anglican church and cetered at Welchpool.[24]

In 1842 the Anglican bishop consecrated the church and cemetery; the block of stone from which the baptismal font was carved was taken from the "Church of the Knights Templar at Malta" and transported by Owen's son-in-law.[24]

Smuggling

[edit]
Treasury Department agents exchange letters and articles about the evangelical deacons smuggling operation.

The population was increased by United Empire Loyalists after the American Revolutionary War. Smuggling was a major part of the island's prosperity around this time, starting as soon as 1807 and contributing to residents' economic freedom from the Owens'.[1][25] In later years, it was remarked that merchant ships secretly putting ashore at Eastport, Maine would report in ledgers that they travelled to "Sweden" once or twice a day with their wares.[25] Many of the smuggling ships used Swedish flags, or other unaligned European nations, to avoid seizure.[26] Following his defection, General Benedict Arnold set up a smuggling operation on Campobello Island transiting Saint John goods.[27]

The first major smuggling trial in the Bay of Fundy convicted Gillam Butler, of Campobello Island in 1796 of illegally importing US whale oil under the pretense it was harvested in New Brunswick.[28][29] Southwestern New Brunswick smugglers in the late 18th century were "the overwhelming majority of the local political machinery, including the judiciary" - and a 1796 seizure found contraband tied to the "leading figures and magistrates" of Campobello, Grand Manan and Indian Island.[30]

In 1808, it was noted in US military channels that the settlement of Moose Island had grown solely through its ability to smuggle goods with Campobello.[31] During the War of 1812, the need for American food to move into Canada, and British goods to move into the United States led historial Charles W. Kendall to assert that "during the war there was a tacit treaty on the Maine and New Brunswick frontier...customs officials did not recognize it, but American and British merchants did."[31] The close of the war brought an end to the first major period of smuggling on Campobello.[1]


Through the 19th century, smuggling was a major industry on Campobello.[32][33] In 1898, it was noted that "many of the inhabitants here may be considered...daring in carrying on a successful illicit trade, to rival even the far-famed Dirk Hatteraick.[34]

Smuggling, or rum running, became notable again following the 1870 economic downturn - and hit its heydey during the 1920s Prohibition.[25] Police boats began waiting in the waters to intercept and search vessels travelling between the countries.[25] In 1883, the US Treasury Department charged three evangelical deacons from Lubec with smuggling "immense quantities of wool, skins, rags and lead" purchased in New Brunswick and brought to Patch's Factory of Campobello to be snuck across the border by locals at night.[35]

In 2019, senator David Adams Richards raised concerns that the anti-smuggling provisions of Bill C-21 would unfairly target Campobello residents who needed to bring materials through the United States.[36]

Shipwrecks

[edit]
An illustration of a shipwreck from a tourism booklet.

On January 21 1865, the British-flagged schooner Liseon was wrecked on the shore of Campobello.[37]

On May 24, 1841 the Admiral Benbow was wrecked on the shore of Campobello, with all crew rescued.[38]

Geography

[edit]
Campobello, named as Port au Coquilles, as shown on the 1630 map of Joannes de Laet

The island is at the entrance to Passamaquoddy Bay, adjacent to the entrance to Cobscook Bay, and within the Bay of Fundy. The island is one of the Fundy Islands. The island has no road connection to the rest of Canada; it is connected by the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge to nearby Lubec, Maine. Reaching mainland Canada by car without crossing an international border is possible only during the summer season and requires two separate ferry trips, first to nearby Deer Island, then to L'Etete.[39]

The ferry to Deer Island was stopped in 2017 after the boat sank, leaving the island without a direct connection to the rest of Canada.[40] Service was restored and became year-round due to the COVID pandemic.[41]

The jurisdiction of the eponymous rural community and of the census division include Head Harbour Island.

Measuring 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) long and about five kilometres (3.1 mi) wide, it has an area of 39.6 square kilometres (15.3 sq mi). On the north is a high bluff headland, East Quoddy Point.[42] On the west are Charley Point and the Mulholland Point navigation light.[42]

Economy

[edit]
Campobello fisherman in 1973

The island has several good harbours,[43] and the majority of residents are employed in the fishing, aquaculture or tourism industries.

The two major tourist attractions on the island are Herring Cove Provincial Park and Roosevelt Campobello International Park. The latter was created in 1964 and was officially opened by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson in 1966.

Infrastructure

[edit]
Franklin D. Roosevelt on Campobello, 1933

The island's only highway, Route 774, is connected by the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge to Lubec, Maine. Its only connection with the Canadian mainland is through a seasonal ferry to Deer Island which goes onward to the mainland.[44]

United States Customs and Border Protection service began searching packages to the island, originating in Canada, in 2019, prompting outcry.[45][46][47]

In 2020, residents renewed demands for a bridge, due to the restrictions imposed on both sides of the border during the COVID-19 pandemic in North America.[48] The government paid for an autumn extension of the ferry until winter.[49][47]

The island has one school, Campobello Island Consolidated School, for all school grades, in the Anglophone South School District.

Communities

[edit]

Communities within the rural community:[50][51][52]

Bodies of water

[edit]

Bodies of water[a] at least partly within the rural community:[50][51][52]

  • Friars Bay
  • Lake Glensevern
  • Harbour de Lute
  • Head Harbour
  • Head Harbour Passage
  • Lubec Channel
  • Lubec Narrows
  • Mill Cove Creek
  • Mill Stream
  • Quoddy Narrows
  • Passamaquoddy Bay

Demographics

[edit]

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Campobello Island had a population of 949 living in 423 of its 612 total private dwellings, a change of 8.8% from its 2016 population of 872. With a land area of 39.59 km2 (15.29 sq mi), it had a population density of 24.0/km2 (62.1/sq mi) in 2021.[53]

Canada census – Campobello Island community profile
202120162011
Population949 (+8.8% from 2016)872 (-5.7% from 2011)925 (-12.4% from 2006)
Land area39.59 km2 (15.29 sq mi)39.67 km2 (15.32 sq mi)39.67 km2 (15.32 sq mi)
Population density24/km2 (62/sq mi)22.0/km2 (57/sq mi)23.3/km2 (60/sq mi)
Median age50.8 (M: 48.0, F: 52.0)48.4 (M: 48.2, F: 48.4)46.0 (M: 46.1, F: 45.9)
Private dwellings612 (total)  423 (occupied)616 (total)  641 (total) 
Median household income$66,000$52,139
References: 2021[54] 2016[55] 2011[56]

Language

[edit]
Canada census mother tongue - Campobello Parish, New Brunswick[57]
Census Total
English
French
English & French
Other
Year Responses Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop % Count Trend Pop %
2011
895
 885 Decrease 10.2% 98.88% 5 Decrease 83.3% 0.56% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.00% 5 Decrease 75.0% 0.56%
2006
1,035
 985 Decrease 15.4% 95.17% 30 Increase n/a% 2.90% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.00% 20 Increase n/a% 1.93%
2001
1,165
 1,165 Decrease 9.0% 100.00% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.00% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.00% 0 Steady 0.0% 0.00%
1996
1,280
 1,280 n/a 100.00% 0 n/a 0.00% 0 n/a 0.00% 0 n/a 0.00%

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Not including brooks, ponds or coves.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Harnedy, Jim; Harnedy, Jane Diggins (March 2003). Campobello Island. Arcadia. ISBN 978-0-7385-1147-4.
  2. ^ a b Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (9 February 2022). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - Campobello Island, Rural community (RCR) [Census subdivision], New Brunswick". www12.statcan.gc.ca.
  3. ^ "Campobello Island". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022.
  4. ^ "Campobello". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Campobello". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  6. ^ Slumkoski, Corey (2005). "The Partition of Nova Scotia". The Winslow Papers. Electronic text centre (UNB Libraries). Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  7. ^ "New Brunswick Regulation 84-168 under the Municipalities Act (O.C. 84-582)". Government of New Brunswick. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  8. ^ Community Profile: Campobello Parish, Charlotte County, New Brunswick Archived 19 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine; Statistics Canada.
  9. ^ "Communities in each of the 12 Regional Service Commissions (RSC) / Les communautés dans chacune des 12 Commissions de services régionaux (CSR)" (PDF), Government of New Brunswick, July 2017, retrieved 1 February 2021
  10. ^ Ganong, William F. (1896). A Monograph of the Place-Nomenclature of the Province of New Brunswick. Royal Society of Canada. p. 224. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  11. ^ Ingersoll, L.K. (1979). "Owen, William". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 4. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  12. ^ Pedersen, Mark. "Islands Rich in History", Leader-Post, April 13 1974
  13. ^ Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 1883, https://archive.org/details/proceedingstrans2121roya/page/n415/mode/2up?q=%22deer+island%22
  14. ^ a b Wells, Kate Gannett (1901). "David Owen of Campobello, New Brunswick". Acadiensis. 1 (1). Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  15. ^ https://ia804501.us.archive.org/8/items/cihm_38425/cihm_38425.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  16. ^ Cornell, Paul G. (1985). "Owen, William Fitz William". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. 8. University of Toronto/Université Laval. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  17. ^ Jennifer Crump (26 July 2010). Canada Under Attack. Dundurn. p. 133. ISBN 9781459704879.
  18. ^ Buescher, John. "What Happened to the Fenians After 1866?" Teachinghistory.org, accessed 8 October 2011
  19. ^ Lorimer, John G. "History of Islands and Islets in the Bay of Fundy, Charlotte County, New Brunswick", Archive.org copy, 1876
  20. ^ https://secure-sha.org/assets/documents/meetings/2012/Final2012ConferenceAbstractProgram.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  21. ^ Erika J. Waters (2010). Kittery to Bar Harbor: Touring Coastal Maine. Arcadia Publishing. p. 119. ISBN 9780738572819.
  22. ^ Pedersen, Mark. "Islands Rich in History", Leader-Post, April 13 1974
  23. ^ Harnedy, Jim; Harnedy, Jane Diggins (March 2003). Campobello Island. Arcadia. ISBN 978-0-7385-1147-4.
  24. ^ a b "Campobello, an Historical Sketch - Wikisource, the free online library".
  25. ^ a b c d Wallace, Janet. "Bluebloods, Black Market". Saltscapes. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  26. ^ https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2511&context=cq
  27. ^ "Bootleggers and Benedict Arnold | St. Croix Historical Society".
  28. ^ Craven, Paul. "Petty Justice: Low Law and the Sessions System in Charlotte County"
  29. ^ "Loyalist Borderlands on Campobello Island: The Ordeal of Gillam Butler, Part Two | the Loyalist Collection".
  30. ^ Smith, Joshua M. (14 October 2019). Borderland Smuggling: Patriots, Loyalists, and Illicit Trade in the Northeast, 1783-1820. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-6523-6.
  31. ^ a b Prize and Prejudice: Privateering and Naval Prize in Atlantic Canada in the War of 1812. Oxford University Press. 1997. ISBN 978-0-9681288-1-7.
  32. ^ "Roosevelt Cottage, Campobello Island". 26 August 2021.
  33. ^ "Rowing Friar Roads". 29 July 2019.
  34. ^ https://www.google.ca/books/edition/The_History_of_Canada_Canada_under_Briti/1T8TAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=smugglers+grand+manan&pg=RA2-PA250&printsec=frontcover, Chapter III
  35. ^ "House documents". 1884.
  36. ^ "The island Canada forgot: On Campobello, citizens are left exiles in their own land". Financial Post.
  37. ^ Mercantile Ship News". The Standard. No. 12646. London. 18 February 1865. p. 6.
  38. ^ "Shipping Intelligence". The Hull Packet. No. 2948. Hull. 18 June 1841.
  39. ^ Paul Karr (18 March 2005). Frommer'sMaine Coast. John Wiley & Sons. p. 248. ISBN 9780764595974.
  40. ^ O'Connor, Joe (23 January 2018). "The island Canada forgot: On Campobello, citizens are left exiles in their own land". Financial Post. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  41. ^ Sutherland, Marie (16 December 2021). "Campobello ferry to run all winter amid worsening COVID situation". CBC News. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  42. ^ a b U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1879). Atlantic Local Coast Pilot: Sub-division 1: Passamaquoddy Bay to Schoodic. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 15.
  43. ^ Richardson Clover (1891). Sailing Directions for Nova Scotia, Bay of Fundy, and South Shore of Gulf of St. Lawrence. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 29.
  44. ^ David Goss (2002). St. George and Its Neighbours. Arcadia Publishing. p. 91. ISBN 9780738511498.
  45. ^ "Canadian islanders angry over US mail searches". BBC. December 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  46. ^ "On quiet Campobello Island, Canadians angered by US inspection of their mail". Boston Globe. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  47. ^ a b "Cut off by geography and COVID-19, this Canadian island is calling out for a link to the rest of Canada — to no avail". Toronto Star. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
  48. ^ "Canada extends restrictions on U.S. travellers until January 21". Toronto Star. 21 December 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021. The historic border closure between Canada and the U.S. will extend into the new year.
  49. ^ "Campobello ferry service extended to January". CBC News. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2021. The ferry, privately owned ... typically runs from late June to September. It connects Campobello Island to Deer Island, where people can take a year-round ferry to mainland New Brunswick.
  50. ^ a b "No. 166". Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development. Retrieved 5 July 2021. Remainder of parish on maps 108, 117, 118, 129, and 130 at same site.
  51. ^ a b "501" (PDF). Transportation and Infrastructure. Government of New Brunswick. Retrieved 5 July 2021. Remainder of parish on mapbook 503 at same site.
  52. ^ a b "Search the Canadian Geographical Names Database (CGNDB)". Government of Canada. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  53. ^ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (municipalities), New Brunswick". Statistics Canada. 9 February 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  54. ^ "2021 Community Profiles". 2021 Canadian census. Statistics Canada. 4 February 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
  55. ^ "2016 Community Profiles". 2016 Canadian census. Statistics Canada. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  56. ^ "2011 Community Profiles". 2011 Canadian census. Statistics Canada. 21 March 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  57. ^ a b Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census
  58. ^ "Census Profile, 2016 Census: Campobello Island, Rural community [Census subdivision]". Statistics Canada. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
[edit]
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