Cove, the road to which branches off from Head Harbor road. There is no
place on the Island equal to this for surprises. When the fog is "in"
half of it is non-existent, as it were. At high tide you see an island
which you cannot reach by carriage. At low tide you urge your horse up a
short, pebbly beach, down into the water, and up on to an island. By
permission of its occupant, you drive through his land out into a broad
green field, with the Bay of Fundy fronting you, and the Wolves looking
hopelessly lonely. Give a whole day to the weird and sunny beauty of the
cove and its nooks.
=Nancy Head.= Between Mill and Schooner Coves are the White Rocks and
Nancy Head, so called from a ship that was wrecked there.
=Schooner Cove.= Schooner Cove is another surprise, but a single one.
After you have reached it, put on your rubbers and take the mile walk to
the left along the cliffs. Ten years ago it was the most solemn trail
that you could follow. Now, as civilization has come nearer, and
sunlight has penetrated it, the grey moss hangs less heavily from the
close branches, leafless even in summer, while the water dashes up over
the rocks on the other side of the narrow path. On the right of the cove
go with care, and at your peril, over the headlands, along the coves,
and in through the almost untrodden forest to Herring Cove.
Here is the longest beach in Campobello, with curiously tinted and
marked pebbles. It is but a mile through the woods, starting from the
Tyn-Y-Coed, and is the favorite walk and drive of all those who like
smooth and shady roads and an air laden with "spicy fragrance." On the
left is Eastern Head, never to be forgotten as a place of exploration,
with wonderful views from its points and down its ravines.
=Herring Cove.= A unique pleasure, which, though obtained by driving,
cannot properly be counted among the drives, is the visit at night to
Herring Cove, to see the men "driving the herring." Each wherry has a
ball of cotton wool, or a roll of bark, on a stick saturated with
kerosene, or else it is put into an iron cradle fastened to an iron
pole. As the cotton or bark burns, the moving boats look like a fitful
procession of lights. The brightness attracts the herring, and, as one
man rows, while another "drives," the nets are hauled up full of
wriggling, shining fish.
Lake Glen Severn, so called after the Owen place in Wales, is separated
by a short bridge from the high beach before it slopes down to the
water.
=Meadow Brook Cove.= Beyond Herring Cove is Meadow Brook Cove, an ideal
place for the scene of a summer idyl. Into it runs a tiny brook which
starts somewhere near the head of Havre de Lutre, marking the division
which once took place in the Island, according to geologists. The ruins
of a stone wall which runs along the brook are no longer supposed to
have been built by the Northmen, for the Admiral erected it as part of
his scheme in draining the meadow.
Branching off from the Herring Cove Road is the Fitz-William road, where
many lots have been sold, and also the road to Raccoon Beach. This drive
is along another wonderful tangle of forest skirted by beaches. It leads
to Liberty Point, the cable line from Welsh Pool to Grand Manan passing
by it, on to Skillet Cove, where there is a split rock, on again to Owen
Head, desolate and vengeful in its height, down to Chalybeate Spring,--a
fortune for the future,--across beaches too rough for a single team with
four people, to Cranberry Point, and back to where you started. At Deep
Cove, near the Point, is a rock bearing pronounced glacial marks. Take
the drive at low tide, and feel its gloom, with the fog drifting across
your face. Take it at high tide, on a sunny morning, and feel its
cheerfulness.
Once more drive down to the Narrows, past the cottages; stop at Friar's
Head, whose Indian name was _Skedapsis_, the Stone Manikin. Go to the
pagoda-like structure on top of the hill, climb down its side, and at
low tide go walk between the Friar and the hill; then at high tide
wonder how you ever did it. Retrace your steps. Go along the road, past
Snug Cove and the schoolhouse, till you come to the Narrows, where runs
the swift current which only the experienced boatman can cross in his
flat-bottomed boat, that carries alike the passenger or his horse, or
brings over from Lubec the funeral hearse.
Yet these are not all the drives. Subdivisions of them lead you into
marshes, plains, and woods, though they are preferable as bridle paths
or walks. They began as cow-paths, and may end as country roads.
Adventures can still be sought over dangerous cliffs. It is more than
easy to get lost in the woods. Still, no matter where you go, you cannot
help coming out somewhere near water and a fisherman's hut; for
Campobello,--in Indian dialect _Ebauhuit_, signifying by or near the
mainland,--having an area of twenty square miles, and a circumference of
twenty-five miles, is ten miles long and two to three miles wide.
Remember in all these drives to turn to the left, and when you walk not
to be afraid of cows.
Perhaps it is the water excursions which render Campobello most famous.
Among these is the sail to St. Andrews, which offers modern Wedgewood
ware for sale, and where is the far-famed Algonquin Hotel and Cobscook
Mountain. The West Isles and Le Tete Canal make another pleasant sail.
To go around the Island on a calm day is delightful. Very exquisite in
its limited beauty is the sail up St. George's River, the trees on
either side arching their branches over the little steamer. St. George's
Falls and the stone quarry should also be visited on landing at the
pier.
=Johnson's Bay.= For a short outing, row across Friar's Bay to Johnson's
Bay; climb the little hill to the pleasant, neat, and hospitable
farm-house; go through a grove to the wooden look-out, and clamber
upwards. For wondrous beauty of beach and land-locked bay, of great
headlands and brown hay-cocks, of the mystery of nature's secretiveness
in South Bay, the view is unsurpassed.
=South Bay.= Then, inspired by its loveliness, come home to the hotel,
engage Tomar and his canoes, paddle across the wide bay, and in and out
of the islands and crannies of South Bay, the happiest, sunniest,
cosiest bay on the Maine coast. Go through the canal at high tide;
paddle everywhere around till the tide turns, and you can pass back
through this narrow and again water-filled canal into Friar's Bay, the
cottages at Campobello serving as guide in steering the homeward course.
=The Tides.= But truly there never is any guide among the tides and
currents setting in from the different islands and headlands save that
of correct knowledge of their ways. To lose an oar in these waters might
mean drifting for hours; and then if the fog sets in! That fog, which is
the basis of conversation on first acquaintance, the spoiler of picnics,
and the promoter of a beauty of landscape so infinite and varied that
one only wonders how any summer place can be without it.
=Dennysville.= Yet, if any one chances to feel that he is too much a
part of the fog in a row-boat, take the little steamer to Dennysville.
The ebb and flow along the coast in this region is so marked, that in
going up the Denny River the pilot carefully guides the steamer through
the whirlpools and maelstroms, which are dangerous only in winter. The
river grows very narrow, till at its source it seems to be set in meadow
lands, along which one wanders, through the quiet village roads,--for
the town is fifty miles from any railroad,--trying to comprehend why
anybody should forsake a spot so soothing to the spirit and so simple in
its loveliness for the confusion of city life.
=Grand Manan.= Of all the water excursions that to Grand Manan is by far
the most rich in reward. The best way is to take the steamer Flushing,
which runs three times a week from Campobello to Grand Manan, and spend
two nights and one day there,--longer, if you wish. There is little fear
of sea-sickness on board the big steamer. The extraordinary cliffs and
the sixteen-mile drive to Southern Head are scenes never to be
forgotten, but which beggar words to describe. The sternness of nature
stands here revealed, and the moans of the sea-gulls tell of even their
need of sympathy.
=The Friar.= Beside these cliffs the noted one of the Friar at
Campobello seems comparatively short; yet it is the prominent rock of
the Island as one approaches it, and its importance is increased by the
legendary lore that has gathered around it. Mr. Charles G. Leland tells
the story in this wise:--
"Once there was a young Indian who had married a wife of great beauty,
and they were attached to each other by a wonderful love. They lived
together on the headland which rises so boldly and beautifully above the
so-called Friar. Unfortunately her parents lived with the young married
couple, and acted as though they were still entitled to all control over
her. One summer the elder couple wished to go up the St. John River,
while the young man was determined to remain on Passamaquoddy Bay. Then
the parents bade the daughter to come with them, happen what might. She
wished to obey her husband, yet greatly feared her father, and was in
dire distress. Now the young man grew desperate. He foresaw that he must
either yield to the parents--which all his Indian stubbornness and sense
of dignity forbade--or else lose his wife. Now, he was _m'te[=u]lin_,
and, thinking that magic could aid him, did all he could to increase his
supernatural power. Then, feeling himself strong, he said to his wife
one morning, 'Sit here until I return.' She said, 'I will,' and obeyed.
But no sooner was she seated than the _m'te[=u]lin_ spell began to work,
and she, still as death, soon hardened into stone. Going to the point of
land directly opposite, over the bay, the husband called his friends,
with his father-in-law and mother-in-law, and told them that he was
determined never to part from his wife nor to lose sight of her for an
instant to the end of time, and yet withal they would never quit
Passamaquoddy. On being asked sneeringly by his wife's father how he
would effect this, he said: 'Look across the water. There sits your
daughter, and she will never move. Here am I gazing on her. Farewell!'
And as he spoke the hue of stone came over his face, and in a few
minutes he was a rock. And there they stood for ages, until, some years
ago, several fishermen, prompted by the spirit which moves the
Anglo-Saxon everywhere to wantonly destroy, rolled the husband with
great effort into the bay. As for the bride, she still exists as the
Friar; although she has long been a favorite object for artillery
practice by both English and American vandal captains, who have thus
far, however, only succeeded in knocking off her head."
=Tomar.= Many an Indian legend of doubtful authority still clings to
various points on the Island; yet only the Indians themselves are
persistent and real. Each summer day they bring their baskets for sale.
Tomar, at one time governor of his tribe, on a small salary with large
work to do, is one of the few thoroughbred Indians who still live in
this region. He is a man of integrity, skill, and gentleness. Each
visitor is eager to gain his companionship and guidance in his canoe, as
he paddles into nooks where one less experienced might hesitate to
penetrate. Greater than his skill in paddling is Tomar's ingenuity in
scraping pictures on birch bark symbolical of Indian life.
=His Tribe.= The Passamaquoddy Indians, or Openangoes, were a branch of
the Etechemin nation, and apparently of comparatively recent origin.
Their earliest village near Campobello was at Joe's Point, near St.
Andrews. The majority of the remnants of the tribe are found at Pleasant
Point, near Eastport, at Peter Dana's Point, near Princeton, and at The
Camps, on the border of Calais. Their language is fast dying out; but
their traditions and customs have been carefully studied and collected
largely by Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, of Calais, and also by Professor J.
Walter Fewkes, who has taken down on the wax cylinders of the phonograph
many of their songs and stories.
The following original poem by one of the tribe was written for a sale
that was held on August, 1883, for the benefit of a new rectory on the
Island, in which Miss Lucy Derby was interested, and through whose
efforts the rectory was built, the Company giving the land.
AMWES-WINTO-WAGEN.
Amwezik 'klithwon ya skedabe zogel;
Skedap tatchuwi melan kekouse kiziolgweh.
Ulzee-ik 'lee madjhe goltook kizosook;
Tatchuuwi tewebn'm nenwel kthlee-tahazoo wagenen woolsum'kik.
Piyemee absegekook beskwaswesuk tchicook
Pemee woolip p'setawkqu'm'see you wen.
P'skedab tatchuwe oolazoo weeahl m'pseeoo-wenil.
Amwess ooktee-in aboozek;
Uppes kootee-in hedlegit;
Beskwas'wess lookquem hahze;
Nojeemeeko gemit chooiwigeou:
Weejokegem wee you'h.
Piel John Gabriel kweezee-toon yoot lin to wagun.
Kee zee skee jin wih tun;
Whu-titli keezeetoon Ebawg'hwit,
We jee kissi tahzik wenoch chigwam.
N'paowlin kweezee Iglesmani tun.
THE SONG OF THE BEES.
The bees make honey for man;
Man should give something to God.
The trees lift their tops to the sun;
We should lift up our hearts to our father.
The smallest flower in the forest
Gives out a perfume for all.
Man should do good unto all men.
The bee has a tree (for a home);
The tree has a place to grow;
The flower has a stem;
The clergyman must have a house:
May this song help it.
Peter John Gabriel made this song.
He made it in Indian;
He made it in Campobello (the island by the shore),
To help to build the house.
[1] N'pow-o-lin (the scholar, or man learned in mysteries) put it
into English.
[1] MR. CHARLES G. LELAND.
=The Fenians.= Among the Islanders are many whom it is delightful to
know. They are all interested in affairs of church, school, and state,
and eager for the future commercial prosperity of the Island. Excitement
in local politics often runs high, but only once--in 1886--has there
been resort to arms. Then the Fenians were at Eastport and Lubec. From
the latter place some came over to low water mark, but were driven back
"by the shine of the rifles"; for Captain Luke Byron, with one hundred
and fifty Islanders, duly equipped, was stationed at the Narrows, Havre
de Lutre, and Wilson's Beach. Though the Fenians were at Eastport but
little more than a month, the Campobello committee of safety remained on
guard three months. But when an English man-of-war came into the harbor,
the Fenians, to avoid capture, sank their own vessel off the Narrows,
beyond the lighthouse, and escaped themselves towards Machias.
=Climate.= The summer climate of Campobello is cool and delightful, the
thermometer ranging between fifty-five and seventy-five degrees; so one
can be outdoors all day long without becoming oppressed by the heat. The
extensive forests of balsamic firs seem to affect the atmosphere,
soothing and invigorating the visitor by day, and inviting sleep by
night.
=Water.= The greater part of the Island is fertile. The common field and
garden plants and vegetables grow abundantly, while the deep layer of
drift gravel affords excellent well water at almost all points. The
water supply for the hotels and cottages is, however, brought in pipes
from distant springs, and filters itself by passing through a natural
reservoir of sand.
=Soil.= The soil consists of a light clayey loam. "The general surface
of the Island is marked by the sharply curved contours characteristic of
all glaciated regions, where the rocks are of unequal hardness covered
over by a deep bed of soil composed of the drift waste. This soil
consists of a light clayey loam of rather remarkable fertility."--says
Professor Shaler. "The greater part of the trees are evergreen,
belonging to two species of fir and two of spruce. Scattered among them
are the common species of birch, poplar, the common red beech, and in
open swampy places the alder," which spreads with amazing rapidity.
=Flowers.= Wild Roses, varying in color from the palest pink to an
almost magenta red, cover whole fields with their frail beauty. In the
grass and round the ledges about Friar's Head the Campanula droops its
blue bell. The Blue Iris skirts the borders of Lake Glen Severn. The
Field Daisy, Sea-side Buttercup, the Marsh Pea, the Fall Dandelion, and
the Sheep Laurel, spread themselves over the pastures in processions of
color. The Wood Oxalis, its white petals veined with pink, and the
Linnaea or Twinflower, are found half concealed beneath the underbrush of
the woods. Among the rarer flowers of the Island is the Alpine Cloud
Berry, or Amber Colored Raspberry, found on the Alpine summits of the
White Mountains and on the Northeast Coast, which is the same as the
Norwegian species. The Corn Chamomile, a rare weed, and the Wild
Chamomile, both of which are naturalized from Europe, are found here,
but chiefly around Eastport. The aromatic Wintergreen is the real
Checkerberry, in Maine called the Trory Plum. The lovely Eyebright is
found only along the coast of Maine and Canada; its Alpine form is rare.
There are many varieties of Orchids, Asters, and Goldenrod, of
Primroses, Honeysuckle, Heath, and of Lilies, from the Trillium or
Trinity Flower to the two-leaved Solomon's Seal.
The wild strawberry in July, and the blueberries and raspberries in
August, and the small cranberry in September, give occupation to the
children, whose prices for berries are variable.
In the waters around the Island there "is a richer animal and vegetable
life than is found along any other part of our shore."
=Dispute about Names of Rivers.= These waters have been the subject of
constant litigation from early days. According to the oldest maps, the
present St. Croix River was called Magaguadavic, and the Schoodic River,
the Passamaquoddy; a name applied not alone to that River, but to the
bays of Schoodick, St. Andrews, Cobscook, the waters from around Head
Harbor (Campobello), to West Quoddy, etc., on account of the great
number of pollock taken in these waters. The Magaguadavic received its
present name of St. Croix from a cross erected there by the French,
before there were any English settlers in its neighborhood. The dispute
concerning the identity of these rivers, interesting as an historical
matter, has not the political importance which attaches to the
settlement of the boundary line between the American and English
possessions.
=Boundary Line.= This line goes out "between Deer Island and Campobello,
so as to give the United States equal access through the main channel to
the sea, and then remands Campobello into British territory," for, by
the treaty of 1783, all islands heretofore within the jurisdiction of
Nova Scotia were to remain British territory.
=The Owen.= All this now is a matter of almost antiquarian concern, the
present interest centering in the development of the Island as a summer
resort. In 1881 it was purchased of the Owen heirs by a few New York and
Boston gentlemen, who organized the Campobello Land Company. The Owen
was at once built upon the site of Admiral Owen's private domain. Part
of this dwelling house was moved across the gravelled walk to serve as
an office for the Company and in it were placed the Owen relics. The
rest of the house was left unaltered, the lower rooms serving as hotel
offices and the upper ones as chambers. The following year a larger
dining room for the hotel was constructed, William G. Preston being
employed as architect of the whole structure.
=Tyn-Y-Coed.= In 1882 the Tyn-Y-Coed was opened, in 1883 the Tyn-Y-Maes,
both erected under the supervision of Cummings and Sears, of Boston.
=Cottages.= The first cottages which were finished in 1884 were those of
James Roosvelt, Esq., of New York, and Samuel Wells, Esq., of Boston.
Dr. Russell Sturgis, of Boston, Travers Cochran, Esq., of Philadelphia,
Alexander Porter, Esq., and Gorham Hubbard, Esq., of Boston, Alfred
Pell, Esq., of New York, have each successively built summer residences
on the Island.
In 1892 The Owen and its adjacent land and Man-of-War Neck were sold to
some Boston gentlemen, who intend to manage the Owen as a summer hotel.
* * * * *
Each year the place becomes better known, but those who early made it
their summer home have stamped upon it, it is hoped, that simplicity in
manner of living which will prevent it from ever becoming either a place
for picnics or a fashionable resort. It can never lose the picturesque
beauty and the exhilarating climate which make it a most beautiful
summer sojurn from May to November, for the autumn months are as
glorious in clearness of atmosphere as the early summer months are
lovely in their softness of verdure and coloring, while the sunsets
always kindle the imagination into visions of the future.
Transcriber Notes:
Text in bold is enclosed by equal signs (=bold=), and Text in small caps
is replaced by all caps (ALL CAPS).
Throughout the book, the current town of Welshpool was referred to as
Welch Pool. A review of the internet reveals that this alternative
spelling has often been used.
On page 13, the phrase "had do other" was replaced with "had no other".
On page 17, "March, 28, 1789" was replaced with "March 28, 1789".
Starting on page 21, there is a section labeled "Nomination Day" which
has an extended quotation starting in the middle of the first paragraph
and continuing to the end of the section. That quotation had markers at
the beginning of the paragraph and at the end, but not at the start of
each paragraph within the quotation. The quotation marks were not
modified to current usage.
On page 22, "descendant's" was replaced with "descendants".
On page 24, "arrrive" was replaced with "arrive".
On page 27, There is a missing closing quotation mark in the section on
Bishop Medley, but it is unclear where that mark goes.
On page 31, "with a a loving touch" was replaced with "with a loving
touch".
On page 37, "Head Habor" was replaced with "Head Harbor."
On page 41, there are two instances, there the character of a u with
macron was represented by "[=u]".
On page 47, "sojurn" is a simplified spelling of "sojourn".