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Down East Maine/ By Nancy and Richard Woodworth Franklin Delano Roosevelt chose to build his summer home on Campobello, his beloved island. The titans of Canadian industry turned St. Andrews-by-the-Sea into eastern Canada’s most posh summer resort. And sea captains, fishermen and sardine packers fished for a living around Lubec and Eastport, the smallest “city” in the United States. The two-nation wonderland where easternmost Maine meets southwestern New Brunswick is undeniably remote – a mixed blessing – and incredibly picturesque. Naturalists call it the last coastal frontier on America’s East Coast. Although linked geographically and by water, each section of the Quoddy Region has its own distinctive aura. Eastport, on a hilly peninsula called Moose Island overlooking Passamaquoddy Bay, is America's easternmost city (population, 2,000). It was considered a sister port to Boston by seagoing travelers during the 19th century and, along with Lubec across the bay, boomed as a fishing and sardine-packing town in its heyday. After decades of decline, both now are making a comeback of sorts with port and marina facilities and a growing aquaculture industry. Two miles across the bay but 38 miles away by road, Lubec (accent second syllable, as in Quebec), is perched European-style on a hilltop, standing out like a beacon for miles around. Lubec is the closest American point to Campobello Island, famed for the Roosevelt summer home and 2,600 acres of nature preserves in the unique Roosevelt Campobello International Park. Although part of New Brunswick, its proximity and American ties ally Campobello in spirit more with Lubec, just a short bridge’s length across the Lubec Narrows, than either Eastport – to which FDR and Eleanor used to go by boat to shop – or St. Andrews. Ah, St. Andrews. The Canadian among us will forever cherish the summer days (and nights) she spent as a teenager with a friend whose family owned a house in St. Andrews, long a low-key watering hole for old-money Canadians and knowing Americans. Indeed, she so loves the town that she acquired a water-view townhouse there in which to relive summer memories and prepare for retirement. The town, settled in 1783 by British Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution, still looks and feels much as it did in her youth. But change is well under way with the opening of deluxe inns, fine restaurants and the world-class Kingsbrae Garden, along with a much-heralded upgrading of the championship Algonquin golf course. Granted, this area is way Down East. But the trip is worth it and, once here, you’ll want to stay. So allow time to complete the Quoddy Loop. Tour the Roosevelt home at Campobello. Eat lobster on the Eastport wharf. Luxuriate in a sumptuous inn in St. Andrews. Explore the craggy coastline. Savor an area of earthy (and watery) pleasures. Watch the monumental tides rising and falling up to 26 feet a day, ebbing and flowing with life in a quieter time and place.
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