Campobello, the beloved isle of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (Weather conditions may affect the ferry schedule so check before you make final plans. A toll-free international bridge from Lubec, Maine, is an alternate route.) The 34-room Roosevelt cottage is the focal point of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park and Herring Cove (golf, lodge, campgrounds, beach, hiking.)
Located in the Bay of Fundy, northwest of Grand Manan, Campobello Island was originally known by the Passomoquoddy name Ebaghuit ("lying parallel to the land.") and later called "Great Island of the Passamoquoddy" by Captain Cyprian Southack in 1733. In 1770, a grant of the island was made to Captain William Owen (1737-1778) of the Royal Navy. Owen named the island in 1770. He later wrote:
"I renamed the island Campobello, the latter partly complimentary and punning on the name of the Governor of the Province, Lord William Campbell, and partly as applicable to the nature of the soil and fine appearance of the island, Campobello in Spanish and Italian being, I presume, synonymous to the French Beau-Champ."
Owen's illegitimate son, William Fitz-William Owen (1774-1857) became the proprietor of the island in 1835. A surveyor and hydrographer, his work in Canada included systematic surveys of the St. Lawrence River and lower Great Lakes. In his second career, Owen was elected to the New Brunswick Assembly. Historian Paul Cornell noted that Owen was "an exotic figure" who "looms larger than life in the island's oral tradition" and who, unlike most of his peers, was addicted to women rather than alcohol.
In the 20th century, the island became known as the summer residence of U.S. president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The island was purchased in 1879 by a group of New York and Boston entrepreneurs and was promoted as a summer resort for wealthy Americans. James Roosevelt (a vice president of Delaware and Hudson Railway) bought four acres and a partially completed house in 1883; the house was completed in 1885 and the Roosevelts - James, Sara Delano and young Franklin - became permanent summer residents. From 1883, when he was a year old, until he was stricken by polio in 1921, FDR spent most of his summers on the island. In 1910, Franklin Delano bought a larger house, where he and his wife Eleanor and their five children summered. FDR's last visit to the island was in 1936; he died in 1945.
If you're in search of information concerning the Maine State Ferry Service,
up-to-date schedules are available 24 hours, toll-free at: 1-800-521-3939.
Messages are updated whenever changes in schedules or vessles are made.
1-800-521-3939
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Campobello Island
