Day 10 - Sep 8, 2014 Last updated: 9/20/14 5:00pm PT
Campobello Island was a summer retreat for the wealthy and important people of the Gilded Age. In 1881, a group of businessmen bought most of the island and built three luxury hotels to lure and sell land to wealthy Americans for summer homes. Back then you had to take a steamship from Bar Harbor, ME to get here.
Franklin D. Roosevelt first came to the island with his parents, as a one year old in 1883. He spent his summers on the island as a child and young man, but only a few times after he became president.
This is the FDR Cottage (it is very large), which was purchased in 1909 by FDR. The original cottage his parents owned is no longer standing.
The island isn’t all fancy upper crust anymore.
We drove around Campobello Island a bit. We stayed at the Whale Watch Motel, which had friendly and knowledgeable hosts. We weren’t staying very long, but we did try to see whales that were in the area recently. All we saw were harbour porpoises, and they were very far away.
Our next stop was the West Quoddy Head Light in Maine, the easternmost point in the contiguous US.
We tried east coast lobster rolls and weren’t impressed. We previously had lobster rolls in San Francisco, and they were served with warm lobster coated in butter and were very good. On the east coast, lobster rolls are cold lobster mixed with mayo on a toasted bun. Not as good.
Next up, Acadia National Park. We drove around Schoodic Point and Mount Desert Island. Schoodic Point had better views and none of it compares to our hometown. Guess I’m spoiled by the view of Puget Sound from the train on my commute to work.
From Cadillac Mountain, the first piece of land in the US that gets sunlight in the morning (fall and winter). It is named after a French explorer, not a car brand. And in my opinion, it is not a mountain (1500 feet).
Hometown view of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountain range. See the snow? That’s a mountain.
