Saint John, New Brunswick

Today we drove from Bangor, Maine (A) to Saint John, New Brunswick (B), a drive of just over three hours. The city of Saint John is on the southern edge of the province, where the 400 mile long Saint John River flows into the Bay of Fundy. (Click on any image to enlarge.)

The Bay of Fundy is famous for its high tides, and Saint John is known for the Reversing Falls on the Saint John River caused by those tides:

We did not see the Reversing Falls in action. The Saint John River was too swollen with water from snowmelt and spring rains for the usual effect.

The Reversing Falls occur in a short, narrow gorge and immediately upstream from the gorge. It is a significant tourist attraction, as can be inferred from the sign above. However, we were there before the tourist season had begun and no tourist attractions were open except the outdoor parks on either side of the river—Wolastoq Park and Fallsview Park. A restaurant on the gorge was under renovation; the photo above shows a construction trailer behind the sign.

Below is a view of the gorge from Wolastoq Park on the south side of the river. Spanning the gorge are a highway bridge on the right and a railway bridge to its left. The tourist sign, construction trailer and restaurant are visible at the near end of the highway bridge. The river flows from left to right in this photo:

When open, the restaurant at the Reversing Falls will include a skywalk. The photo below is looking up at the skywalk and restaurant from the south bank of the river:

Wolastoq Park is on a small hill on the south side of the river. Wolastoq (“the beautiful river”) was the name of the river in the language of the Native Americans. The park has great views and contains a dozen or more large wooden statues of figures that are significant in the history of Saint John.

One of the statues in Wolastoq Park is Samuel de Champlain, who in 1604 on his second voyage to the New World as a mapmaker for King Henry IV of France, sailed into the river (as far as the Reversing Falls) on June 24. That is the feast day of Saint John the Baptist, hence the current name of the river and the city. Below is the statue of Champlain:

Another statue in the park is Benedict Arnold, who lived in Saint John for a few years after he wore out his welcome in the American Colonies. He became disliked in Saint John as well, and left for England in 1791. Saint John was a popular city for refugee loyalists from the new United States following the American Revolution.

Wolastoq Park was created in 2004 and is maintained by J.D. Irving Limited, named for James Durgavel (J.D.) Irving, who started business with a sawmill in Bouctouche, NB in 1882. His son Kenneth Colin (K.C.) Irving (1899-1992) built the Irving companies into a formidable business empire. In 1998 Maclean's Magazine named K.C. Irving the most influential Canadian businessman of the 20th century. Below is the statue of K.C. Irving in Wolastoq Park:

Fallsview Park is on the other side of the river, a short ways upstream from the railway bridge. It is one of the best places to view the Reversing Falls. Directly across the river from Fallsview Park is Union Point which has been a site for various mills since the 1830s. The current mill is a pulp mill belonging to the Irving companies. Below is the mill from Wolastoq Park:

In colonial times, Britain and France fought bitterly over eastern Canada. Britain won control over all of Canada in 1763 at the conclusion of the Seven Years War (what we in the U.S. call the French and Indian War), but there remains a significant French influence in many parts of Canada. Both the English and French languages are used by the Canadian federal government, but most provinces privilege one language over the other. The province of Quebec privileges French. Most provinces privilege English. New Brunswick is the only one of the ten Canadian provinces to treat the French and English languages exactly equal. This was evident in all the signs we saw.