October 2-3 Saint John and Saint Martin

The Irving Paper Mill at Reversing Falls

Saint Martin Harbor at low tide

Saint John is one of the oldest cities in Canada, Champlain surveyed the area in the 1650s.  Through multiple skirmishes the Brits who had settled Nova Scotia  across the bay wrested St John and the rest of New Brunswick from the French.  Saint John became important when the loyalists who were being kicked out of New England, after our revolution, needed a place to stay.  Saint John and New Brunswick took in all those Englishmen who didn’t want to live in the United States.  In the 1860s, a flood of Irish came to escape the Irish famine and changed the culture somewhat from Baptist- Anglican to Catholic

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Today Saint John looks and feels like a company town.  It looks a bit run down, most of the houses could use a coat of paint, the yards are not as pristine, and the town has that industrial look.  The Irving  Family owns just about everything, and they should.  They own and operate the oil refinery, the Irving gas stations,  the LPG shipping port and distribution facility, the paper mill, and the rail road.  I’m not sure if there is any industry here that they don’t control, and it is still privately held.  The tour guide was very positive about their contributions to the community, but having traveled through the rest of the well scrubbed and manicured communities in NB, Saint John looks a little rough around the edges.

Saint Martin is a little fishing village northwest of Saint John and boasts of covered bridges and white churches, and white houses with black storm windows.  Every house sits on at least an acre of land with a perfectly mowed lawn all the way to the road side.  We arrived at low tide and all the lobster boats were sitting in the mud, the harbor was completely devoid of water, save for the little flow of fresh water from the stream flowing into the bay.  The tourists were out walking on the rocky beaches marveling at the low tide.  We dined at the beachside restaurant having the world famous seafood chowder.

Spooky house in Saint John