The charms of Saint John

Walk on the ocean’s floor, learn about the man who built Canada’s railway and immerse yourself in nature in southern New Brunswick

The folks in Saint John, N.B., like to lay claim to many firsts, and becoming the first incorporated city — in 1785 — in what is now Canada is one of them.

It’s a worthy claim, and if you check the records you’ll find that none other than Samuel de Champlain helped make Saint John the first permanent European settlement in the area even earlier — in 1604. He named it Saint John because he arrived there on June 24, Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day.

“I just love Saint John,” says Catrina Russell, public programmer with the New Brunswick Museum, who takes me on a walking tour of the city. “There are so many firsts and it’s so interesting.”

Nestled on the southern coast of New Brunswick, Saint John is the only city on the Bay of Fundy and the water feeds the Saint John River and the Kennebecasis River. About 130,000 people live in the city, which has the largest working port by volume in Eastern Canada and is not without its charms.

Russell points out that Partridge Island just off the coast was the first port of call for thousands of Irish immigrants escaping the potato famine in the mid-1800s. It was actually the first quarantine station in North America and began operating as such in 1785 — more than 100 years before Ellis Island. Russell explains how the ship captains used to line up the island’s lighthouse and the city’s church steeples to navigate.

As we wander through the downtown, we pass handsome, stone buildings, many with grotesques carved into them. Here you can see the former site of the Bank of New Brunswick, the first chartered bank in North America, which was established in 1820. Russell explains the area was largely rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1877, which burned down 1,600 buildings in nine hours.

Russell, a geology grad who likes to think in terms of millions of years, lights up when we come to the New Brunswick Museum, which traces its roots to 1842 and just happens to be Canada’s oldest, continuously operating museum. Here you’ll find everything from the Marco Polo’s anchor (the famous ship was built in the city), to the oldest articulated shark fossil in the world, which is 395 million years old.

The museum gives insight into the geological wonders of the area, which led to the region’s recent designation as home to North America’s first UNESCO Global Geopark. Stonehammer Geopark, as it’s known, spans one-10th of the province and includes several areas that are easy for tourists to visit.

To really understand the geological significance of the area, though, it is best to explore outdoors. Saint John has two wonderful parks. Rockwood Park and Irving Nature Park offer great trails and show off the mixed landscape, which includes volcanic rock, primordial forest and even a tidal salt marsh.

Of course, one of the most remarkable geographical features of the Bay of Fundy is that it’s home to the highest tides in the world. Twice a day, 160 billion tonnes of sea water rush into the bay and push water in the Saint John River 95 kilometres north to the provincial capital, Fredericton.

That’s more water than all of the freshwater rivers in the world and enough water to fill the Grand Canyon — twice. The force of it is so great that when the water rushes in during high tide it creates Class-4 rapids (suitable for advanced paddlers), and Class-5 rapids (for experts) when it rushes back out to sea for the low tide. Needless to say, this attracts daredevil kayakers looking for a challenge. You can watch all of this safely from Fallsview Park.

Another good viewing spot in Saint John is the Reversing Falls Skywalk. The newly renovated facility, perched on a cliff-top above the water, just reopened this autumn. Here, you can watch a short video about the falls, visit the restaurant, or walk to a lower viewing area to see the tidal effects.

It’s also a great geological site because the Caledonia fault line runs through it and, due to plate tectonics or the shifting of the Earth’s surface, you can see two ancient continents here. On one side of the fault line there’s dark Cambrian rock from ancient Africa that dates back about 500 million years.

On the other side there’s light grey Precambrian rock, which came from ancient South America and dates back about one billion years.

“Everywhere you turn around there are different time periods and rocks, right here in southern New Brunswick,” says Wanda Hughes, programming manager for Stonehammer Geopark.

New Brunswick is also home to the Acadian Forest, which has more than 60 species of trees, including sugar maple, yellow birch and red oak. The hardwood trees, in particular, are stunningly beautiful — especially in the autumn. And the drive to the village of St. Martins, 54 km east of Saint John, is splendid.

There, I paddled out to a sandy beach, admiring the cliffs and the stunning scenery with a small group led by Mike Carpenter, of Red Rock Adventure. Although we were only gone for about two hours, the tides rose more than two metres and we had to pull the boats ashore at a different location than from where we launched.

The coastline is beautiful. It’s very peaceful, rural and scenic, with a lighthouse and a scattering of homes on the hillside.

It’s quite a different scene in Saint Andrews, which is a National Historic District about 100 km west of Saint John.

Saint Andrews, with a population of about 1,890, is one of the country’s first summertime seaside resorts. Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution shipped 300 of their homes here and established the town in 1783. About six of those homes and many buildings predating 1880 still remain.

The main strip on Water Street features buildings with facades from the 1800s. There are tales of smuggling during Prohibition in the United States; and of Eleanor Roosevelt coming to buy her wool here; and of Prince Charles visiting with his then-wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1983.

It’s also a place to enjoy a round of golf, water sports or whale-watching.

I went whale-watching on Jolly Breeze, a 72-foot (22-metre) tall ship. It’s an easy and comfortable way to travel and a hit with children — who can dress up in pirate gear, enjoy face-painting and learn more about sea creatures, thanks to the fresh, on-board show-and-tell tank. On my trip, we got to see and touch everything from sea urchins to lobsters.

More adventurous travellers who are willing to get wet can take Zodiacs to get up close and personal with whales. From June to October, the area is home to minke, finback, humpback and right whales. As a bonus, you might also see dolphins, seals and porpoises.

Back on land, you can’t miss the Tudorstyle Algonquin Resort. It’s a fantastic building, the gateway to the town and one of the early Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) properties.

Rossmount Inn, a three-storey manor house with 18 guest rooms, is also noteworthy. Not only does it have 87 acres (35 hectares) of beautiful grounds and walking trails, but chef Chris Aerni’s menu, featuring fresh, seasonal and local ingredients, is outstanding.

And if you time your visit to Saint Andrews just right (meaning check the tide tables), you can walk, bike or drive across the ocean floor to Ministers Island.

This is where Sir William Van Horne, the master builder of the CPR, built his 50-room summer home. Van Horne built the railway that connected the country from coast-tocoast in less than half the 10 years he’d been given to complete the project — and under budget. It was finished in 1885.

You can explore all of Ministers Island, Van Horne’s home and learn more about the Renaissance man, who also helped design and build landmarks such as Le Château Frontenac hotel in Quebec City and the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alta.

Van Horne also built railways in Cuba and Guatemala.

In his spare time, he collected fossils, played the violin, and painted and collected art (much of which is in Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts).

“Nothing is too small to know and nothing too big to attempt,” according to Van Horne’s writing.

I couldn’t help wondering what he would have done to mark Canada’s 150th birthday — perhaps he would have taken a simple walk down the Confederation trail in Rockwood Park. It marks the path he helped to build.

In 1867, when New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and Ontario originally joined together to form a country, they were promised a railway. Little did they know, by 1871, British Columbia would join Confederation.

And the last spike would be nailed in the railway in Craigellachie, B.C. on Nov. 7, 1885, thanks in large part to New Brunswick’s Van Horne.

The writer was a guest of Tourism New Brunswick. The organization did not review this article.

The coastline is beautiful. It’s very peaceful, rural and scenic, with a lighthouse and a scattering of homes on the hillside.