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History

Samuel de Champlain

The first Europeans were most likely, Spanish, Portuguese or French fishermen who visited the island before 1607, when it appeared on a map made by the explorer Samuel de Champlain. He called it Port aux Coquilles, or "Isle of Clams." A few years earlier, Champlain and Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, had tried to establish a colony on nearby Dochets Island, which they named Isle Ste. Croix. King Henry IV of France had appointed de Monts his viceroy in Acadia - the area now called Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - and had given him a monopoly in the fur trade. De Monts settled on Isle Ste. Croix with 70 men in 1604-1605, but during the harsh winter 35 died.

The first Europeans known to have settled on Campobello were the Acadian family of Jean Sarreau, Sieur de St. Aubin. He was granted the seigniory of "Passamaquoddie" in 1684. He surrounded his house with a palisade. This period was a time of great struggle between France and England for control of North America. Acadia changed hands nine times in the 17th and 18th centuries. At intervals, the French and their Indian allies swept down from Acadia to raid outlying New England settlements. In 1710, the English won Acadia.

In 1767, British colonial authorities granted Campobello, the “outer island” of Passamaquoddy, to the Owen family, originally of Wales.  This seagoing family produced two British Admirals, mostly notably William Fitzwilliam Owen, who explored and charted much of South America, Africa, and the Great Lakes.  His house still stands at Welshpool, home village of the Lupine Lodge. As the Owens gave up their semi-feudal grip, fishing became and remained the mainstay industry of Campobello.  (Later, in the 20th century, islanders would pioneer fishing techniques using sonar, and would help develop salmon farming as a North American industry.)

In 1866, Irish-American Fenian raiders gathered at Eastport to attempt a raid on Campobello.  This came to nothing, as U.S. authorities stayed the raiders.  But the alarm caused by the potential attack helped prompt the province of New Brunswick to become a partner in the 1867 Confederation of the new country, Canada.

Tourism blossomed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Trains and coastal steamers bore rich American families to Campobello.  Many stayed at the large society hotels of the day; others set up private estates. 

The Roosevelt family built two large “cottages” on the island.  Franklin and Eleanor’s cottage serves as the centrepoint of the Roosevelt Campobello International Park, which covers the southern fifth of the island.  It is widely thought that Franklin Roosevelt’s boyhood adventures on the island, mingling on an equal basis with Campobello fishing families, helped develop his character and contributed to his warm relationship with the British Commonwealth, which in turn helped the Allies to victory in the Second World War.

The Roosevelts also befriended Tomah Joseph, a Passamaquoddy artist. Joseph lived on Campobello in the summertime and served as a fishing and canoe guide for "summer colony" residents . He became a close friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt and even made a birchbark canoe for him. (You can see the canoe today in the Roosevelt-Campobello International Park museum.)

In 1915, American engineer Dexter Cooper, came to the island. He developed a plan for using the tides to generate electric power through a series of dams and sea-gates. In 1935, Roosevelt allocated $10 million to the project, only to have it abandoned by the US Congress, which refused to advance further funds. You can still see a remnant of one of the dams between Treat Island and Dudley Island from the porch of the Lodge.