Ministers Island, St. Andrews, NB

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Friday May 13, 2016 ...... Visiting Ministers Island just outside the town of St. Andrews-by-the-Sea

In 1790 Minister Andrew bought the island and built a house which parishioners visited when the tide made walking to the island possible. Reverend Andrew is long gone but the tides continue to come and go.

In 1891 Sir William van Horne bought a parcel of land and began building a summer place, Covenhoven, befitting a railroad mogul.



VAN HORNE, Sir WILLIAM CORNELIUS, railway builder and official, capitalist, and artist; b. 3 Feb. 1843 near Chelsea (Frankfort), Ill., eldest child of Cornelius Covenhoven Van Horne, a lawyer and farmer, and Mary Minier Richards.called upon Edward Maxwell of Montreal to design the house. Maxwell was instrumental in designing the CPR hotels and stations that were used as destinations by the patrons of the Canadian railroad system.



At Covenhoven “The most interesting of the auxiliary buildings is the barn that housed the CPR president’s prize herd of Dutch-belted cattle. The building is a three-storey structure fifty meters long, built on stone foundations. Conical roofs crown two projecting tall silos on the front. A shingled roof with flared gable ends was fitted with five air vents, and a wrought iron weather vane with a Belted cow. In 1906 Van Horne added other buildings which included a greenhouse, a peach house, and a cottage for the head gardener and his helpers. There are other significant auxiliary buildings including stables, garages, service buildings, and a remarkable water tower and a beach house. The latter was built next to a natural pool and the two-storey stone tower beach house was built on bedrock. It had a number of changing rooms on the ground level and a lounge or studio overlooking the lawns of the estate on the upper level. After Van Horn’s death in 1915, Covenhoven remained property of the family until 1961. It was bought and sold several times before the New Brunswick government purchased it, considering it a heritage site worthy of conservation.”



On May 13,2016 the lowest tide happens at 12:30 and one has to be off the island by 15:00.

I met a man called Mike who promised that if he still saw my van parked outside the gate of the property when he was going home, he would come look for me.



I had left the Apple Valley Cottage early and drove to the exposed strip of land that made visiting the island possible. On the way across I spoke to a man digging for clams with a big fork. He said that a clam had to be at least two and a half inches across to be put in the pail. Once an air hole was seen he found one or two clams each time he took a bite out of the wet black sand with his curved fork.

I approached the closed gate and some guy in a stripped stocking cap said no one was to enter.



I went back to the clam digger. He said, “That's ridiculous ...people go in there all the time.”



So back I went and boldly went ahead! The building visible from the gate turned out to be the barn built a little ways past the minister's stone house.

Mike the lawnmower guy had a key to the barn and he let me go inside and look at a magnificent structure that was used by Van Horne for dairy cows and prize horses. Produce from this country estate was shipped to his Montreal home.



After a three quarter mile walk past fields protected by electrical fencing on a road embraced by a continues low wall of piled rocks, the summer home designed by Maxwell came into sight. It has had numerous additions, so it no longer retains uncluttered easy flowing lines.



Because pictures were lying in crates on the floor the woman in charge could allow me in for a quick peak. The house was being readied for the May 20th opening of this summer's season. Mike the lawn man said that not too many people come to visit ...maybe 1400 ...is that possible? Better PR team seems necessary.



I walked all around and peaked in all the windows and took some shots of the interior. According to a woman I spoke to in St. Andrews all the furnishings had been auctioned off. Now some people are bringing back what belonged to the house. A sad story really. My peaks thru the windows did not reveal elaborateness.

I spotted the guy in his stocking cap and waved to him ,thru the window with a big smile on my face!



The last part of the estate to visit was the gardener's cottage and the green house structure. Part of the greenhouse was covered in plastic. Only the back wall was standing. After 100 years all the huge panes of window were gone. Of the window control system only rusty wheels and cranks remained.



Inside the stone enclosure raspberry bushes grew in rampant disorder.

A couple with their small boy were erecting a three meter plastic mesh to protect a small area that had been cleared in anticipation of a small garden. The fence was to keep out deer which apparently scale heights of up to eight feet to get at foodstuff ... they eat the raspberries!

in Van Hornes time a huge garden supplied his family home in Montreal with fresh produce including peaches and rhubarb and vegetables.



I walked back to the van, stopped and thanked the clam digger for sending me back and proceeded to the Algonquin Hotel. I deserved the 21$ clam chowder that came in a too small portioned bowl. The toast was good. The coffee mediocre. The service attentive. The hotel nice but not a colossal vow!







Bought a kale salad pouch and a whole bag of potatoes! They wanted 2.29/lb for lose ones ...no way!







Cleaned and organized the van because the sun was shining and the weather report predicted rain.







All in all a good day ... too bad the Atlantic Salmon Nature Centre is closed. I have seen the huge black rings where the salmon are farmed.



... but that's another story

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Photos

Back view of Covehoven
The summer place is named after Van Horne's father

The Barn
The silos were damaged in last winters storm but will be repaired this summer.

Bathhouse
A curving staircase led down and out to a small outside salt water pool. The bathhouse was built with red sandstone hewn from the shoreline.