Living by the St. John River
by David Smith
We overlook Caton’s Island, where years ago Mr. Howard Robinson used to plant non-native trees from all over the world and where ducks used to gather in clouds during the northern flight migrations each fall, which made him make the island into a Federal Waterfowl Sanctuary. D’Arcy Brown, the caretaker who lived in the white house on the mainland bank, (demolished) would handle the motor boat and scow and bring people and animals to and fro from the Island. Each day Mr. Robinson would be driven into Saint John to the Telephone Company and the Telegraph Journal by George Hector who played the banjo and lived in Gagetown. George was always a pleasant and polite fellow, even to those who were just casual friends. And I remember how excited we were when we found a deposit of “fool’s gold” on the north side of the island, where there was a white bench on a sand beach to sit and rest and look up river. We were always intrigued at the Historical Society’s cairn that reminded us of the original French settlers, Robert Grave who built his trading post to trade with the Indians. There was another trading post at a later date off Anderson’s Point and also one on Oak Point. The book, ‘Caton’s Island’ by James A. Fraser C.S.A gives a detailed account of the settlement of the Island from the earliest French traders up through all the English owners by the grant system until Mr. Robinson and Mr. Parker. A friend, who was a boy soldier during the War, and was stationed on Chesley Street attending classes at the Vocational School, purchased a metal detector and found many foreign coins around the Oak Point trading post. These included coins used locally plus Spanish doubloons and other strange currency.
After we came down here in 1958, the Island appeared to me as a place of great potential. Mr. Hardy Parker of Welsford owned it then and I was interested in buying it for our residence. Mr. Parker offered me the Island for $l00,000, but I found the price too high for me at that time. Since then I have reflected on the problems of winter access across the ice, young children growing up there and the difficulty of weekly shopping. D’Arcy told me that the land was quite arable and would easily support a large vegetable garden. I was particularly taken with the house that Mr. Robinson had built and felt that the other rebuilt house that was located behind the cairn would give us the space we thought we needed.
Up at Evandale, the old Eveleigh Hotel has just re-opened and they are serving breakfast all day, large beef or chicken dinners with all the fixin’s in their hotel dining room and they even have a “burger bar” for quick lunches. While on the lawn they have a swimming pool instead of swimming off the Evandale Wharf, like guests have done for years. Today, most guests arrive by car, whereas years ago they would arrive by sailboats and launches or the river boats. There was also daily train and bus service.
We overlook Caton’s Island, where years ago Mr. Howard Robinson used to plant non-native trees from all over the world and where ducks used to gather in clouds during the northern flight migrations each fall, which made him make the island into a Federal Waterfowl Sanctuary. D’Arcy Brown, the caretaker who lived in the white house on the mainland bank, (demolished) would handle the motor boat and scow and bring people and animals to and fro from the Island. Each day Mr. Robinson would be driven into Saint John to the Telephone Company and the Telegraph Journal by George Hector who played the banjo and lived in Gagetown. George was always a pleasant and polite fellow, even to those who were just casual friends. And I remember how excited we were when we found a deposit of “fool’s gold” on the north side of the island, where there was a white bench on a sand beach to sit and rest and look up river. We were always intrigued at the Historical Society’s cairn that reminded us of the original French settlers, Robert Grave who built his trading post to trade with the Indians. There was another trading post at a later date off Anderson’s Point and also one on Oak Point. The book, ‘Caton’s Island’ by James A. Fraser C.S.A gives a detailed account of the settlement of the Island from the earliest French traders up through all the English owners by the grant system until Mr. Robinson and Mr. Parker. A friend, who was a boy soldier during the War, and was stationed on Chesley Street attending classes at the Vocational School, purchased a metal detector and found many foreign coins around the Oak Point trading post. These included coins used locally plus Spanish doubloons and other strange currency.
After we came down here in 1958, the Island appeared to me as a place of great potential. Mr. Hardy Parker of Welsford owned it then and I was interested in buying it for our residence. Mr. Parker offered me the Island for $l00,000, but I found the price too high for me at that time. Since then I have reflected on the problems of winter access across the ice, young children growing up there and the difficulty of weekly shopping. D’Arcy told me that the land was quite arable and would easily support a large vegetable garden. I was particularly taken with the house that Mr. Robinson had built and felt that the other rebuilt house that was located behind the cairn would give us the space we thought we needed.
Up at Evandale, the old Eveleigh Hotel has just re-opened and they are serving breakfast all day, large beef or chicken dinners with all the fixin’s in their hotel dining room and they even have a “burger bar” for quick lunches. While on the lawn they have a swimming pool instead of swimming off the Evandale Wharf, like guests have done for years. Today, most guests arrive by car, whereas years ago they would arrive by sailboats and launches or the river boats. There was also daily train and bus service.
We overlook Caton’s Island, where years ago Mr. Howard Robinson used to plant non-native trees from all over the world and where ducks used to gather in clouds during the northern flight migrations each fall, which made him make the island into a Federal Waterfowl Sanctuary. D’Arcy Brown, the caretaker who lived in the white house on the mainland bank, (demolished) would handle the motor boat and scow and bring people and animals to and fro from the Island. Each day Mr. Robinson would be driven into Saint John to the Telephone Company and the Telegraph Journal by George Hector who played the banjo and lived in Gagetown. George was always a pleasant and polite fellow, even to those who were just casual friends. And I remember how excited we were when we found a deposit of “fool’s gold” on the north side of the island, where there was a white bench on a sand beach to sit and rest and look up river. We were always intrigued at the Historical Society’s cairn that reminded us of the original French settlers, Robert Grave who built his trading post to trade with the Indians. There was another trading post at a later date off Anderson’s Point and also one on Oak Point. The book, ‘Caton’s Island’ by James A. Fraser C.S.A gives a detailed account of the settlement of the Island from the earliest French traders up through all the English owners by the grant system until Mr. Robinson and Mr. Parker. A friend, who was a boy soldier during the War, and was stationed on Chesley Street attending classes at the Vocational School, purchased a metal detector and found many foreign coins around the Oak Point trading post. These included coins used locally plus Spanish doubloons and other strange currency.
