A quick breakfast at Tim Horton which was walking distance from the motel. We made the grandchildren walk there while us adults took the car as we are headed to see Ministers Island afterwards.
Access to Ministers Island can only be done at low tide as you drive on the ocean floor. Today the gates open at 8:30 and you need to be off by 12:45. Admission is around $15 a person but well worth it.
William Van Horne build his 50 room summer home in the early 1900. He was in charge of building the Canadian National railway back then and when he completed it in half the time, he got a $1,000,000 bonus. He could afford it.
His home is furnished with some of the original pieces and some period pieces that were donated. There is also 3 or 4 rooms which are used as exhibit. It was not a guided tour but staff did provide information at a few places inside the house in addition to the history spiel we got before we entered.
 |
Driving on the ocean floor, The cars ahead of us were all workers except for one
|
 |
Clam digging
|
From the entry gate we drove to the house passing by the farm. Very foggy this morning.
To learn more about any of the buildings we visited and about the island, you can visit:
Reverent Parson Andrews bought the island around 1790 and that is where the island got its name. It used to be called Chamcook Island. Below is the Reverent home.
 |
| The Reverent home |
The Van Horne home was know as Covenhoven. Van Horne was of Dutch heritage.
 |
A 50 room cottage/summer home
|
 |
Ice Cream and drinks, no other food available on the island
|
 |
One of the exhibit room
|
 |
Modern Kitchen
|
 |
Largest billiard table I have ever seen.
|
 |
The foyer
|
After visiting the home we walked to the barn via a short walk on the beach. We looked for sea glass while the boys skipped stones on the water.
 |
Extra large jelly fish
|
 |
| Found a few pieces of sea glass. |
The barn was very modern for its time. Van Horne also wanted his barn to be super clean, he would show up with white gloves to make sure of it. He imported a special bread of Dutch cows.
 |
Stables for Clydesdales behind the wall. The lower window is where the hay would go in and the top windows are for the horses head.
|
On the way back to the main house, we stopped to see working horses.
We visited the greenhouse that supplied the family during the summer, In the off season , the vegetable and fruit were sent to the Van Horne home in Montreal by train in addition to meats from the farm.
The greenhouse was also very advance for the early 1900s.
 |
Gardener's house. The lawn was mowed by horse. It was a 30 miles walk to do it.
|
 |
Modern greenhouse for the 1900s. They grew fruit and vegetables.
|
At the beach, they had a swimming pool from where the stones were cut to construct the house. The tides would fill the pool and the sun would heat up the water,
 |
The change house for the pool
|
After leaving the island, we stopped at The Clam Digger for lunch. We shared a seafood platter, $25, and it was very good. This place has been in business as a take-out only for over 40 years.
 |
I think the sign says it all
|
After lunch we return to where we crossed to go to Ministers Island to show the grandkids where we drove to the island
 |
| No more road and it is not high tide yet. |
A quite ride home as the grandkids slept most of the way home.
A great weekend.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We appreciate any comments/questions you would have or any stories about the places we visited.