5 months ago

📄 Video Description:
Discover the magic of Minister’s Island, located just off the coast of St. Andrews, New Brunswick. When the Bay of Fundy’s powerful tides go out, a natural sandbar roadway appears, letting you walk or drive across the ocean floor! But time it right—because when the tide returns, the road vanishes beneath the sea.

Join me as I explore this historic island, once the summer estate of Sir William Van Horne, president of the Canadian Pacific Railway. We’ll visit the grand mansion, scenic walking trails, and the incredible tidal swimming pool built right into the shoreline.
Minister’s Island gets its name from Reverend Samuel Andrews, a Loyalist Anglican minister who fled the American Revolution and settled here in the late 1700s. But the island’s most famous resident came much later: Sir William Cornelius Van Horne.

Born in Illinois in 1843, Van Horne became one of the most powerful and visionary figures in Canadian history. He was the President of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), and under his leadership, the CPR completed Canada’s first transcontinental railway in 1885 — a massive feat that helped unite the country from coast to coast.

In the 1890s, Van Horne fell in love with the beauty and isolation of Minister’s Island, just offshore from St. Andrews. He purchased most of the island and built an opulent summer estate he called Covenhoven — a 50-room mansion made of red sandstone and timber. He also built:

A massive barn for his prizewinning Clydesdales and Dutch Belted cattle
A carriage house and greenhouses
A circular bathhouse carved into the shoreline, with stairs leading into a natural tidal pool
Van Horne used the island not just for retreat, but also for innovation. He experimented with agriculture, livestock breeding, and even grew exotic plants in his greenhouses. He entertained royalty, dignitaries, and artists, making Minister’s Island a hub of elite summer society in the early 1900s.

After his death in 1915, the island changed hands several times. Eventually, the property fell into disrepair. But thanks to the efforts of the Province of New Brunswick and preservation groups, the island was designated a Provincial and National Historic Site, and restoration began.

Today, visitors can walk through Van Horne’s restored mansion, explore the historic buildings, and experience the Bay of Fundy’s tides in one of the most fascinating and accessible living museums in the Maritimes.