Stanstead, Quebec

Astride a Border

By Joyce Gregory Wyels
Americas, Sep-Oct2004, v. 56, iss. 5

Once a year the citizens of Stanstead, Quebec, come together to
celebrate "the friendliest border in the world." While clusters of
spectators wave from the sidelines, a down-home procession of fire
engines, horse-drawn wagons, and assorted civic groups parades down
Dufferin Street, past French and English schools, the handsome museum,
imposing churches, and other nineteenth-century buildings.

Like many communities in Quebec's Eastern Townships, this pleasant town
on the U.S. border was founded by New Englanders after the American
Revolution. Both the architecture and the names of the
hamlets--Stanstead, Knowlton, Dunham, Ogden--suggest an oasis of
Anglo-Saxon heritage in French Quebec. Today, with the Cantons-de-l'Est
90 percent French-speaking, most of Stanstead's residents are
comfortably bilingual.

An amalgamation of three smaller villages (Stanstead Plain, Rock
Island, and Beebe), Stanstead is a border town, and proud of it. In
fact, Stanstead's position astride the U.S.-Canadian border is its
defining characteristic. But the very border that prompts celebrations
all but disappears along the leafy streets of Stanstead and its
American counterpart, Derby Line, Vermont. In lieu of fences, a
knee-high marker at the foot of Church Street shows Canada on one side,
U.S.A. on the other, while a nearby sign points the way to Customs and
Immigration.

Beyond the corner where U.S. Customs and Douane Canadienne face one
another across a two-lane street, only a painted yellow stripe marks
the boundary between Canada and the United States. The stately homes on
the north side of the appropriately named "Rue Canusa" have Canadian
addresses; their neighbors to the south reside in the United States.

Nor is Canusa Avenue the only geographical oddity in Stanstead. The
community of nearly thirty-two hundred people is famous for its "line
houses," or buildings that straddle the international border. Some of
these buildings can be traced to the U.S. era of Prohibition, when
crafty locals took advantage of the town's strategic position on the
route between Montreal and Boston to engage in smuggling.

But the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, built directly on the
border, began with nobler intentions. Martha Stewart Haskell had the
building constructed in 1901 as a memorial to her husband, American
businessman Carlos F. Haskell. A historical marker describes the
monumental building as "a symbol of the harmony between the two
countries."

Cross-border harmony notwithstanding, this part of the boundary was
disputed for seventy years. It seems that from time to time the crew
surveying the 45th parallel in 1771 strayed off course. Eventually, in
1842, a treaty stipulated that the international boundary would remain
as originally drawn.

In the library, a black line crosses the wooden floor, running
diagonally under reading tables and chairs. "We decided to paint the
border after afire broke out here in the 1990s," explains head
librarian Nancy Rumery. American and Canadian fire companies cooperated
in responding to the blaze. But then the problems started: "We had both
American and Canadian insurance companies," says Rumery. "Each said the
other was responsible. It took two years to settle the claim."

Upstairs, a scaled-down replica of the old Boston Opera House, complete
with Victorian stage sets, still presents plays and other performances.
Here, too, a black line angles across the floor, so that most of the
audience sits in the U.S., watching thespians emote on a stage situated
in Canada.

The building, a historic monument, has two addresses--one Canadian and
one American. The only entrance, however, is on the American side.
Despite recently heightened security, patrons who live in Quebec are
allowed to enter the front door without going through customs, says
Rumery--"as long as they park their cars on the Canadian side."

This year Border Fest/Frontières en Fetes took place on May 29.
Besides the parade, the celebration consisted of day-long activities at
the school Jardin des Frontières and open house at many historic
buildings. The theme--Our Roots/Nos Racines--was very much in evidence
at the Colby-Curtis Museum, housed in a nineteenth-century mansion
built of local granite by an American family. A tourism pamphlet at the
museum warns visitors not to stray across the border, but if you do,
"vous ne serezpas le premier" (you won't be the first).

Hatunen wrote:
> On 7 Jun 2006 06:33:04 -0700, arjunshridath@indiatimes.com wrote:
>
>
>>Astride a Border
>>
>>By Joyce Gregory Wyels
>>Americas, Sep-Oct2004, v. 56, iss. 5
>
>
> [...]
>
>
>>An amalgamation of three smaller villages (Stanstead Plain, Rock
>>Island, and Beebe), Stanstead is a border town, and proud of it. In
>>fact, Stanstead's position astride the U.S.-Canadian border is its
>>defining characteristic. But the very border that prompts celebrations
>>all but disappears along the leafy streets of Stanstead and its
>>American counterpart, Derby Line, Vermont. In lieu of fences, a
>>knee-high marker at the foot of Church Street shows Canada on one side,
>>U.S.A. on the other, while a nearby sign points the way to Customs and
>>Immigration.
>>
>>Beyond the corner where U.S. Customs and Douane Canadienne face one
>>another across a two-lane street, only a painted yellow stripe marks
>>the boundary between Canada and the United States. The stately homes on
>>the north side of the appropriately named "Rue Canusa" have Canadian
>>addresses; their neighbors to the south reside in the United States.
>
>
> [...]
>
> I drove through Derby Line VT/Rock Island PQ when I was living in
> Montreal in the 1960s, before the Interstate was built. I almost
> missed the the border station on the main street; it looked like
> a gas sttion or something, quite inconspicuous. The street just
> continued across the order uninterrupted, and I gathered the
> locals drove by freely with just a wave of the hand at the
> customs officials.
>
>

While the border folks in the area have become a bit more careful the
smaller posts are a good bit simpler and faster than the interstate.

On 2006-06-07 13:12:19 -0400, "Frank F. Matthews"
<frankfmatthews@houston.> said:

> While the border folks in the area have become a bit more careful the
> smaller posts are a good bit simpler and faster than the interstate.

That's true in numerous places. It's MUCH faster, for example, to get
off I-87 at US 11 and go east to near Rouses Point, then head north
into Quebec, than it is to stay on I-87. And in the other direction,
it's even better.

Greg Guarino wrote:

>
>
> She picked us up at the Flower Clock in Geneva and drove us to
> restaurant. The sign outside proclaimed it a "Restaurant Dansant",
> which gave us a chuckle. The "dancing" part consisted of a one-man
> keyboard player/singer with a drum machine and a mirror ball over his
> head.
>
> We sat down, Collette and I on one side of the table, my wife facing
> me on the other. Out came the menus. I quickly scanned through the
> offerings to see if there was anything edible. To my relief, I saw
> some sort of steak that didn't seem to have any brains in it. The
> translating slowed me down a little but I saw another one or two items
> that looked OK plus a number of things involving internal organs.
>
> Momentarily relieved, I had a look at the other column of the menu:
> the prices. Ouch. The very cheapest entree was 90 francs. At the time
> a Swiss Franc was worth about 85 cents (US), so that was about $75.
> And that was some sort of liver and entrails concoction. The dishes I
> could consider eating were in the 115-125 franc range. I looked across
> at my wife. The look on her face told me she had seen the same thing.
>
> Let me set the scene here. During the past couple of paragraphs
> Collette was having a protracted and animated argument with the
> waiter, manager and perhaps owner of the establishment over not being
> able to buy the wine she wanted by the glass. Four people shouting at
> each other in French as a backdrop for my wife and I wondering 1. How
> could we possibly let a virtual stranger take us out for what would
> have been a $250.00 meal and 2. Do we even have that much cash on us?
> and 3. How could a restaurant with this positively comical
> entertainer cost this much?
>
> This went on for an agonizing few minutes. Until...
>
> I suddenly had had a flash of memory. For some reason I reran the
> "film" of the car trip from the Flower Clock to the restaurant. I
> leaned across the table and whispered to my wife "We're in *France*".
> Her mouth and eyes both went wide and then she sighed in relief.
>
> At the time the French franc was going at about six to the dollar. My
> 120 franc entree was now twenty dollars instead of a hundred. Collette
> lived in France, just outside Geneva (Switzerland). Since she worked
> in Geneva she had special plates on her car that allowed her to go
> through the border station without stopping. We had hardly noticed it
> amidst Colette's continuous string of strong opinions.

LOL That sticker shock can be nasty. I remember my first trip to France.
We had an overnight flight to Paris and then hoped on a train to
Strasbourg. We had only travellers cheques and some cash that I had picked
up ahead of time, half of which went for the taxi ride to the hotel. I was
exhausted from a being awake and travelling for more than 24 hours. The
cheapest thing on the menu was more than 70. It was French Francs, but it
seemed like a heck of a lot. Our exchange rate at the time was a little
better than 4 FF to the dollar.

We were lucky to be visiting relative sin Switzerland, because it is
ungodly expensive. Living close to Geneva, they used to hop across the
border to France to shop, just over the border was a bakery with the
best baguettes I have ever hd. While waiting for my wife's cousin to meet
us at the train station in Lusanne we went out for a coffee. Coffee and
cake for three was close to $40.

The worst sticker shock was in Copenhagen where everything is expensive,
except beer. I was picked up at the airport by two friends who too me for
a scenic tour before driving me across the island to my hotel. I took them
for lunch. We each had an open face sandwich and a beer, and two of us had
a shot of Akkavit. That light lunch for three was $130. It was a decent
place, but it should have been a palace at those prices.