If you love history, the full story is at the end of this post. For now, French explorer Samuel de Champlain landed at the mouth of a mighty river on St. John the Baptist Day in 1604, so he named it in honor of the day, “St. John.” Almost 30 years later, 1631, Charles de La Tour built a fortified trading post as his headquarters at the mouth of the this river. In 1783 at the end of the Revolution, 14,000 American supporters of the British (“Loyalists” as they were called) came here and started settling along the Saint John River. We’re going to walk around the Loyalist Tour that’s on this map. (It took us about 1.5 hours to take this walk; it won’t take you that long!)
We’re going to be on the “red” tour.
Loyalist Trail – starting on the right side of the map
1. County Court was built in 1825 and was still in use until 2012!
3. King’s Square, 1 of 4 squares in the town’s plan. The 2-story bandstand in front of you was a “Memorial to Edward VII, King from 1901-1010” (son of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria)
Damage from hurricane Dorian – 3 trees were uprooted and have since been cut down. Have you noticed where Saint John is on the a map? When Dorian skirted up the coast, Saint John was in its path before it went out to sea.
4. City Market has been in continuous use since 1876 and is believed to be the oldest common-law (?) market in Canada. The interior roof supports suggest a ship’s hull.
We stopped for lunch here and shared this great (but not one of the best) chicken salad sandwich.
6. Nutting House is a 3-story Georgian style structure built in 1819 and is the oldest surviving brick building in the city.
7. Loyalist House was built in the Georgian Style also between 1810-1817. It is now a museum, but we didn’t have time to go through it. Next time.
Loyalist House description. Minimal change occurred while 5 generations of merchant David Merritt’s family lived here.
8. St. John’s Stone Church (Anglican) completed in 1825 and was the first stone church built in the city. Locals call it the Stone Church since most of the other churches were made of wood. Interesting that a Star of David is above the front door.
9. Saint John Arts Center opened in 1904 was one of the 2509 public library buildings Andrew Carnegie gave to communities in North America. It was closed today so we couldn’t see the stained glass ceiling inside in the almost 3-story-high rotunda.
Corporal Terry was walking by after testifying in court. He serves in another community. He enjoyed talking with us because he was part of 34 years of reenactments at Gettysburg in the States. Really a nice man!
10. Chipman Hill Suites were built between 1854 and 1857. The plain, classical lines are typical of many fine homes of the period where extravagance was confined to the interiors. (Seems like a good description of the homes today in New Brunswick, maybe because of the harsh winters.)
Front view of Chipman Hill Suites. The front door of Number 1 was probably carved by John Rogerson, the city’s best known wood craftsman of the period. Beautiful work.
15. Barbour’s General Store was originally 80 miles north of the story. It sits now where the company first went into business.
Right side of the store has a number of 19th and 20th century artifacts and goods.
Left side has modern-day stuff.
16. Vassie’s Corner – this building is not the real story. In 1787, Benedict Arnold lived in this location in a large frame house. Our booklet said “his arrogant manner and sharp business dealings made him heartily disliked by his fellow citizens, who at one point burned him in effigy. This current building was constructed in 1878 by James Vassie and Co., wholesale dry goods and woolen merchants.
17. Commercial Block – on this block were 4 similar structures, each 4-stories high, that were built in 1878 and known collectively as the “Commercial Block.” The building at the right side of the picture was destroyed by fire in 1906. Shortly afterwards additional stories were added to the remaining buildings.
18. Trinity Church was built in 1880 and replaced a wooden structure that was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1877. While our booklet said it would be open so we could see the Royal Coat of Arms of the House of Hanover dating back to George I who became King in 1714, the doors were locked.
This close-up of the front door shows you the height of the building.
19. Imperial Theatre opened in 1913 and can seat 1500. Over the years the theatre has featured greats such as John Philip Sousa and Ethel Barrymore. Today it shows old movies and plays from all ages.
We met Howard and Wendy from Jupiter, Florida, who are on one of the cruise ships in harbor. We were able to take each other’s pictures in front of the theater.
We have friends on the same cruise ship: David and Sally. They winter in Phoenix and summer in Estes Park, Colorado, and we’ve stayed with them while traveling through at both locations. We realized we were both in town at the same time through FaceBook posts. We tried to connect, but couldn’t make it work. Meeting this couple was as close as we could get.
Now to the inside of this beautiful place.
Barney walking down the aisle.
side look showing box seats
balcony
details of the front of the theater
even the ceiling is beautiful
September’s calendar of events
20. Firefighters’ Museum was built in 1840 – 1841 in the Georgian style like the Custom House (#1 in our tour). After it served as a fire station, it became a tourist bureau. We couldn’t tour the museum since it’s only open in July and August.
Thus ends our “formal” walking tour, but there is still more to see!
The long street on the map at the beginning of the post is Prince William Street, were the cruise ships dock. This is what it looked like after the huge fire in 1877. Prince William was the son-in-law of King George III from Revolutionary War fame.
Within 4 years after the fire, the area was completely rebuilt—amazing—keeping with the pre-fire trend toward commercial, financial, public, and administrative with very few shops. This area was renamed “Wall Street of Saint John.” Since the buildings were built at the same time with the same bricks or stones and with the same codes, the buildings present a unified street front even though the size and style vary considerably.
This harbor was the largest in British North America during the Age of Sail, the last half of the 1800s.
1. See Barney’s finger? The horse-drawn wagons are on the mudflats at low tide. Notice the other boats in the background. 2. Sailing and steamships are next to each other at the end of the wooden ship era. 3. During the Great Fire, residents fled to the barges and vessels in the harbor for safety. 4. In 1890 the harbor was full of wooden sailing ships and steamships. 5. A maze of masts and rigging just before WWI.
modern look
Cobblestone area by the harbor connects it with the NB Museum across the street.
In the middle of the courtyard is this stone dedicated in 1983 to honor Prince and Princess of Wales coming here.
Our 1st moose!
Moose was dedicated by Moosehead Brewery! Makes sense.
original fort location
Wanted to go to Fort La Tour . . .
but the replica is under construction. See the cruise ship in the background? This shows how close we are at the entrance to the Saint John River and the harbor.
And a chance to sit down and read a little
At the end of the day we found a local Starbucks . . .
and the barista made me a lovely cup of hot chocolate.
history of Saint John – for those who love details
As promised, here are the details of the city’s history from our walking tour booklet. Easier for me to give you pictures than to type it out!
Loved our walking tour and being outside on such a nice today. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow so we’ll be inside in the New Brunswick Museum that’s just across the street from Barbour’s General Store.
