Travel Buddies: Pete & Joan

Living the Dream, One Trip at a Time

St. Croix Island

5/25/2026

This was our first (and hopefully only!) true bad-weather day on this trip, so all things considered, we’ve been pretty lucky. The one silver lining? When we ducked into the visitor center at St. Croix in eastern Maine, we had two park rangers all to ourselves and peppered them with every question we could think of! The visitor center itself was small and not really the main attraction. That honor belonged to the outdoor interpretive trail, which we experienced while marching under the protective shade of our umbrellas like very soggy explorers.

A woman holding an umbrella stands next to an information sign depicting historical scenes of Indigenous people and European settlers. The setting is a misty landscape with a river in the background and greenery around.

Considered one of the most historically significant early European settlement sites in North America, St. Croix Island International Historic Site commemorates the 1604–1605 French settlement led by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons, and cartographer Samuel de Champlain.

Illustration depicting a historical figure raising a hat with the text 'AN ENDURING LEGACY' highlighting the significance of the 1604-05 colony on Saint Croix Island in early European settlements in North America.

This tiny island in the Saint Croix River marks one of the earliest attempts by Europeans to establish a year-round colony in North America, predating Jamestown (1607) and Plymouth (1620). The settlement was harsh. Nearly half the colonists died during the freezing winter, yet it laid the groundwork for France’s long-term presence on the continent.

The island is in the Saint Croix River within the ancestral homelands of the Passamaquoddy people. Though the settlement was short-lived, it launched a lasting French presence on this continent. No visible traces remain of the historic French settlement on the 6.5-acre Saint Croix Island. The buildings have disappeared over time. Today, wind, waves, and footsteps continue to erode the island itself.

A misty view of a small island surrounded by tranquil waters, with rocky shorelines and greenery in the foreground.

Due to dangerous currents, fragile ecosystems, and protected archeological resources, Saint Croix Island itself is not accessible to the public. But we were able to enjoy the mainland site, which offered beautiful views of the island where the colonists built their gardens and a hand mill to grind grain.

The sculptures were a big highlight… they turn what could have been “just another history trail” into something much more human. Rather than simply telling the story on signs, the park used these life-size bronze figures placed at different points along the trail to represent the people, both settlers and their Passamaquoddy neighbors.

Two bronze sculptures of historical figures in a forested area. The left sculpture depicts a man standing with a hat, while the right sculpture shows a man holding a pot. Both are surrounded by trees and a natural setting.

Some of the figures represent Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons (the expedition’s leader), Samuel de Champlain, and ordinary settlers whose knowledge and assistance were crucial to the French surviving that brutal winter. The sculptures are positioned almost as if they were meeting characters in a historical drama.

Two bronze statues in a forest setting. The statue on the left depicts a person holding a pot, while the statue on the right shows a person bending down with a tool.

Looking across the water at the actual island (which today shows no visible remains of the settlement) was aided by these bronzes. That helped to imagine the human side of what happened there.  It’s a small park, but those sculptures gave it a lot of emotional punch!

A detailed topographical model of a historical village, showcasing buildings and surrounding terrain.
A serene coastal landscape featuring green trees on a rocky shoreline, with low tide revealing mudflats and calm water under a cloudy sky.

We were actually surprised to find ourselves right off the Bay of Fundy again (we had visited from the Canadian side in 2014). It has some of the highest tides in the world because of its shape and tidal timing. The bay is shaped like a giant funnel — wide at the ocean end and narrowing inland, so incoming water gets squeezed higher and higher.  In some places, the tide can rise and fall by 40–50 feet, which we observed the last time we were in Nova Scotia.  Today, we hit low tide… very low tide!!

A misty landscape featuring a rocky shoreline at low tide, surrounded by greenery and trees.

This site was a reminder of how difficult exploration really was before modern medicine, weather forecasting, refrigeration, or even reliable maps. It can make our present-day travel frustrations, like a rainy day, seem pretty darn minor! This is one of those National Park sites that affects you emotionally rather than visually.