Canadian and United States history buffs can visit Campobello Island later in July for an enriching trip.
The Roosevelt Campobello International Park is celebrating its 60th anniversary from July 22 to 31.
The park’s commission has created a series of events and activities designed to celebrate the past and entertain long-time park enthusiasts with new visitors.
Commission officials say public events and programs will all be free of charge and open to the general public.
Bruce Thomson, the park’s visitor services manager, said dignitaries from Canada and the United States will be in attendance.
Events will include performances by Indigenous and non-Indigenous drummers, pipers, as well as other entertainers. Officials will also mark the opening of a new state-of-the-art trail.
“It is so important to give people a sense of place, a sense of where we come from, and celebrate the achievements of others,” said Thomson.
Thomson anticipates several thousand visitors for the 10-day event with several hundred thousand tourists visiting the historic site throughout the summer months.
Commission historians say the cottage was built and completed in 1897. It was given to the future 32nd president of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), and future first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in 1908 by Franklin’s mother, Sara Roosevelt, as a wedding present.
In August 1921, FDR was stricken by a severe paralytic illness, believed to be polio at the time, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. He was no longer able to stay on the island but sailed there in 1933 and visited briefly in 1936 and 1939.
After FDR passed away in 1945, U.S. businessman Armand Hammer acquired the cottage in 1952. When Eleanor Roosevelt died in 1962, Hammer deeded the property to the U.S. and Canadian governments. In 1964, they created the 2,800-acre International Park.
