Comments on: Strange Maps: Beebe Plain, Vermont, no, Quebec, uh …

By: Pamela Ruigh

Pamela Ruigh — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:13:28 +0000

I’m afraid the “good old days” ceased after 9-11. The US Gov poured millions of bucks into “Operation Stone Garden” to protect the US Canada border. If you cross any street from VT to Canada you can be fined $5000. You must go to the specified border checkpoint and show your passport to enter Canada and vice versa.

By: J. Richard Wright

J. Richard Wright — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 21:02:23 +0000

coming out of Labrador, I spent a year in Beebe around 1958/59 to do my Quebec Grade seven Government exams at Our lady of Mercy School grade school in Stanstead. Sister Alice of the Immaculate was my home room teacher – a wonderful lady. My Uncle Benoit Lapierre was the Immigration Officer is Charge in Stanstead. I used to hitch-hike from Beebe to the Haskell Free Library every Saturday and we regularly went to Derby Line and Newport for custard cones and bowling and drive-ins without hassle. However, I went back ten years ago and crossed at Derby Line and was interrogated as to why I was crossing there rather than on the highway. This border stuff had spawned a whole new industry in the USA with a huge budget thanks to 9/11 and I can’t see that budget being let go any time soon. When Janet Neopolitano took over as Home Security Czar seven or eight years after 9/11 she mentioned the 9/11 terrorists coming through Canada as a reason for the strict border measures. It boggles the mind that someone at her level would be so misinformed. I find it hard to believe that she was and therefore believe she stretched the truth to justify her actions. We have always been their best friends and always will be. But they have to justify that budget somehow so we all become potential villains. However, I have to say I live on the border now in Niagara-on-the-Lake and cross five times a week and never met an unfriendly or unreasonable US Border Patrol person. Of course we treat every crossing as a privilege – not a right. And we always are honest and open. I think people run into trouble when they are disrespectful or evasive, and so they should. We love the USA and its people and it probably shows.

Back to Beebe….Also, though we lived in Beebe, my cousins went to High School at Sacred Heart in Newport. I credit the library with fostering my love of reading and hence writing as I have authored 52 TV and radio dramas. My first novel – Hellspawn – due out likely on Amazon for Kindle will be out, I hope, early next year and contains my heroine as having grown up in Beebe and mentions her friends Sandra Couture, Janie Steward, Anne and Ronnie Langevin (the latter two living on Canusa.) I also remember the Bouchard brothers all good friends. And, yes we used to be waved through at the border. Beebe is the quintessential perfect small town. I hope it is better repair than when I saw it last as when Butterfield’s tool company closed, there were no more area jobs and so many young people left..

By: A. Kaleem Qureshi

A. Kaleem Qureshi — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 16:27:17 +0000

A recent video clip of a drive through Rue Canusa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAMRcZk76LY (25 June 2011) or search for Rue Canusa in You Tube. I may post a couple more videos soon. The border is a fascinating aspect of these towns (Derby Line, Rock Island, Beebe Plain). You get conflicting descriptions of exactly where the border is located – whether in the middle of Rue Canusa or through the driveways of the houses on the south side, which are unquestionably located in the U.S. Driving through in either direction does not require reporting to either Customs post – we did on 24 and 25 June 2011. Only Church Street by the Haskell Library is open – it is in fact used by Canada bound traffic from Caswell Avenue. The other two cross-border streets now have gates on them and are no longer open to vehicular or pedestrian traffic. We saw US border patrol vehicles at all times stationed on Church by the library.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:42:02 +0000

I grew up in Beebe, Quebec and lived at 1 Canusa, right next door to the Canadian Customs. Back then (I haven’t lived there since 1963) we kids used to run across the border all the time to play with friends. My best friend lived in Vermont two houses away from the US Customs. I used to go to the Haskell Free Library regularly, which is placed right on the border. My great-aunt lived in the house situated on the border in Beebe, but her apartment was in Canada. We all grew up thinking this was so normal – and now, jsut the thought of crossing the border is frightening. It was a very different way of living there back then – I have only been back once since my mother died in 1988 and only for a few hours, so I can’t really say what it is like now. ALso, someone mentioned the language – there it’s probably about 50/50 English and French. The granite industry there imported a lot of Scottish granite workers from Aberdeenshire long ago and in any case, the Eastern Townships does have a large number of English-speaking people.

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 02 May 2011 19:04:09 +0000

I lived in Stanstead as a child and still have family there. Canusa is one fascinating oddity of an otherwise dull town. Another interesting thing about this area is that granite is everywhere. Stanstead is a bigtime granite mining area and the town embraces it. Granite buildings, walkways, steps, and even public benches. I had to go back there for my grandmother’s funeral a few years back and took my family. They wanted to drive down Canusa and sure enough, I hadn’t been there in years and accidentally ended up in the US. It’s funny because waving flags on your house is common around there so all of the sudden, I noticed US flags and green license plates all over. Ooops. Being afraid of a hidden camera catching my crossing, I had to double back and go through customs explaining what had happened. No harm no foul and the customs office was good about it, but an amusing tale none the less.

By: Dr Frankenstein

Dr Frankenstein — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 18:59:53 +0000

From what I know, the town’s local library and opera house is split in two by the border. Only a handful of this town’s streets aren’t blocked, and it IS causing problems, as both border agencies want them blocked, potentially forcing residents to take a looooong detour just to travel around in their own town. I’ve also heard about border patrol agents bullying residents (as far as seizing cars) as they drive across the town to see friends, but I can’t confirm that.

I agree with commenter Serge Fournier… It has become a serious hassle to cross a border that is otherwise less than a hundred kilometres from my home; at least compared to what it was just twelve years ago. I now need a passport to go see some of my friends.

By: serge fournier

serge fournier — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:18:16 +0000

It use to be so easy to cross the border, and by the way cutoms peoples used to be courteous…now it is a different story and it is no fun anymore to go in Vt so needless to say I’m restricting my crossing in the USA when I leave for Florida during the cold months.Remember the time when a special permit at the customs house(US)would enable a Canadian citizen to go in Newport on the lake without have to stop.

By: realfrombeebeplain

realfrombeebeplain — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 02:55:16 +0000

well, I’m interested in hearing about everyone’s trip to Canusa Avenue or Beebe Plain or Beebe Quebec. I can’t say that anything I have read and found during my research has been 100% accurate and it will continue to tell an untrue story because it is the only international landport in the world without a documented border.

By: Todd Hilgert

Todd Hilgert — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:48:27 +0000

I would imagine there is not much of a customs issue in these places. Canada has more of a threat of U.S. citizens coming across to utilize healthcare within Canada. i think it would be cool to leave in a place like that. You’d learn french and english and get good healthcare and still be a u.s. citizen.

By: proudgeek

proudgeek — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:20:22 +0000

Manu – oh definitely keep us updated! Many thanks!