Saint Croix Island
Saint Croix Island is .6 mile from the mainland section of Saint Croix Island International Historic Site. The National Park Service highly discourages visitors to the island for preservation reasons, but legally cannot stop anyone from going. Because of this, no tours are given, so you must have your own motorboat, canoe, or kayak, which eliminates most tourists. No permit is required, but the National Park Service does request that you stop at the Visitor Center and let a Ranger know of your plans. As for how many people actually visit the island each year, this is unknown because anyone with a boat can stop at the island, not just people who depart from the mainland section of park. Saint Croix Island is located in the United States, so visiting it from Maine does not require crossing over into Canada. Anyone who visits the island from the Canadian mainland, on the other hand, is technically in the United States illegally. The U. S. Border Patrol does monitor the area, and if they suspect that anyone has landed on the island from Canada, agents will travel out to investigate.
For those who do want to motorboat or paddle to the island, or who just want to boat on the Saint Croix River for other purposes, there is a boat ramp at Saint Croix Island International Historic Site. In order to drive down the ramp to the water, you must have a 4-wheel drive vehicle. If you do not have one, there is a public boat ramp located three miles south on Highway 1 at Robbinston that is accessible by any vehicle. Canoeists and kayakers without a 4-wheel drive are welcome to carry their gear from the parking lot, a .1-mile walk.
If paddling, the island is upriver from the mainland park, so it is recommended to launch anywhere from a few hours after low tide up until high tide in order to paddle with the current. Of course you’ll have to wait until after high tide for the water to start flowing in the other direction. Tides range up to 24 feet, so currents in the Saint Croix River can be very strong. See the How Tides Affect Your Paddling article here on National Park Planner if you are not familiar with paddling on tidal rivers.
Motorboaters must be careful at low tide because there is a shallow, hard-to-see ledge around parts of the island that extends far into the river. A Ranger told me that many boats have been damaged or wrecked on this ledge.
The island itself is only .15 mile long and .1 mile wide (6.5 acres), and other than a couple of information panels, an old boathouse, and a tool shed, there is nothing on it. There used to be a lighthouse, but in 1976 a group of Canadian kids stopped by and ended up starting a fire that destroyed it (the boathouse was part of the lighthouse complex).
Saint Croix Island
For most people, a view of Saint Croix Island from the mainland shore of the park is as close to the island as they will get. A .1-mile long gravel path leads from the Visitor Center parking lot to the shore. Along the way are some information panels and seven statues of people who would have been involved in the settlement on the island, such as a Passamaquoddy Indian lady, a French settler planting vegetables, a carpenter, and Pierre Dugua, the French leader of the 1604 expedition to the area.
Start of the path to the Saint Croix River
Pierre Dugua
Statue of a carpenter
At the end of the trail is a gazebo that houses a model of the fort and village that the French built on Saint Croix Island. This model is based on the journals of Samuel de Champlain, and it is his writings that documented the history of the early French settlement.
Gazebo overlooking the Saint Croix River
Model of the 1604 Saint Croix settlement
From the gazebo, Saint Croix Island is off to the left at the 10 o’clock position. It blends in with the Canadian mainland in the background, so it is actually hard to see.
Saint Croix Island blends in with the Canadian mainland behind it
I spent about a half hour for my visit to the Saint Croix River, which included taking a lot of photos and reading the information panels along the trail. Most visitors take much less time, for they simply walk to the water, glance out at the island, and return to the parking lot. In truth, there really isn’t much more to it.
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Last updated on June 17, 2020
