Ministers Island

A few kilometres east of town, Ministers Island is accessible only at low tide, when the Bay of Fundy's giant tidal range exposes a gravel bar wide enough to drive a car across. Cross at the wrong time and you wait six hours for the next low water — or pay for a boat back. Tides are posted at the gate of the access road.

On the island itself, Covenhoven (Van Horne's house and outbuildings) is open for self-guided or guided tours from May to October. The barn, with its imposing dairy and remaining farm equipment, is as memorable as the house. Walking trails loop the island's shoreline. Bring sturdy shoes, sun protection, and an awareness of when the tide turns: the gate closes well before high water.

things to do sight historic house
A story
Ministers Island was bought in 1891 by Sir William Van Horne, the American-born engineer who finished the Canadian Pacific Railway and later founded the Algonquin. He built Covenhoven, a 50-room summer estate, complete with a circular bathhouse cut into the cliff, a greenhouse heated by a coal furnace, and a windmill-powered farm. The estate was kept by his family until 1961 and is now run as a heritage property — but you can still only reach it the way Van Horne did, by driving across the bottom of the Bay of Fundy at low tide.

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