Our Vermont Travelblog

Crossing The Line

FREE BUZZY!

Roland “Buzz” Roy was charged with illegally crossing the U.S.–Canadian border and faces a $500 fine. He’s contesting the charge.
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Derby Line is hard on the Canadian border. The community of Stanstead, Quebec is a few steps away from Derby Line and residents have always routinely walked back and forth across the border to shop or visit friends.

Some buildings in Derby Line straddle the border and are partially in Quebec. Several streets also cross the border. In the past, people strolled across the border unimpeded, then checked in at border patrol stations to make the crossing legal.

That’s no longer allowed.

On Feb. 6, Roy said he crossed the border near his store and walked up Church Street into Stanstead to get some pizza. The life-long Derby Line resident said he has taken that route without incident as far back as he can remember. He said after he got his pizza, he was going to comply with long-standing rules to then check in with a nearby customs office on the border before continuing on his way.

However, this time, Roy said he was told by border law enforcement he could no longer use that route to cross the border, and would have to use an approved street. Annoyed, he crossed the border again, heading up and down Church Street. “I was frisked, handcuffed and transported to the border patrol office in Newport, held for three hours and assessed a fine,” Roy said.

We broke the law a while back.  Oops.

ntodd

Trip 21 - Derby

3 dogz?  Not so bad to control in general, 'cept for when trying to get them to settle for a picture.

On our way to the Fortress this morning we decided to detour a bit north to Derby (history, demographics):

It was not until 1788 that Derby was actually chartered, the document back-dated to when the grant was made by the Legislature to Timothy Andrews (sometimes Andrus in early records) and 59 others.

Himself a carpenter by trade and a land speculator on a big scale in both Vermont and Connecticut, Andrews came from a prominent Connecticut family which produced a number of clergymen, educators and statesmen. He was involved in the charters for a half-dozen towns near the Canadian border, including East Haven, which was named for his home in Connecticut. He died in Vermont 1789, never having taken any advantage from his Vermont holdings.

Some of the earliest proprietors' meetings took place in Derby, Connecticut, so it is quite certain that town provided the name for the new Vermont venture. In turn, Derbyshire, England provided the name for the Connecticut town. An authority on English place-names says Derby originally meant "homestead frequented by wild animals."

Neat, eh?

The Haskell Opera House. The audience sits in the US and watches a performance in Canada.

Lady parked her truck behind us in the Canadarian territory, asked us something in French (we gave Gallic shrugs) and walked across the border into the building with her little girl (presumably for story hour). 

Neppy apologizes for any international ill will: he crapped on Canada.

ntodd

PS--New official blog pic coming...

Trip 19 - Marshfield And Irasburg

I'm stretching the concept of The Trip Singularity a bit since today's post is about 2 towns on 2 separate days, but this is the inaugural 251 Club event with Ericka (sans Neptune this one time) and it's during one of her visits from PDX, so what the hell.

We visited Marshfield yesterday and had a little difficulty getting the Dogz back in the 251 groove what with the excitement of meeting Olive, our Guest Star.

Trip 5

Today we made a brief visit to Lowell (history, demographics).  "Where the Lowells speak only to Cabots And the Cabots speak only to God?" Erm...I think not:

In 1831 the name [of Kellyvale] was changed to Lowell. Some say that the new name derived from Lowell, Massachusetts, because many of the people who settled in Kellyvale had come from that area. However, that town had been named Lowell only five years before the Vermont towns' name change (long after the settlers arrived), honoring Francis Cabot Lowell, the initiator of large-scale cotton textile manufacturing in the US. Vermont's town is more likely to honor the manufacturer's father or his brother.

There's a nice gazebo in the middle of town we could've used for our backdrop, but given the winter chill and recent light snow, we felt the town garage was more apt. Hey, it's got X-mas lights, a plow blade, and mostly off-frame to the right is the town sand pile (3 times our height!), destined to keep us safe on the roads (and to create "snirt") this winter:

True to form Cairo found herself a stick...

Eastbound on 58, in between where the highway becomes a dirt road and the intersection with Route 100.

It wasn't too cold today--about 35F--but the wind made things very uncomfortable.  My hands got pretty cold and stiff as I took the pictures, and my tripod was absolutely unbearable to touch.  Where were my gloves, you ask?  In the car keeping warm, of course!

Hope everybody had a nice Thanksgiving.

ntodd