Campobello, Once a Presidential Retreat, to Open New Cottage this Summer

It's not too early to begin planning for the World Acadien Congress to be held in New Brunswick, Maine and Quebec in 2014.

St. Andrews-by-the-Sea Offers Great Dining and New Places to Stay.

This coming June, the resort town of St. Andrews-by-the Sea will see a complete renovation of its iconic Algonquin hotel. Overlooking picturesque Passamaquoddy Bay, the 1889 Tudor style property is undergoing a major $20 million-refurbishment, reopening as the Algonquin Resort under Marriott's Autograph collection. All 234 rooms and suites are being completely upgraded with air conditioning and new windows added. The public spaces and the clubhouse are being revitalized and a new spa and indoor pool with a three-story slide is being added. The resort's golf course ranks among Canada's top 100.

Besides whale watching and kayaking on the world's highest tides in the Bay of Fundy, visitors can explore the Fundy Isles – including Grand Manan, Campobello and Deer Island. In the 1880s, Campobello Island was a popular resort for wealthy North Americans. Families from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Ottawa and Montreal came to Campobello by private yacht, steamship, and train for extended summer vacations. Among those were the parents of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Later, Campobello became the president's summer White House.

Next year the Roosevelt Campobello International Park will celebrate its 50th anniversary. Several charming cottages are available on the island for small groups. Built in 1915, Adams' Lodge was once the summer home of a cousin of Roosevelt's, Frederick Adams. Plans were recently announced to refurbish the cottage. The popular “Tea with Eleanor,” a walk back in time, will continue for a third season.

Meanwhile, in St. Andrews, a beautiful Relais & Chateaux called the Kingsbrae Arms is offering “The Lobster Course; Fundy Seafood Expeditions”, a four-day/three-night package that includes visits with lobstermen and salmon fishermen, a trip to the Discovery Museum and dining under the stars on fabulously fresh seafood, starting at about $1,305. Sitting between the Bay of Fundy and Chamcook Mountain, the charming Rossmount Inn offers menus with wild foods like fiddleheads, high bush cranberries and chanterelles, organic vegetables from its garden and fresh halibut, haddock and salmon. Accommodations with breakfast and a three-course dinner start as low as $99 per person.

Arts & Crafts in Fredericton

A culturally rich city, Fredericton is home to the renowned New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery with its 3,000 works of art, the internationally-acclaimed Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival and a Scotch whisky festival that draws single malt lovers from around the world.

Now in its sixth year, the edVentures program makes Fredericton's arts scene accessible with five weeks of hands-on artistic workshops and programs of cultural enrichment. Starting July 8 and running through August 9, 2013, more than 70 workshops by noted experts in the arts, crafts and design will be offered starting at $70. Participants can choose classes about painting, photography, film-making, fiction writing, jewelry-making, pottery, textiles, rug hooking and more. This year for the first time, edVentures has added a series of Master Classes taught by renowned Atlantic Canadian artists including: painters Tom and William Forrestall, photographer Freeman Patterson, sculptor Mary McIntyre and master book binder Don Taylor. A typical summer day in Fredericton can start with Tai Chi and end with a post-workshop wine tasting or complimentary movie screening. A variety of free cultural and outdoor activities are scheduled all during the summer including: free concerts, theatre in the park, walking tours, yoga sessions and open-air movie screenings.

Calling all Francophiles, Acadians & Cajuns

Hear ye, hear ye. Oyez! Oyez! It's not too early to begin planning for the 2014 World Acadien Congress to be held in New Brunswick, Maine and Quebec from August 8 to 24, 2014. “The Acadian of the Lands and Forests” encompassing the counties of Victoria, Restigouche and Madawaska in New Brunswick, as well as Maine's Aroostook County and Quebec's Témiscouata region, will play host to the three-week event celebrating women, the family and Acadian youth.

In 1604, French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived with a contingent from the French king and established what was to become Acadia's major town, Annapolis Royal in present-day Nova Scotia. For the next 20 years, more settlers arrived, but ownership of the colonies went back and forth between the French and the English. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht made the Acadians permanent British subjects, and by 1730 the majority of Acadians had signed an oath of allegiance, but insisted they would not fight the French. When the British demanded total loyalty, most refused, so the Explusion, or Grand Dérangement began in 1755. Some 11,500 Acadians were forcibly removed and their homes destroyed. Acadians were dispersed to New England, Louisiana (today's Cajuns), the Caribbean, Quebec and back to France. Some hid with the Mi'kmaq in New Brunswick and the other maritime provinces.

The opening ceremonies of the Congress will be in Edmundston in northwestern New Brunswick on August 8, 2014; the Acadian National Holiday will be celebrated in Maine on August 15, and the closing ceremonies will be held in Témiscouata on August 24.

For more information, go to https://www.tourismnewbrunswick.ca/ or call 1-800-561-0123.