Beebe Plain is an unincorporated geographically-contiguous settlement, split politically between Canada and the United States. An unincorporated village partially in Stanstead and partially in Derby Line, it is divided by the Quebec-Vermont border. This settlement was begun by David and Calvin Beebe in 1798. [1]
The Beebe Plain–Beebe Border Crossing, a road international border crossing, is located in this settlement.
This was once a single village, established soon after the Treaty of Paris (1783) had provided for 45⁰N to be Vermont's northern boundary, but well before surveyors had determined the border's location. The original International Boundary Commission charged with surveying and mapping the boundary was a creation of later treaties. Its survey, completed in the post-1812 era, missed the 45⁰N line by anywhere from a kilometre to a mile through much of the region, dividing the village in two instead of placing it primarily in Canada.
A saw mill was established as the town's first industry in 1863. The first post office was established in 1864, directly on the international boundary. [2] Until the early 1900s the Canadian and US post offices were in opposite sides of the same building - a former store built in the 1820s. [3] Both were served by the same postmaster, but a letter from one side of the building to the other took a 200-mile path by rail through both White River Junction, Vermont and Sherbrooke, Quebec. [4] By 1869, Beebe Plain had a church, two stores, a post office, a customs post and some houses.
Canusa Street (Quebec Route 247), the border between the two countries, runs through the middle of the village. Homes on the south side of Canusa Street are in the United States; their residents must obtain passports and report to Customs to leave their driveways. [5]
The Canadian portion of this divided village held the status of incorporated municipality (in Quebec) prior to its annexation to Stanstead, Quebec in 1995. As of 1991, the last census before municipal amalgamation, Beebe Plain housed 975 Canadians. While the US side of the village is at most comparable in size, it was not incorporated as a municipality and is therefore not broken out from the rest of Derby Line, Vermont for census purposes.
Beebe Plain was the border crossing for the Massawippi Valley Railway, a short line railway established 1870 between Lennoxville, Quebec and an 1867 Connecticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad line which ran through Newport, Vermont to the border. Part of the Quebec Central Railway from 1926, the line was abandoned by CP in 1990 and removed in 1992. Much of the former railway's path is now bicycle or nature trails. The railway's international boundary crossing has been closed, leaving a gap in the trail between Main Street (rue Principale) and the US border. The old rail station and the original post office still stand, used as private homes. [6]
The granite industry is the major force in the area's economic history; the stone has been transported to distant cities both for memorials and for architectural use. Landmarks such as the Sun Life Building in Montréal contain Beebe granite or Stanstead grey granite. [7]
Rock of Ages, a local manufacturer of granite monuments and tombstones, is in Canada near the international boundary and the main street. It is the principal local industry, owned by New England's Swenson Granite Works. [8] Many residents of Beebe worked at Butterfield, a tool-and-die maker whose Rock Island factory was literally on the border with Derby Line with eight hundred workers in two nations; that facility closed in 1982. [9]
Derby is a town in Orleans County, Vermont, United States. The population was 4,579 at the 2020 census, making it the most populous community in Orleans County. The town contains four unincorporated villages: Beebe Plain, Clyde Pond, Lake Salem and North Derby; and two incorporated villages: Derby Center and Derby Line.
Derby Line is an incorporated village in the town of Derby in Orleans County, Vermont, United States, slightly north of the 45th parallel, the nominal U.S.-Canada boundary. The population was 687 at the 2020 census.
Stanstead is a town in the Memphrémagog Regional County Municipality in the Estrie region of Quebec, located on the Canada–United States border across from Derby Line, Vermont.
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is a Victorian building that straddles the Canada–United States border, in Rock Island, Quebec and Derby Line, Vermont, respectively. The Opera House opened on June 7, 1904, having deliberately been built on the international border. It was declared a heritage building by both countries in the 1970s and 1980s.
The border between Canada and the United States is the longest international border in the world. The terrestrial boundary is 8,891 kilometers (5,525 mi) long. The land border has two sections: Canada's border with the contiguous United States to its south, and with the U.S. state of Alaska to its west. The bi-national International Boundary Commission deals with matters relating to marking and maintaining the boundary, and the International Joint Commission deals with issues concerning boundary waters. The agencies currently responsible for facilitating legal passage through the international boundary are the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Beebe Plain is an unincorporated community in the town of Derby in Orleans County, Vermont, United States which extends into the Canadian municipality of Stanstead, Quebec. The village is divided by the Canada–United States border between Canada and the United States; the Canadian portion of Beebe Plain had the status of an incorporated municipality in its own right until 1995.
Estcourt Station is a village within the Big Twenty Township in the State of Maine. It is the northernmost point in Maine and New England.
Route 247 is a north/south highway on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in the Estrie region of Quebec. Its northern terminus is in Magog at the junction of Route 112 and its southern terminus is in Stanstead, at the junction of Autoroute 55 less than 1 kilometre north of the Canada–United States border.
The Tomifobia River is a flowing body of fresh water in Memphremagog Regional County Municipality, in the Eastern Townships, in the province of Quebec, in Canada. The river forms a part of an international border between Canada and the United States near the village of Beebe Plain, Vermont.
Canusa Street is the only part of the Canada–United States border that runs down the middle of a street. The street separates Beebe Plain, Vermont, from the Beebe Plain area of Stanstead, Quebec, and is a part of Quebec Route 247. The name Canusa is formed of Can- for Canada and -usa for USA.
The Tomifobia Nature Trail is a 19 km rail trail in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec. It follows the old route of a Canadian Pacific railway from Ayer's Cliff to Stanstead. In between, it passes through parts of Stanstead-Est, Stanstead Township, and Ogden.
Beebe Plain is a divided village on the Quebec-Vermont border.
The Beebe Plain–Beebe Border Crossing is a border crossing station on the Canada–United States border. It connects Rue Principale in Beebe Plain, Québec with Beebe Road in Beebe Plain, a village in Derby, Vermont. Both the US and Canadian station buildings are historical properties listed by their respective governments.
The Derby Line–Stanstead Border Crossing is a border crossing station on the Canada–United States border, connecting the towns of Stanstead, Quebec and Derby Line, Vermont. It connects Main Street in Derby Line with Quebec Route 143 in Stanstead. It is one of two local crossings between the two towns, which historically had many more. This was a major crossing point until the construction of Interstate 91 (I-91) and the Derby Line–Rock Island Border Crossing in 1965. The historic 1930s United States station facilities were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. Both stations are open 24 hours per day.
The Derby Line–Rock Island Border Crossing is a road crossing that connects the town of Stanstead, Quebec with Derby Line, Vermont on the Canada–United States border. It is where Interstate 91 intersects with Quebec Autoroute 55. While there historically have been many roads that have connected these two communities along the border, this particular crossing was established in 1965 with the completion of this section Interstate 91. Since 2009, barricades have been erected on Church Street, Lee Street and Ball Street to prevent people from crossing the border at locations where border inspection services are not present, forcing locals to cross at this crossing, or at the Derby Line–Stanstead Border Crossing to the west.
The Massawippi Valley Railway was a short line railway established 1870 between Lennoxville, Quebec, and the Vermont border. Part of the Quebec Central Railway from 1926, the line was abandoned in 1990 and removed in 1992. Most of the former railway's path is now bicycle trails.
La Cure is a village located some 20 kilometres (15 mi) northwest of Lake Geneva, straddling the Franco-Swiss border. Administratively, the Swiss half of La Cure is part of the municipality of Saint-Cergue, while the French half is part of the municipality of Les Rousses. The international border bisects at least four buildings, notably the Hotel Arbez, in which the dining hall and other rooms are bisected by the border.
The Coaticook River is a north-flowing river rising in Vermont, United States, and located primarily in the Estrie region of Quebec, Canada. The mouth of the river is located north of Waterville and south of Lennoxville, near the southern border of the city of Sherbrooke, at the Massawippi River. Via the Massawippi and the Saint-François River, it is part of the St. Lawrence River watershed.
Johns River is a tributary of the Lake Memphremagog, flowing in the municipality of Derby in northern Vermont, in United States and in the municipality of Stanstead (city), Quebec in the Memphremagog Regional County Municipality (RCM), in the administrative region of Estrie, south of Quebec, in Canada.
The Niger River is a tributary of the Tomifobia River. The Niger River flows successively in the municipalities of Coaticook, Barnston-Ouest, Stanstead-Est and Hatley, in the Memphrémagog Regional County Municipality (MRC), in the administrative region of Estrie, in Quebec, in Canada.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)