Ministers Island, New Brunswick, Canada
4.5 (330 reviews) Spent 2-3 hours Ranking #2 in Saint Andrews Historic Sites • Islands
Cross during low tide
The Van Horne Estate on Ministers Island offers visitors one of the foremost cultural, heritage and environmental tourism destination in the Charlotte Coastal Region of the Bay of Fundy of New Brunswick. Ministers Island is an enchanting place to experience. Lying in the shores of Passamaquoddy Bay near St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, this 500-acre island can be reached by driving over the seafloor. Once there, you are immersed in an experience from the late 19th and early 20th century - the summer estate of Sir William Van Horne, the driving force behind the Canadian Pacific Railway. Sir William's vast house, his equally large barn and his bathhouse/artist's hideaway are on view, as are the beautiful carriage lanes through the woods and fields. Time stands still, and you're swept up in an atmosphere that makes you forget all about your everyday life and the here-and-now. Come explore! We're waiting to welcome you.
Address
, Canada, Postal Code: E4B 1A0.
Mobile
Website
http://www.ministersisland.net
Current local date and time now
Friday, May 03, 2024, 23:43
User Ratings
4.5 based on (330 reviews)
Reviews
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5Mandy 5:00 PM Jul 21, 2020
Must-see attraction
I visited Minister's Island with my parents a couple days ago and had a great visit. We initially booked tickets online and then had to delay our trip for a couple weeks. I emailed the Van Horne estate and within an hour they had rebooked us without any additional charges so their customer service was great. To access Minister's Island you have to drive across the ocean floor at low tide and it was quite a novel experience. When we got to the Van Horne estate we had to wait for only a couple minutes before we were divided into small groups for a short talk on the house and the island. This was great because it meant that it was very easy to social distance since only a small amount of people were let into the house at once. We never felt rushed and we never had to wait for people to clear a room before we could explore. It was very well done. Outside of the main house there was a food truck and we tried a couple items from it for an early supper and everything we ordered was quite good. We also took a quick tour of the barn and were able to look at a couple of the other buildings on the island and spotted some horses. We returned the next day while the tide was still high just to get a sense of what the road looked like when it was underwater and it was fun to see how the road disappears at high tide. Overall, I think this is a can't-miss experience when visiting Saint Andrews and I hope to visit again and take advantage of the trails around the island!
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5M L 5:00 PM Jul 19, 2021
Excellent historic well maintained property with great tours!
Our group of four adults gathered at the mainland at 8:00 a.m. just as the staff were gathering to drive across the ocean floor to the island. We joined the convoy. We had prepaid our tickets and since we were tourist car #3 we didn’t have to wait long to get through the gated entrance to the property. It would be better if they had a line for prepaid and another for on the spot purchasers though. Definitely worth a visit! We plan to return. The 10 minute verbal tour presentation delivered by a summer student was excellent, informative, and pleasant. We appreciated then being able to do our own self-guided leisurely tour of the house. We then did a tour of the huge barn with a very good guide. Tip: It would be best to check the tide schedule before booking your accommodation in St Andrew’s. Had I realized the tide for the day we planned to visit Ministers Island was early I would have booked accommodation for a different day with a later low tide. As it was our access to the island was from 6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m on the day of our visit.
