Estcourt Station: American Homes With Canadian Driveways
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Published 2022-11-18
Welcome to Estcourt Station, Maine!
At the top of Maine – literally, the top – there’s a row of about a dozen American houses that sit on a Canadian street. That sounds weird because it is. People in Estcourt Maine cannot technically exit their driveways without passing it by border patrol.
Estcourt Station is the northernmost point of New England and the Eastern US… we know that now. But for a long time after the US broke from Britain, the Maine-Canada border was ambiguous, and both the US and Canada (which was part of Britain at the time) gave land grants to citizens in parts that the other claimed. Villages existed on both sides and in between. Including Estcourt, which was tucked against the lake right outside the Canadian town of Pohenegamook (did I get that right?).
The US & Canada finally got their act together in 1842 when they signed a treaty that exactly confirmed the Maine border. To resident’s surprise, it turns out that the true border went through their houses, yards, even mailboxes.
One specific row of houses is mostly on American soil, but fronts a street that lies in Canada. That street, now known as rue de la frontier (or border street), provides the only road access to and from these homes. There are no usable roads on the US side – it’s hundreds of miles of dangerous logging tracks that go nowhere.
Regardless, people in Estcourt seemed to carry on and no one really watched too closely. Until 9/11, when both countries became decidedly more vigilant about protecting the border.
That’s had some crazy and unfortunate consequences. In 2002, a Canadian name Michel Jalbert (yes I know the accent is horrible, at least I didn’t say Michael Jalbert right?) drove to the local gas station on the US side to fill up, he was arrested and jailed for illegally crossing the border in what became an international incident. The gas station was barely 100 feet off the Canadian street but on the US side, and border control where he was technically supposed to check in was a few more 100 feet down the road. The story’s a bit more involved bc Michel had a minor prior conviction and a gun in his car, but he ended up spending weeks in jail and can never enter the US again, even if he’s on empty.
After that, things in Estcourt got more tense. Canadian Snow plows refused to clear American driveways, residents would drive on the shoulder of the road to ensure they were in the right country, and neighbors wouldn’t come over for dinner if the border station was closed. The gas station eventually shutdown and most people moved away. Canada border patrol reports that no one lives there permanently anymore, but the 2020 US Census gives it a population of 4.
Apparently most of the houses are Canadian owned now and border agents consider residents in Canada when they’re on their property. Interestingly, homeowners pay pro-rata taxes to both Quebec and Maine, and the houses are one of very few American places that have Canadian area codes. There’s reports that a few Americans still spend summers there. If they do, they can only really go out when the border station is open, that would be weekdays 9-5, closed on weekends, holidays, and Canadian Labor Day. (show hours on US website).
Thx for exploring w me. - Map Nerd
#estcourt #maine #quebec #border #geography #map #uscanadaborder
All Comments (21)
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Imagine if they just had enough common sense to cede the land over ti Canada or give all the residents dual citizenship.
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Imagine living in a world where dumb stuff like this happens… oh wait.
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They really looked at this mess of a situation, said "that's what's up", refused to fix anything, and forced everyone to just up and leave
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I think the best course of action here would be for the US to lease the properties to Canada. They would function as Canadian soil while remaining property of the US, similar to an embassy.
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the US and Canada need to get their act together and sort out these issues.
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I feels bads for the guy that just needed gasoline.
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So the US was overly hostile to harmless neighbors and destroyed a small community because of it... litterally pathetic
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Sounds like it's better for the US just to cede the land over to Canada but I'm sure there are a thousand arguments as to why that sets a bad precedent.
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Hearing you pronounce Pohénégamook made my day
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Just imagine having to get your passport stamped every time you leave your house. Then when you go anywhere else internationally having to explain this. Would just look so shady.
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imagine having to pass a border patrol security checkpoint every time you go take a crap
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How to destroy a town over an OCD-style technicality. This is all literally a high level of oppression.
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Glad to live in the Schengenzone.
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Wow what a nuisance to live there. Sounds like that’s something would happen to me growing up. Not yet perfect but not yet the worse(since owning a house is impossible rn)
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Do you need customs papers and an inspection by Maine DACF when you serve dinner from the Canadian kitchen into the US dining room? 🤣
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Trying to find this full video from the Short took way too long to enjoy the ending. Basically everyone moved away
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Man if you ever felt like doing a follow up video with as many small details about life there and how the laws work with the border patrol (i.e. does it.mean you literally can't go outside or to the store if you don't check in??) And maybe a little on the rail/roadways to n from there!? That would be amazing!🙏🏽 !?
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...Why did that arrest feel like a lawsuit waiting to happen? I know it never did happen, but it felt like it could have...
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Great content as always 👍
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"Hey man can you come over I need help with my homework" "Yeah alrighty lemme just check in with border patrol
