I have never been so disappointed in a new city in my life. The place was foggy from dawn to dusk and then it got dark when the fog cleared. I was told that Saint John is always foggy from the Atlantic mist, but I’ve seen clearer pictures of the city. The 50-metre visibility range didn’t help; I could see further inside Market Hall than I could on Grannan Street.
It’s laid out like a typical colonial town consisting of square blocks and town squares with radial paths. Market Square and King Square should be busy in summer with actual stalls in an open-air marketplace. The Market Hall is shaped like an upside-down ship’s hull – reminiscent of the city’s maritime history. It is one of the oldest markets in Canada dating back to 1876.
The Bay of Fundy has the highest high tides in the world, forcing water back into the river twice a day at Reversing Falls. The visibility being so poor, I couldn’t see halfway down the 137-metre deep gorge – I’ll take the guidebook’s word for it.
The 1816 Georgian Loyalist House was owned by five generations of David Merritt’s family until 1959, he was a wealthy merchant. Along with Market Hall, it is one of few survivors of the 1877 fire that destroyed most of the city. Today, it is a museum.
After the fire, many businesses rebuilt on Prince William Street in the next four years, giving the streetscape its unified appearance. Buildings were mostly Second Empire or Italianate with Romanesque elements. Barbour’s General Store was burned in the fire but was rebuilt in 1895. It began selling groceries and fresh foodstuffs beginning in 1867.
The Three Sisters were oil lamps that helped ships navigate into the harbour since 1842. It marked the inner end of the change it was lined up with the Beacon Light that used to stand at the coastline. When lined up with the Trinity Church spire, it marked the safe passage into the harbour itself. The six-sided lamp was replaced by a four-sided one and then the electrically-powered one today. The red sides faced the waster while the white side was for other bearings.
