Martha Haskell had hoped the opera's profits would fund the library. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. The opera house is open from late April to early October.
The library is a fantastic sight. It is a working community resource. The shelves hold an estimated 20,000 books of which twenty percent are French. The checkout desk is always busy. The library serves approximately 3,000 regular patrons. Half of these are from Vermont; thirty percent are English speaking Canadians and twenty percent are French Quebecois. The library is open year round, five days per week.
The reading room is one of the most pleasant I've ever been in. The atmosphere is warm and friendly. It has a fireplace and is trimmed with birch woodwork. The windows are stained glass, etched with the names of the Haskell family.
As I stood taking in this unique and cozy room, I noticed a thin, black, diagonal line on the hardwood floor. I was informed that this line depicts the 49th parallel - the invisible boundary that separates Canada and the United States. The Webster-Ashburton Treaty between the United States and Canada established this section of the border in 1846.
Ottawa and Washington have declared the library/opera house a "no man's land." Patrons do not have to report to customs after using it.
Martha Haskell donated the building to the community but before doing so made the stipulation that no taxes would be paid to either country - a wise move on her part.
A handful of houses and one private business straddles the border but the library is the only public building to do so. The Haskell has an oil tank on either side of the basement. This enables it to buy heating fuel from the cheapest supplier based on currency rates. It does the same thing with electricity.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Mary M. Alward's Canadian Tourism topic, please visit the Discussions page.