Beebe Plain

Beebe Plain is a small village founded circa 1789 by Zeba Beebe of Connecticut, and situated on the border between Canada and the United States at 45.01°N 72.15°W. The border runs up the middle of CanUSA Street, and is also the border between Stanstead County, Quebec and Orleans County, Vermont.

Beebe Plain is part of a group of small border villages which includes Rock Island/Derby Line and Stanstead and is located near lake Memphremagog and just west of Hwy 55 (US Interstate I-91) between Newport, Vermont and Magog.

The village is divided in two by the international border; local legend claims that a group of rather drunken surveyors, when given the task of determining the international boundary line in the region (nominally at 45.00°N), decided to place the border right through the centre of the village along what is now CanUSA Street. Beebe is home to 975 Canadians (1991) and an equally small number of Americans.

The villages of Rock Island and Beebe Plain, Quebec were made part of Stanstead, Quebec (population 3000) in 1995.

Beebe

Beebe granite or "Stanstead Grey Granite" is famous for its use in architectural design; the production of granite from the region may well be the largest industry, with much of the stone being used in the construction of tombstones and memorials.

A former rail line which once joined Magog to Beebe before crossing the US border was abandoned and removed by the Canadian Pacific Railroad in 1989-1991; the former right-of-way remains open for recreational use (Biking the old railbed) although the quality of the trail varies from good to rough and rocky.

Rock Island/Derby Line

Rock Island/Derby Line is best known for the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, deliberately constructed on the international border and opened in 1904. The original owners were a binational couple; Mr. Carlos F. Haskell was an American businessman from Derby Line VT who owned a number of sawmills while Mrs. Haskell was born Canadian. The intent was that people on both sides of the border would have use of the facility, which is now a designated historic site.

In some places, the international border runs through individual homes, so that meals prepared in one country are eaten in the other. An entire tool-and-die factory, once operated by the Butterfield division of Litton Industries, is also divided in two by the border.

Stanstead

Stanstead, Quebec is a village with largely United Empire Loyalist roots, founded circa-1796 by Johnson Taplin. It is the home of the Stanstead Journal, an English-language weekly newspaper founded in 1845, as well as Stanstead College.

For more information, see:

Beaux Villages - Stanstead, Québec

Eastern Townships tourism - Search - Villages

Memphrémagog tourism - Villages

Boston magazine - Danger at our door

MRC Memphrémagog - Municipalités (en français)

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