Qualla: The Algonquin Resort

The Algonquin Resort: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Skeezix1000, CC BY-SA 3.0. "No hay fever here." That was the pitch. In the late nineteenth century, when wealthy residents of sweltering inland cities like Montreal, Boston, and New York sought relief from summer heat and its attendant miseries, advertisements for the Algonquin Hotel in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, promised something almost medicinal: clean air from the Bay of Fundy, the restorative powers of the local Samson Spring, and "a general air of restfulness." The hotel also offered saltwater baths -- seawater pumped uphill from Passamaquoddy Bay to tanks in the attic, dispensed through specially designed bathtubs with four taps, two fresh and two salt. It was a remarkable sales proposition, and it worked. The Algonquin became the most famous building in New Brunswick, a Tudor Revival landmark whose guest list reads like a roll call of North American power.

Read more: The Algonquin Resort on Qualla

Image: Skeezix1000 | CC BY-SA 3.0

The Algonquin Resort: Fire and Reinvention

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wren, Thomas R, Public domain. The original Algonquin was a massive wooden Shingle Style building erected in 1889 by the St. Andrews Land Company, which had been established six years earlier by American businessmen who recognized the tourism potential of this bay-side town. Designed by a Boston architecture f...

Read more: The Algonquin Resort on Qualla

Image: Wren, Thomas R | Public domain

The Algonquin Resort: The Railway and the Resort

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wren, Thomas R, Public domain. The Algonquin's fortunes were inseparable from the Canadian Pacific Railway. George Stephen, the CPR's first president, was a major shareholder in the New Brunswick Railway, which served St. Andrews. When Stephen retired in 1888, his successor William Cornelius Van Horne inherite...

Read more: The Algonquin Resort on Qualla

Image: Wren, Thomas R | Public domain

The Algonquin Resort: Presidents, Princes, and Prime Ministers

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Wren, Thomas R, Public domain. The Algonquin's guest register is a condensed history of North American politics. Theodore Roosevelt stayed here, as did Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, visited during their marriage. John A. Macdonald, Canada's first ...

Read more: The Algonquin Resort on Qualla

Image: Wren, Thomas R | Public domain

The Algonquin Resort: Changing Hands, Enduring Appeal

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Skeezix1000, CC BY-SA 3.0. The CPR sold the Algonquin in 1970, beginning a period of ownership changes that tested the resort's resilience. The Government of New Brunswick leased the property in 1973 and purchased it outright in 1984, including the golf courses and private beach at Katy's Cove. Throughout ...

Read more: The Algonquin Resort on Qualla

Image: Skeezix1000 | CC BY-SA 3.0