does anyone know anything on history on partage island?

Question

i am looking for web site in the saint john NB curious abut what that sland was for....

Answer 1

Nick-named 'Canada's Emerald Isle'

Partridge Island was the first quarantine station in Canada and as such is a National and Provincial Historic Site. First used as a quarantine station as early as 1785, it received its largest influx of immigrants in the 1840s during the Great Famine in Ireland (the "Potato Famine"). A shortage of potatoes occurred because the British exported their potatoes leaving millions of Irish to starve to death.

During this time period over 4,500 sick people were cared for on the Island. The hospitals could only accommodate 200 people. The island had no source of fresh water and had to get it from the mainland. Dr. Collins, the practicing doctor on the island, died of typhus in 1847. There is no record of those who died or were buried there. The cemeteries on the island were consecrated in 1925. Reburial of remains took place in August 1988 in St. Mary's Cemetery on Loch Lomond Road.

On the Island there is a large Celtic Cross dedicated in 1927 in memory of the Irish immigrants who died of typhus either on their passage to Saint John or on the island after arriving. As many as 2,000 Irish died during this time period, although only 600 were buried on the island. The cross was re-dedicated on August 14, 1985. A smaller replica of this cross was placed at the end of Prince William Street on St. Patrick's Square in 1967.

When the island was a quarantine station, a doctor checked each ship before it was allowed to dock in Saint John. If disease was rampant, the ship was quarantined for two weeks at the captain's expense. To avoid this delay, captains would sometimes throw dead bodies or sick people overboard before the doctor inspected the ship. Partridge Island had the only immigration officer who won 100% of his cases.

There was a battery radio observation post on the island during WWII. There is a documented account of a German spy boat landing near St. Martins; one spy was caught.

Plaques dedicated to the island's history have been brought over from the mainland. Over the years many buildings there were torn down because they were a fire hazard. Remaining buildings were burned by vandals in 1999. Only the lighthouse remains.