Summers in St Andrews: Canada's Idyllic Seaside Resort

Richard Wilbur is the author of The Rise of French New Brunswick and
H.H. Stevens, 1878–1973 and co-author of Silver Harvest. His latest
book is Horse-Drawn Carriages and Sleighs: Elegant Vehicles from New
England and New Brunswick.

Except for a change in title and slightly smaller differently placed
photos, this is essentially the same book as Walker’s No Hay Fever and
a Railway: Summers in St. Andrews, Canada’s First Seaside Resort,
which was published in 1989. This latest edition, which has a more
understandable title, also has sharper photos more closely wedded to
Walker’s lively and often witty text.

Walker’s story begins with a well-researched account of how St.
Andrews became a summer resort. She looks at its various hotels and when
they were built, including the Algonquin, which was rebuilt after a
disastrous fire in 1914. This is followed by “A Vignette” (perhaps
the most personal part of the book inasmuch as it describes her
childhood summers “between the wars” at St. Andrews) that looks at
the wonderful collection of mostly affluent people who arrived each
summer (mostly by CPR passenger train) to while away the days with daily
swims at Katy’s Cove, the Algonquin’s unique saltwater bathing
centre. The fact that this facility was segregated—summer guests only
in the morning and townies (many of whom worked in the summer homes) in
the afternoon—speaks to the social divide. Nowadays, anyone can buy
season’s family tickets to swim at the Cove; but back in the 1930s,
the two social worlds remained far apart.

The largest section of the book, “People and Houses,” provides a
fascinating glimpse into the lives of the owners of the magnificent
buildings that gave St. Andrews its reputation as a summer playground of
the rich and famous. Walker also includes a two-page map with numbers
indicating each home’s location in the town. Again, the photos add
immeasurably to the informative text.