Canusa Street: Where the dotted yellow line is the official US-CAN border

we want to sell the house not because we want to it because we have to getting older it's it's it's a huge house we're only two we have six bedroom we have three full bathroom we have more than an acre of land so it's it's a it's a huge house you live one can do the street but you have to report yourself to the custom even if you want to go on the other side of the street you you stop of the Dereham you see I want to see my new neighbor so it's really too country on one street I stole a story that back when they did the line that the guys doing the line were were drinking quite a bit so the Lions will crooked I was but you know that's what we always heard urban flooding is it true or not and I was told the line was supposed to be it's not they're supposed to be back probably about a quarter of a mile that understate CA n for Canada USA for the United States and the actual border is the centerline of that road [Music] canoes isn't the only place where this happens we have houses that are divided there is an international boundary the American border actually does go into our main shop over here about ten feet into the shop this here right now we are crossing the border you can see with the marker it's it's odd that it would slice it right into but I don't know what the what the logic was so here we have the Official Plan of the township of Stansted the border crosses the island it it cuts off a little bit I was arrested by the Border Patrol about five years ago and put in their holding cell for several hours interrogating because I smuggled a pizza across that's a long story that goes with that but it was an interesting story it's not that it's extra special it's the Canadian pizzas are kind of different than American pizzas and you know it was it's right here and and I used to walk over and get one every now and then and and that's when the incident occurred that's at the time that they were really starting to crack down on on the border and I was arrested on that street where the flower pots are the flower pots weren't there at that time this is the Vermont climb back aboard er these flower pots when I grew up I crossed the border without thinking we played in the brook over there we walked to the park and Derby Line Vermont without reporting we just went it was part of our this was all part of my town until now it's not if you go back to the very beginning of the border it's basically that mistake that we have today with the fall of New France the two governors you write each other and determine we're gonna have to set the border line somewhere between our two British colonies and so they each appoint a surveyor one man's name is Valentine the other is Collins now these guys are known in local folklore for screwing up the border instead of a straight line along the 45th parallel they ended up with a zigzag when they drew that line it wasn't exact it wanders from the 45th parallel in fact that 45th parallel is that way it's not outwards the this border should be down there but you know my geography teacher said it was alcohol involved but you know Treaty 1842 is the other thing the sandblasted on there so in 1842 we had a treaty that was signed and that determined the border is going to stay where the surveyors placed it which was dead wrong in the late 1800s the first custom officer was sent to this area he described the people in this areas the most lawless people that he'd ever seen and the most disregard for the law that he'd seen because the people were as we're very accustomed just to cross him back and forth across the border without any questions being asked and transporting whatever they wish to take so when the first custom officer was assigned to this area the people did not receive him very well so they treated him very badly physically badly in the sense that they he was tarred and feathered and dragged and beaten because they wanted him to leave of course but he was stubborn and he said he was going to stay and then the custom got more office got more established and people got a little more accustomed to it but they still did a fair amount of smuggling and it's not quite as prevalent today but there's still as something that goes on in 1908 they signed a treaty with the Americans to set up the International Boundary Commission in many places the boundary was lost and we could no longer find where the markers were over the years it had grown in tremendously and it was hard to even see where the border was it caused some problems because some folks had sort of expanded on their their territory and built little sheds up in there and when all of a sudden they realized that the government was coming through and was in a clear cut in the space they had to scramble in and move what they had built there about forty fifty years ago an insurance company made us determine exactly where the border runs through the building and we have some varieties of electrical and Gorilla Tape and all kinds of things on the floor to show where the where the border runs through the building at the time we had two insurance companies and they started quarreling over who was going to pay a little small claim that we had submitted and they decided they would split it just that one time but we would need to have a surveyor come in and and indicate where the line runs through the building for future reference we have one insurance company now it's really just here for the tourists you know I was born not right here but but about a mile away seen a lot of interesting things in my life here changes and some are good and some are not so good well years ago it was completely different was very friendly we say there's a friendliest border in the world but since 9/11 has changed drastically as a young boy I remember we used to pedal across we still go down in Newport they get milkshakes or freezes and we get on their bikes and pedal across and we just wave to the custom officers today if you tried to do that I'm sure you'd be in jail and it costs you a $5,000 fine it has changed drastically especially the people residing on our Main Street which is really unique in the world it's divided by the border the white line is the border called canoes Avenue the Canadians in America and used to mingle with each other visit with each other but that has changed drastically you cannot now invite your friend across the line and him walk across and come over to have a beer with you for example or a hot dog now you have to go down and report to the customs and when you're done visiting in the guy in Canada you have to go back to American custom to report to them before you go home completely change people in what we came homeland security decided that that needed to be different procedures at the border it took about two years and after the changes came a lot of us who had worked from the 60s and 70s on up decided that maybe the changes were a little too much for us to continue working it was time time for us to go I think the world has changed and we've had to change with it fear creates a lot for us to deal with I'm standing on caduceus this is certainly a most unusual kind of location the international boundary runs diagonally up this street it's really I think it's a wonderful place to be it's like we are at the center of everything and it's a little town where everybody else each other what can we ask more once we cross the border we're no longer Americans and we're no longer Canadians we're curlers and there really are no lines I don't believe what I do sense you have a sense of relief when you cross the border you [Music]

Channel: Perry Walker

Views: 560,257

Keywords:

Id: bwz0gLHb5oM

Length: 10min 2sec (602 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 14 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/x1xnotorious]

Why are we wasting money on arresting a guy for carrying a pizza across the street? I really hope that didn't actually happen.

[u/cho_bits]

As a Vermonter, the most entertaining thing about this is the almost even split between strong Vermont accents and strong Canadian/Quebec accents

[u/Yakking_Yaks]

Why not fence this town off and put border control there, and allow the people in this town to go wherever the fuck they want to go inside it. Visitors can still access the town, and see the silly border through houses and in the middle of the street, but you physically cross the border once you're past border control on the edge of town.

[u/Sometimes_Stutters]

I grew up in a small town on the border of US and Canada. There are 2 towns separated by a river. Each town had a school, but students could choose which ones to attend. We were actually the only town in either country that shared sports programs, meaning Canadian students going to a Canadian school could participate in US highschool sporting events.

Anyways, it was never a problems crossing the border back and forth. We all had the proper paperwork, and the border agents knew who the locals were.

About 10 years ago it became much more of a hassel crossing the border, to the point that you just stopped doing it. It was sad. Half your town was cut off. It’s only gotten worse. Anyways, that’s where we are at today. I wish it was like Europe where crossing was less of a deal.

[u/ReverseBrindle]

This American Life covered the library, and how it's being used by families to visit when one member can't leave the US for fear of not being let back in, and the other cannot get a visa to visit the US (ex: Iranian in the US on a student visa) -- the door is on the US side but you can go into the library from Canada without going through the border entry process.

AFAIK the only other place in the US where you can do this sort of family reunion (Canada + US visits without going through a border crossing) is at Peace Arch Park in Blaine WA. Peace Arch Park has been used quite a bit recently by families where some members are in the US while others are in Canada -- it has been an essential way for people to get together, given the limited ability to cross the border due to COVID-19.

[u/MashedPotatoLogic]

What an interesting piece. Thanks for sharing it.

[u/Matrozi]

I live in a border city but in europe, the separation between the closest Germany city and my city in France is a bridge that you can cross on foot/bike, on car or by tramway. The two city kind of merge the public transportation to accomodate people going from Germany to France or vice versa and because it's schengen you don't have any custom, sometimes you have police officers at the tramway station in germany or in france checking IDs but not often.

It's very practical and tbh pretty cool to just one day get up and say "Hey, let's go to Germany buy groceries/hang out".

[u/kalabaddon]

Holy cow, They tared and feathered the first agent assigned to there town!

Also why not make the entire town a neutral zone, and leaving town entirely is when they get checked?

[u/krigo666]

Compare with this Netherlands/Belgium city (several videos):

Netherlands/Belgium border, same city: Baarle-Nassau/Baarle-Hertog