Stonehammer Geopark

This is new. A Geopark is an area recognized by the Global Geoparks Network, supported by UNESCO, which has exceptional geological heritage. This certainly applies to the area of southern Fundy in New Brunswick. The rocks tell an almost continuous story from the first glimmers of life a billion years ago through to the last Ice Age a mere blink of a geologic eye ago. Stonehammer Geopark is the first in North America and it’s an association of several sites, so we visited three of them to get a feel for the network: Saint John’s Reversing Falls, the New Brunswick Museum and Lily’s Café.

The Reversing Falls (or Rapids, as they should perhaps be called) are a direct result of the huge Fundy tides. Near its mouth the St. John River seethes through a narrow rock gap - when the Fundy tide is low. But as the tidal tons come rushing in, the ocean backs up the river through the gap and reverses the flow entirely into a broiling cauldron in the opposite direction.

The New Brunswick Museum in downtown Saint John tells this story as well as many more from the Geopark. Travel through geologic time in displays that show the creatures and the rocks that are the fabric of the Fundy landscape. Lily’s Café is a very civilized part of the Geopark set on the shores of Lily Lake in Rockwood Park, itself a geological mishmash. Excellent food and a romantic place to watch the sun go down.

www.stonehammergeopark.com and www.nbm-mnb.ca and www.lilylake.ca