Don't Mind: Sealskin Rock - "Stoic Sealskin Rock"

Hello, and well met listeners.

Thank you for joining me once again on this new episode of the Little Places Travel Journal podcast with me, your host, Molly Dolman.

This week, we continue our exploration of Canada's beautiful maritime providences.

I've told you about breathtaking spots to watch the sunrise, deep caves that roar under ocean waves, getaway locales for adventurous couples, and more across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island.

Today, we're back in New Brunswick with my trusty RV wheelman, making our way along the scenic coast to catch a glimpse of the mysterious chateau on Sealskin Rock.

Here are my travel journal snippets of Sealskin Rock, so please relax, listen and imagine with me the salt spray, shining stone and calling gulls of a singular, isolated mansion lost to time.

There's no reaching Sealskin Rock.

The small private island is a geological anomaly, cropping up from the Gulf of St.

Lawrence, just under three kilometres from the nearest mainland shore.

To get a view of the small island, I first drove Wilmond up Route 11, a provincial highway that runs near the calming stretches of the New Brunswick coast.

With good weather, the drive is peaceful and serene.

Homes small and large with spacious yards dot along the shore.

Each has a porch looking out over the water, usually adorned with a porch swing or rocking chair.

A particularly rocky section of the coast from which Route 11 diverts slightly leads down a rocky road to a small house and a privately owned dock.

There, with just enough space to turn Wilmond around, I stood with binoculars in hand to try my luck at spotting Sealskin Rock.

Any fog or rolling mist on the open water can block a view of the strange distant island.

I was lucky to have a gorgeously clear day with crystal blue skies and still dark oceans.

Within a minute, I had found Sealskin Rock with my binoculars and saw the stunning old manor that sits atop of the dark stone.

Silskin Rock is topped with the Grotte Chateau, a large Gothic revival-styled manor once belonging to the Darns-le-Grotte family, who sailed to Canada from France in the first wave of European immigration to what would become Canada.

The patriarch of the Darns-Le Grotte family earned his fortune through silver mining in Quebec and fell in love with the coast of the nearby maritimes during his own travels.

The Grot Chateau, constructed of dark stone, rises seamlessly from the almost black natural plateau that constitutes Silskin Rock.

The dark exterior is accented with bright glass windows, though many appear to have fallen into regrettable disrepair.

The manor has two towers and several floors, with possibly more down the rock itself.

Yet, as the manor and its land are all privately privately owned, not much is known of the extensive home's interior.

The Dansler Grop family is believed to have sold the home and the island in the 1900s, but information on the current owners is not easily available.

And if they want to keep their anonymity, this is certainly not the podcast to bother them about it.

But standing on the rolling shore, listening to ocean waves and glancing out at sealskin rock in the distance evokes feelings of adventure.

The nice older gentleman who lives at the house near where I parked politely told me to take my time,

as not many come to look out over the gulf at the magnificent manor.

Its decorative balconies and sharp descending natural stone stairs, leading to an old dock on the rocks below, fill me with mental glimpses of dramatic 1920s spy romances or lightning-struck stormwinds whipping a rogue-clad widow's hair as she awaits news of her husband's ill-fated voyage.

A small detour to glimpse Sealskin Rock is really the heart of the Little Places podcast.

Not a true visit, but a fleeting glance in the foggy distance that puts the world in perspective.

There is so much to see and do that taking a detour to sit on the shore and spy out over the water at a daydream inspiring manner is a regrettably rare indulgence.

But those are the kinds of indulgences I wish for you, my friends and listeners, and that I aim to share here.

Thank you for joining me for today's episode.

I've been your guide Molly and for more information on today's little place

please check the show notes for links and transcripts.

Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss future episodes to Little Places.

And as always, I hope you have safe and happy travels wherever you may be.

From a trip across the globe to a walk to the park, every little place can bring you something new.

Is this really the place?

It sounds like it's going to be really nice.

It sounds like it's going to be really old and completely isolated.

Sure, but you've been complaining about this place non-stop because of the loud neighbors, and now you're gonna complain about this one too?

We haven't even gotten there yet.

I bet it'll be quiet.

This has got to be a joke.

That couldn't have got the right name.

No, he wrote it all down: Sealskin Rock, New Brunswick.

Oh,

but he wrote Grote Chateau as Grot without an E, and Chateau is C-H-A-T-O-U-E.

Sounds about right.

What you want for dinner?

Ramen?

Mac and cheese?

Never mind.

We're out of ramen.

I'm thinking mac and cheese.

I'll put the water on.

Don't mind sealskin rock.