Aroostook Valley Country club entrance showing US and Canadian flags

Aroostook Valley Country Club illegal border crossing - panoramio

Aroostook Valley Country Club with flags

The Aroostook Valley Country Club is a

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

which straddles the Canada–US border, between the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

and the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. The club, located near

Perth-Andover Perth-Andover (2016 population: 1,590) is a village in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. Geography The village is divided by the Saint John River (New Brunswick), Saint John River with Perth on the east ba ...

, New Brunswick and

Fort Fairfield, Maine Fort Fairfield is a town in Aroostook County, eastern Maine, United States, located along the Canada–US border. The population was 3,322 at the 2020 census. History Fort Fairfield is named for John Fairfield, 13th and 16th governor of Mai ...

, has its course (except part of the tee area for the ninth hole, and possibly part of a sand trap on the first hole) and

clubhouse Clubhouse may refer to: Locations * The meetinghouse of: ** A club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal ** In the United States, a country club ** In the United Kingdom, a gentlemen's club * A ...

on the Canadian side of the border and its parking lot and

pro shop A pro shop is a sporting-goods shop within a public or private-membership amateur sporting activities facility of some kind, most commonly a golf course, where it will typically be located in the country club building. In the case of golf pro s ...

on the American side. Although the course is located entirely on one side of the border, three holes are close enough to the border that crooked shots enter the United States. The club was founded in 1929; its position on the border allowed American golfers to bypass

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

without passing through customs. Current club membership is roughly half Canadian and half American. Russell Road border sign

Since the only entry to the course is on the American side of the border, American golfers can use the entire club without reporting to a Port of Entry. Canadian golfers historically used a small local road, Brown Road, to cross the border and access the country club; while Canada had a seasonal border checkpoint on the road, entry to the U.S. had been unsecured since the 1950s. In 2008, however, the U.S. border officials closed the unpatrolled border crossing on Brown Road, citing increased concerns over terrorism and a drug sale on the course in 2006. The closure required Canadian golfers to make a detour through Fort Fairfield to access the course and was criticized by the Fort Fairfield town manager and the country club's golf pro. U.S. Senator

Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of Co ...

and Canadian MP Mike Allen proposed that U.S. border officials establish a new seasonal border checkpoint on Brown Road. As of 2019, the

Four Falls Border Crossing The Four Falls Border Crossing is a one-way crossing between Fort Fairfield, Maine and Four Falls, New Brunswick on the Canada–US border. Traffic is seasonally permitted to enter Canada at this location, but people entering the United States f ...

is a seasonally open border checkpoint along Brown Road on the Canadian side. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

of 2020–21, Canadian traffic to the golf club was diverted away from the US by crossing from Brown Road southbound onto private land to reach the parking lot, then operating golf carts beside Russell Road (but not on it, as the road is in the US) to reach the course.

Scorecard

References

External links

Aroostook Valley Country Club
{{coord, 46.800487, -67.789412, display=title Golf clubs and courses in Maine Golf clubs and courses in New Brunswick Canada–United States border Fort Fairfield, Maine Victoria County, New Brunswick