Ariel shots of Long Island and Mather Island

Mathers Island- The small island on the right- less than a hundred feet off of the North-Eastern tip of Long Island in the Kennebecasis River, is Mathers Island. The island is little more than 35 acres of woodland and the cottages – some well kept and maintained, others the ruins of structures built for Reverend Mathers boys.
The island is surrounded by sandy beaches, and the occasional jumble of rocks jut into the river. The northern tip of the island has fewer strutures, and is covered in mixed forest. As you walk along the trail traversing the length of the island, you come towards  shaded by towering conifers and dotted with young saplings encroaching on the trails. Three-quarters down, and the trails split off, leading to the cabins and homes of Jim, his visitors, and members of the Mathers Island corporation. Here as well are the gardens and animals of the island – rabbits, chickens, sled dogs, and the occasion wandering cat. A two minute walk to either side here will take you to a beach, where boats  have landed for a hundred years. If you continue along the trail, the island ends at a rocky point – a point once occupied by two wharves, doubling as docks for the steamships suppplying the river.



Kennebecasis River is a tributary of the Saint John River in southern New Brunswick, Canada. The name Kennebecasis is thought to be derived from the Mi'kmaq "Kenepekachiachk", meaning "little long bay place." It runs for approximately 95 kilometres, draining an area in the Caledonia Highlands, an extension of the Appalachian Mountains, inland from the Bay of Fundy

The river's source is in the foothills of Albert County, near the rural community of Goshen. It runs southwest through the community of Penobsquis; several tributaries join the river in the town of Sussex several kilometres further west.
Between Sussex and the river's junction with the Saint John River at Millidgeville (part of Saint John), the Kennebecasis River runs through a well-defined river valley which has become one of the primary land transportation routes in the southern part of the province, hosting the Route 1 expressway and the Canadian National Railway line to the Port of Saint John.
The upper two thirds of the Kennebecasis River passes through pastoral rural countryside consisting of Acadian mixed forest and various agricultural areas, notably dairy farms around Sussex. Southwest of Sussex, the river becomes increasingly larger as it passes the communities of Norton and Hampton, before it empties into a delta-like area called Hampton Marsh. West of Hampton, the Kennebecasis flows in a broad fjord-like glacial valley which defines the southern side of the Kingston Peninsula. At its junction with the Saint John River, the Kennebecasis River helps to form Grand Bay.
Several large islands can be found in the river, such as Kennebecasis Island just off-shore from Summerville on the Kingston Peninsula, and uninhabited (with the exception of a few summer cottages) Long Island, located near Rothesay



Long Island The darker island in this image 

 Long Island is the largest island in the Saint John drainage basin; it is 7 km in length and 2 km in width at its widest point.
Bounded by a cliff feature rising 200 feet from the River, the woodland comprises distinct stands of mature forest, regenerating farm fields and treed boggy areas. A trail takes visitors from the main footpath running down the island into Red Spruce/Balsam Fir stands and areas of mature Eastern Hemlock. Open areas have dense groundcover of Hay-scented Fern. Approaching the cliff face, the woodland has a series of parallel, deeply-incised ravines, one of which has a small waterfall and stream. Intermixed with the predominant Red Spruce are populations of Eastern White Cedar, Balsam Fir thickets and Striped Maple (also known as Moose Maple, because it is a favoured food of moose). Rare Arctic disjunct flora such as Livelong Saxifrage and Alpine Woodsia are known at only a few locations in the province, but these, along with nesting Peregrine Falcons (a threatened species) find respite on the cliff face. Moose, deer and coyote make their homes on the Long Island woodland, and over one-hundred species of birds have been observed. On the side of the Island away from the cliff, mature Eastern White Cedar stands slope down to a sandy beach.
Access is by boat, either from Rothesay or by launching your own boat at the Rothesay boat launch, entering the Island and its pathway at the northernmost beach.