If the Haskell Free Library and Opera House had nothing to do with its placement on an international border, it would still be an institution worth celebrating and worth your visit. I love libraries, and the Haskell is one of the world's best library attractions. By far, not among the biggest and nothing like, say, the New York Public Library with its twin lions and acres of books on shelves or the Boston Public Library with its voluminous archive of American historical documents and its location anchoring Copley Square. On the other hand, the Haskell has many features those two libraries cannot match.

Be sure to check the website -- www.HaskellOpera.com, available in both English and French -- and arrive in time for the tours led occasionally throughout the day by the library staff. Don't forget for a minute that this is a working library patronized by people (and taxpayers) of the two towns of Derby and Stanstead. Treat these folks as you'd like to be treated if visitors trampled over you while you were in your library back home. Know, also, that they welcome your visit.

The two communities which gave rise to this triumph of reading, accumulated knowledge, and the performing arts provided us with something rather rare: a library combined with a community performing arts center. Have you seen that combination often? Probably not.

On the ground floor, the library is a bright woodsy Romanesque/Queen Anne Revival delight and a treasure for any small community. (It's on the national historic registers of both countries.) Upstairs, the 400 (+/-) seats in the auditorium are arranged in a main floor and a balcony, fitted in many cases with hat racks for the time a century ago when men wore hats more often than now. The stage is spacious; the whole thing is a post-Victorian interior masterpiece. The theater's schedule brings musicals, concerts, comedians, and other U.S. and Canadian performers to this active stage.

Now, combine all that ordinary stuff of libraries and theaters with the Haskell's proud location on the international border of Canada and the United States. No accident this, but rather planned by the Haskell family donors as a way to encourage friendship between two peoples just a century after the War of 1812 and the last of the military incursions from British North America into the new United States, or vice versa. The placement on the border also pre-dates, of course, the anti-terrorist restrictions on the American side in the post-9/11 years. And so the Haskell is an oddity worth visiting and worth saving. A thick black line down the floor of the reading room in the library and the auditorium upstairs treads in a straight line from the middle of the turret windows, but not really considered any further in the design of the building. It's as if the architect said, "We're going to design this building to fit the site, not to conform to an arbitrary boundary line. You can draw the line on the floor if it suits you, but no wall and no doorway will rest on that line to turn one room 'American' and another room 'Canadian.' We'll just let things fall where they may to best serve patrons from either country." So, yes, the reading room is in both countries, the main foyer is in the States, and the stacks are in Canada. Upstairs, the bulk of the auditorium is in the States but the stage is in Canada. The stairs to the second floor are in the U.S., but the newly installed elevator is in Canada. It matters not.

What matters is that this is a great place to visit because it celebrates both peoples and two languages and cultures. Even more, though your visited will be casually monitored by both U.S. and Canadian authorities who keep count so that the people going in from one country exit to the country from which they entered (and who have caught not a few number of people who try to use the Haskell for nefarious schemes of illegal alien passage or illegal arms smuggling), no passport is required and the freedom of inquiry and expression guaranteed to the people of both countries is maintained and encouraged in this remarkable facility.

The border just outside the library's turret window tower is marked in season by well-tended flower pots in lieu of a fence. The flower pots, guarded on most of my visits by an officer on the Quebec side, are a welcome change from the somewhat attractive but sadly needed wrought-iron fences and gates on the border across streets that joined Derby Line, Vt., and the Rock Island village of Stanstead, Que. That the fences have become routine on this peaceful border makes the Haskell Free Library and Opera House even more of a welcome exception to nearly all the rules on this border.

A personal story: I once drove here in a car borrowed from my mother. I promised her I would not drive the car into Canada. As I pulled away from the Haskell's U.S. parking lot behind the building off Caswell Avenue, I realized the front tires of the parked car must've been mere inches from the Canadian border. I proudly told my Mom that I had dutifully followed her instructions down to the inch!

This opera house is UNIQUE because it is in BOTH Canada and USA!!!! You can sit in a seat in the open house right ON THE BORDER without leaving your own country!!! The place has two addresses: the one listed above and 96 Caswell Avenue, Derby Line, Vermont. Moreover, there is a FABULOUS theatre group called QNEK Productions. Founded by Lynn Leimer, the Artistic Managing Director, who is currently giving the audience a great performance in ANNIE, the local talent is also well-rehearsed by another great Associate Director: Susan-Lynn Johns. Anita Morin really gets the music flowing under her direction. I have NEVER been disappointed by a performance there. The tickets are usually $15 for adults, and $13 for seniors and kids with Canadian at par. (802-873-3022 box office, and 802-334-2216 off-site.). The Opera House is a fine venue with restored plaster cherubs,and painted stage curtains depicting scenes from a more elegant time. Parking is free in the bank lot on route #5 courtesy of Community Bank, one of the sponsors. QNEK Productions really unite The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont and Stanstead, Quebec just as the Opera House founders planned so many years ago to showcase talent in both countries.