Alma ( 2011 Population 232, 2016 population 213) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in the parish of Alma, Albert County,

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 ...

, Canada. This village is centered on the small delta of the Upper Salmon River and Cleveland Brook, where they empty into Salisbury Bay. The headquarters of

Fundy National Park Fundy National Park is a national park of Canada located on the Bay of Fundy, near the village of Alma, New Brunswick. It was officially opened on 29 July 1950. The park showcases a rugged coastline which rises up to the Canadian Highlands, the ...

is in Alma West, making

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

a major part of the local economy.

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, of lobster and scallops, is another primary economic activity. On 1 January 2023, Alma will become part of the new village of Fundy Albert.

History

The settlement, known as Salmon River Settlement, began in earnest as the lumbering trade took root with the exchange of land-grant title, and construction of a sawmill on the Upper Salmon River by its new owners. Prior to this, loyalist John Coffin, who held the land grant, caused frustration for would-be settlers because of his absence. Thus began the most vibrant period in the community's history. The Parish of Alma was created surrounding the Village in 1856, commemorating the then-recent

Battle of Alma The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) was a battle in the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Septem ...

during the

Crimean war The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

. The Village municipality incorporated in 1966 following sweeping changes that disbanded county councils. It was 18 years prior that the federal government expropriated land in the village and parish west of the Upper Salmon River for the creation of

. Many homes were relocated east of the river as lumber barons gave way to the new land managers, the Parks Canada Agency. In addition to tourism related to the park, lobster and scallop fishing are an important industry based out of Alma's tidal harbour.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Alma had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Notable people

Alma was the birthplace of

Molly Kool Myrtle 'Molly' Kool (February 23, 1916 – February 25, 2009) was a Canadian sea captain. She is recognized as being one of the first North American registered female sea captains or ship master. She was the first female Master Mariner in Cana ...

, who in 1939 became Master Mariner for offshore sailing, a captain, a first in the Western World, sailing a commercial Bay of Fundy scow sloop between ports. A monument on the Alma waterfront marks her accomplishment.

Images

File:Settlement view from bridge.jpg, View from Alma Bridge. File:Panorama Alma.jpg, The village as viewed from the water File:Bay of Fundy High Tide.jpg, Harbour at high tide. File:Bay of Fundy Low Tide.jpg, Harbour at low tide.

Climate

Alma has a relatively cool, wet and snowy

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

with significant seasonal differences in spite of its near-ocean location. Summers are warm but relatively short, whereas winters are relatively cold but milder than inland areas.

References

External links

Village of Alma
{{Subdivisions of New Brunswick, towns=yes, villages=yes, counties=yes, state=expanded Communities in Albert County, New Brunswick Villages in New Brunswick