Grand-Bouctouche is a Canadian town in Kent 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 ...

History

Bouctouche was originally named Tjipogtotjg (pronounced ''Chebooktoosk''), a Mi'kmaq word meaning "Great Little Harbour". The region was next settled by brothers Francois LeBlanc and Charles LeBlanc, and brothers Isidore Bastarache and Joseph Bastarache in 1785 as an Acadian community. "La Croix commémorative aux fondateurs de Bouctouche" was unveiled August 29, 1954, to pay tribute to the founders of the town, who first arrived in 1785. It says "We remember François and Hélène (née Breau) LeBlanc; Charlitte and first wife Marie (née Breau) LeBlanc, and his second wife Madeleine (née Girouard); and Joseph and Marie (née Girouard) Bastarache". The stones at the base of the cross indicate the origins of the settlers who came from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, Grand-Pré,

Memramcook Memramcook, sometimes also spelled Memramcouke or Memramkouke, is a village in Westmorland County, New Brunswick, Canada. Located in south-eastern New Brunswick, the community is predominantly people of Acadian descent who speak the Chiac der ...

and Bouctouche. During the 19th century the area also attracted immigrants from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

among them the forefathers of one of Bouctouche's best-known sons,

K.C. Irving Kenneth Colin Irving, (March 14, 1899 – December 13, 1992) was a Canadian businessman whose business began with a family sawmill in Bouctouche, N.B., in 1882. In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Biography Early life Bor ...

. Bouctouche was struck by a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...

on August 6, 1879. On 1 January 2023, Bouctouche was renamed Grand-Bouctouche and annexed the local service district (LSD) of Sainte-Anne-de-Kent and portions of the LSDs of the parish of Richibucto, the parish of Sainte-Marie, and the parish of Wellington.The community's name remains in official use. Revised census figures have not been released.

Geography

The town is located at the mouth of the

Bouctouche River The Buctouche River (colloquially spelt Bouctouche) is a river in eastern New Brunswick, Canada which empties into the Buctouche Bay in the Northumberland Strait in the town of Bouctouche. The river's name means "Big Little Harbour" in the Mi'km ...

on the coast of the

Northumberland Strait The Northumberland Strait (French: ''détroit de Northumberland'') is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada. The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf's eastern, southern, and western sh ...

, approximately 40 kilometres northeast of Moncton. It is the first municipality in New Brunswick to adopt a Green Plan for the working of the municipality in 2006.

Climate

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, Bouctouche 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. Population trend Religious make-up (2001) Income (2006) Mother Tongue language (2016) Statistics Canada
/ref>

Tourist attractions

*La Dune de Bouctouche, known by its first inhabitants as the Great Little Harbour, has hiking and cycling trails that are part of the New Brunswick Trail system. There are 12 kilometres of whispering sands making up the dunes easily viewed from a boardwalk along a conservation area known as the Irving Eco Centre. La Dune de Bouctouche consists of a 9.7 km long ridge of sand formed over centuries by the wind and stormy seas. The dune has almost enclosed the bay area over its full length leaving an opening to the bay at its mouth that is a 1.8 km wide opening and the dune is still expanding today. * Le Pays de la Sagouine, based on

Antonine Maillet Antonine Maillet, (; born May 10, 1929) is an Acadian novelist, playwright, and scholar. She was born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick, Canada."Antonine Maillet." ''Paroles d'Acadie : Anthologie de la littérature acadienne (1958-2009)'', edited by ...

's award-winning book ''La Sagouine'', is a theme park filled with Acadian entertainment and history. Their activities include dramatic reproductions of Antonine's plays. *Irving Eco Centre Industrialist

Kenneth Colin Irving Kenneth Colin Irving, (March 14, 1899 – December 13, 1992) was a Canadian businessman whose business began with a family sawmill in Bouctouche, N.B., in 1882. In 1989, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. Biography Early life Bor ...

was born in Bouctouche, many of his businesses, including Kent Homes, maintain operations there, and his descendants have set aside an area of natural resources to be protected.

Notable people

Sister cities

* St. Martinville, Louisiana, United States * Châtellerault, France

References

External links

Town of Bouctouche
{{Authority control , additional=Q106165877 Populated coastal places in Canada Towns in New Brunswick Lighthouses in New Brunswick