Cocagne () is a Canadian community, formerly part of an eponymous

local service district A local service district is a type of designated place in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. In the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, a local service district is a defined area led by an elected committee responsible for the deliv ...

(LSD) and later incorporated rural community, 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

It was named after

Cockaigne Cockaigne or Cockayne () is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist. ...

, a mythical paradise in medieval French literature. It is located at the mouth of the Cocagne River on 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 sho ...

William Francis Ganong William Francis Ganong, M.A., Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S.C., (19 February 1864 - 7 September 1941) was a Canadian biologist botanist, historian and cartographer. His botany career was spent mainly as a professor at Smith College in Northampton, Mass ...

identified the Mi'kmaq name as ''Wijulmacadie'', referring to a plant found along the river. In 1866 Cocagne was a farming community with about 65 families: in 1871 the community and surrounding district had a population of 900: in 1898 Cocagne was a sub-port of entry with a population of 250. A post office branch has been located here since 1837. On 1 January 2023, the rural community of Cocagne amalgamated with all or part of six LSDs to form the new rural community of Beausoleil. The community's name remains in official use, as do those of other communities within the former rural community.

Geography

The community is located around the mouth of the Cocagne River in Cocagne Bay at the crossroads of Route 535 and Route 134. Cocagne is also located on the northern terminus of Route 530

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Cocagne 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.

Education

*École Blanche-Bourgeois

Notable people

Auguste Théophile Léger Auguste Théophile Léger (January 4, 1852 – October 28, 1923) was a Canadian politician from the province of New Brunswick. Born in Cocagne, Kent County, New Brunswick, the son of Francois Auguste and Sophia Eleanore (Bertrand) Léger, ...

(1852-1923) - New Brunswick politician *

Alfred Edmond Bourgeois Alfred Edmond Bourgeois (October 26, 1872 – January 24, 1939) was a Canadian Liberal Party politician who represented the riding of Kent. He ran in the Kent by-election in 1923 and 1930 Events January * January 15 – The Mo ...

(1872-1939) - New Brunswick politician, clerk, landlord and merchant. *

Allison Dysart Albert Allison Dysart (March 22, 1880 – December 8, 1962) was a New Brunswick politician, lawyer and judge. Dysart was born in Cocagne, New Brunswick and was educated at University of St. Joseph's College in Memramcook, the Ontario Agricul ...

(1880-1962) - New Brunswick politician, lawyer and judge *

Louis-Prudent-Alexandre Robichaud Louis-Prudent-Alexandre Robichaud (25 January 1890 – 17 March 1971) was a New Brunswick political figure and jurist. Robichaud was born in Cocagne, New Brunswick. He was educated at the University of St. Joseph's College where he earned his B ...

(1890-1971) - New Brunswick political figure and jurist. * Michel Cormier (b. 1957) - Canadian journalist, lecturer and author.

References

External links

Communities in Kent County, New Brunswick Rural communities in New Brunswick Communities in Greater Shediac Lighthouses in New Brunswick {{NewBrunswick-geo-stub