The Grand Bay is a body of water at the confluence of the

Wolastoq Wolastoq ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: “The River of the Good Wave”), changed in 1604 by Samuel de Champlain to ''Fleuve Saint-Jean'' ( eng, Saint John River), is a river flowing within the Dawnland region for approximately from headwaters in ...

and

Kennebecasis Kennebecasis often refers to the Kennebecasis River and surrounding Kennebecasis Valley in New Brunswick, Canada. It can also mean: New Brunswick, Canada * Kennebecasis Island, an island in the Kennebecasis River. * Kennebecasis Valley High Schoo ...

rivers in southern

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. The bay is approximately 19.7 km² and spans across the boundary between Saint John and

Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

counties.

The Grand Bay's northern terminus is generally accepted to be Brandy Point on the western bank of the Wolastoq and Lands End on the

Kingston Peninsula The Kingston Peninsula is a peninsula in southern New Brunswick, Canada, located between the Saint John River (New Brunswick), Saint John River and the Kennebecasis River in Kings County, New Brunswick, Kings County. The peninsula was the site of ...

. To the south, the Grand Bay extends to Boars Head in Saint John's west side where the river splits into the South Bay and the Pokiok Narrows. From Boars Head to Lands End, the Grand Bay extents 2.4 miles northwest and averages over 0.9 mile in width. Its eastern extremity is the head of

Kennebecasis Island Kennebecasis Island (also called McCormick's Island) is a small Canadian island located in the Province of New Brunswick at the confluence of the Saint John River and Kennebecasis River. Its proximity to the city of Saint John has resulted in ...

, beyond which are the Kennebecasis Bay and Milkish Channel. At times, the water is quite rough got the passage of small craft.

Name

It is often claimed that the Grand Bay was named by

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...

in 1604, but this story is likely

apocrypha Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...

l. Champlain does not mention this visit in his journals. While Champlain describes crossing the Revering Falls and entering a wider section of the river with three islands – likely Crow Island, Middle Island, and Goat Island – he is explicit that they did not venture any further up the river. W. F. Ganong's work on place names in New Brunswick does not list the Grand Bay as one of the names given by Champlain either, suggesting that it was given by later Acadian settlers sometime over the next one hundred and fifty years. The Wolastoqiyik referred to the Grand Bay as ''Pekweetaypaykek'' or ''Pehqitkopekek''. However, it is possible that this name is only a translation of the French name and not the original. Both ''Pekweetaypaykek'' and Grand Bay have been adopted as names for settlements along the banks of the Grand Bay. * Ketepec (Saint John County): In 1902, William F. Ganong renamed the Sutton railway stop in Lancaster Parish Ketepec: an

anglicisation Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

of ''Pekweetaypaykek''. This name remains associated with the community around the former station. * Grand Bay (Kings County): Another settlement across the county line in Westfield Parish was referred to as Grand Bay as early as 1869. In 1972, the Village of Pamdenec expanded to include this settlement and took on the name Grand Bay. The Village, and later Town, of Grand Bay existed until 1998. The name continues to be used as part of the amalgamated Town of Grand Bay-Westfield; though most of the community is not actually on the banks of the Grand Bay. * Grand Bay (Saint John County): There was also a reference to another Grand Bay in the 1905 Annual Report of the Chief Commission of Public Works for New Brunswick. No precise location is given for this locale.

References

{{coord, 45.304, -66.160, type:waterbody_region:CA-NB, display=title Bays of New Brunswick