Grand Manan is a Canadian island in the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is the hi ...

. Grand Manan is also the name of an incorporated village, which includes the main island and all of its adjacent islands, except

White Head Island White Head Island is an island located in the Bay of Fundy. It is off the east coast of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. In 2011 the island had a population of 162. White Head Island is governed as a local service district. Its economy is ba ...

. It is governed as a village and is part of the province of New Brunswick. The point on the mainland closest to the island is near the town of Lubec, Maine, the easternmost point of the continental United States, across the Grand Manan Channel. Grand Manan is 32 kilometres south of Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick.

Toponymy

"Manan" is a corruption of ''mun-an-ook'' or ''man-an-ook'', meaning "island place" or "the island", from the

Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...

- Passamaquoddy- Penobscot First Nations who, according to oral history, used Grand Manan and its surrounding islands as a safe place for the elderly Passamaquoddy during winter months and as a sacred burial place (''ook'' means "people of"). In 1606

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 ...

sheltered on nearby White Head Island and produced a map calling the island "Manthane", which he later changed to "Menane" or "Menasne".

History

Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes charted the area around 1520, but the island does not appear clearly on a map until 1558, produced by Portuguese cartographer Diogo Homem. French merchant-explorer Étienne Bellenger visited the area in January 1583. In 1693, the island was granted to Paul D'Ailleboust, Sieur de Périgny as part of Champlain's " New France". D'Ailleboust did not take possession of it, and it reverted to the French Crown, in whose possession it remained until 1713, when it was traded to the British in the Treaty of Utrecht. The first permanent settlement was established in 1784, when Moses Gerrish gathered a group of settlers on an area of Grand Manan he called Ross Island, in honour of settler Thomas Ross. During the American Revolution, just off the island there were many naval battles between American privateers and British shipping. Because of the Treaty of Paris (1783), the U.S. considered Grand Manan to be its possession due to the island's proximity to Maine. Britain obtained title in Jay's Treaty of 1794, while surrendering its sovereignty claims over Eastport on Moose, Frederick and Dudley islands in nearby Cobscook Bay. From 1812 to 1814, the Bay of Fundy was infested with

privateers A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

who raided and plundered villages. The ownership of islands in Passamaquoddy Bay was not settled until 1817, when the United States gave up its claim to Grand Manan and the surrounding islands. By 1832 schools were established by the Anglican Church. While neighbouring islands along the American coast to Boston relied on whaling, Grand Manan had fishing and shipbuilding. In 1831 the

Gannet Rock Lighthouse The Gannet Rock Lighthouse is a Canadian lighthouse located on a rocky islet south of Grand Manan in the Bay of Fundy. It was first lit in 1831 and was staffed until 1996. It was solarized in 2002 and remains operational in 2023. It was declare ...

was built on a rocky islet south of Grand Manan, to protect shipping en route to Saint John, New Brunswick. It is Grand Manan's oldest lighthouse. This period was also marked by a number of shipwrecks off the island's rocky, cliff-lined coast. In 1857, the ''

Lord Ashburton Baron Ashburton, of Ashburton in the County of Devon, is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since 1835, the title has been held by members of the Baring f ...

'', was driven into the cliffs at the northern end of the island by hurricane-force winds to great loss of life. Another wreck was the Nova Scotian barque ''Walton'', which was bound for Saint John, New Brunswick, from Wales when it wrecked on the White Ledge off Grand Manan on September 14, 1878. By 1851, the island population numbered almost 1,200 permanent inhabitants, most working in fishing. By 1884, Grand Manan became the largest supplier of smoked

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...

in the world. By 1920, it produced one million boxes—or twenty thousand tons—of smoked herring, all caught in its local waters. By the late Victorian era, Grand Manan had been discovered by a new breed of explorers—the "tourists"—who began visiting the island in steady numbers, weaving themselves into the fabric of its close-knit, isolated society. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Willa Cather loved the island's unspoiled solitude, while painters such as

Alfred Thompson Bricher Alfred Thompson Bricher (April 10, 1837 – September 30, 1908) was a painter associated with White Mountain art and the Hudson River School. Life and work Bricher was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was educated in an academy at Newbur ...

and

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictoria ...

came to Grand Manan and its outlying islands to capture what they believed to be its "unique majesty", documenting its varied geography and indigenous fauna.

Geography

It is the largest of the Fundy Islands, and the primary island in the Grand Manan archipelago, which also includes

, Gull Rock, and North Rock are part of the larger Grand Manan archipelago. Grand Manan is long and has a maximum width of with an area of . The vast majority of Grand Manan residents live on the eastern side of the island. Due to limited access, cliffs and high winds, the western side of the island is not residentially developed.

Geology

The western two-thirds of the island shows thick lava flows ( basalt) of Late Triassic age, part of a flood basalt that underlies most of the Bay of Fundy. The Fundy basalts are themselves a small portion of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province which was formed in a volcanic event preceding the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea in the Early Jurassic. Many minerals have filled the cracks and bubbles left by gases boiling out of the cooling lavas. They include zeolite minerals such as chabazite, mesolite, stilbite, and heulandite, plus attractive quartz-related amethyst, agate, jasper, and many others. Good collecting areas include Seven Days Work, Indian Beach, and Bradford Cove. A few meters of siltstone are exposed under the basalt along the western shoreline, which by analogy with the Blomidon Formation in Nova Scotia must include the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Harbours along the eastern shoreline were created by the erosion of complex fault and fold structures in ancient metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rock formations. A major north-south fault is exposed at Red Point, and it divides these older eastern rocks from the western basalts. The metamorphic formations are organized into groups called Castalia, Ingalls Head, and Grand Manan, and there are also metamorphosed plutonic masses such as Stanley Brook Granite, Rockweed Pond Gabbro, and Kent Island Granite. These rocks have recently been dated between 539 and 618 million years old ef. Black and others, 2007and are now considered to correlate with the New River and Mascarene terranes of southern New Brunswick, Canada. Although originally they were igneous and sedimentary rocks such as basalt, sandstone, and shale, the eastern formations have been metamorphosed into greenstone, phyllite, argillite, schist, quartzite, and other foliated types. In addition, many folds and faults have bent and broken the formations in rather tortured-looking outcrops. One such fault can be seen at the north end of Pettes Cove, where it separates metabasalt of Swallowtail Head from schist of North Head.

Climate

Grand Manan has a humid continental climate (''Dfb''). The climate in spring, summer and fall is very comfortable but winter has an inconsistent weather pattern with snow, rain, freezing rain and mild weather. Since 2000, the average annual precipitation has been 859.8 mm with August being the driest month (35 mm) and October (112 mm) the wettest. The highest temperature ever recorded on Grand Manan was on 26 July 1963. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 10 January 1890.

Economy

Grand Manan's economy is dependent upon fishing,

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

and tourism. Lobster,

, scallops and crab are most commonly sought among fishermen. Together with ocean salmon farms, dulse,

rock weed ''Fucus'' is a genus of brown algae found in the intertidal zones of rocky seashores almost throughout the world. Description and life cycle The thallus is perennial with an irregular or disc-shaped holdfast or with haptera. The erect portion ...

and clam digging, many residents make their living "on the water." Tourism is growing significantly, providing the island with a highly profitable "green" industry. Whale and bird watching, camping and kayaking are popular activities for tourists. Visitors and retirees often purchase real estate and remain on the island through the summer months or reside permanently as every necessary amenity exists for people of all ages. Approximately 54% of the island is owned by non-residents. The community is noted for its friendly people, low crime rate, high church membership, quaint villages, and unspoiled seascapes. New York architect Michael Zimmer established the Sardine Museum and Herring Hall of Fame. There are

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

ponds, lakes and beaches that are prime locations for sunbathing, beachcombing, and picnics. Other interesting finds on Grand Manan are magnetic sand, and "The Hole-In-The Wall" located in Whale Cove in the village of North Head.

Anchorage Provincial Park The Anchorage Provincial Park is a public park located on the south-east coast of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, Canada. The island, the largest in the Bay of Fundy, is also the primary island in the Grand Manan Archipelago, sitting at the b ...

can be found on the island's southeastern coast between the communities of Grand Harbour and Seal Cove.

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 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 ...

, Grand Manan 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. As of 2016, the racial make-up of the island was 99.17% White; and less than 1% Latin American and Aboriginal populations. Those who were third generation or more made up 89% of the population. There were 1,045 households, out of which 23% had children under the age of 18 living with them. Of the 700 census families on the island, 71.42% were married couples living together. The average family size was 2.90. On the island the population was spread out, with 25% age 19 or under; 5% from 20 to 24, 27% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.1% at 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.3 years. The median income for a family was $48,190. Males had a median income of $32,183 versus $23,106 for females. A full 63% of the population 15 years and older had at least a high school certificate or equivalent, with 22% having at least some college, CEGEP, or university training.

Infrastructure

Governance

The Village of Grand Manan includes the all of Grand Manan Parish except

. The village was formed in 1995 by the amalgamation of the villages of Grand Harbour, North Head, and

Seal Cove Seal Cove may refer to: * Battle of Seal Cove, a minor naval action west of Lively Island during the 1982 Falklands war * Seal Cove (Conception Bay South), Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada * Seal Cove (Fortune Bay), Newfoundland and Labrador, Can ...

, along with the local service districts of Castalia, Woodwards Cove, and the parish of Grand Manan.

Education

The Anglophone South School District operates the K–12 Grand Manan Community School.Anglophone South
Grand Manan Parish.

Health care

The only medical facility is the Grand Manan Hospital, operated by Horizon Health Network, provides family medicine, emergency medicine and palliative care. The hospital also has an eight-bed inpatient unit. There are onsite diabetes clinics,

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

as well as telemedicine. Diagnostics include x-ray, EKG, and blood and specimen collecting.

Access and transportation

Coastal Transport Limited operates the Blacks Harbour to Grand Manan Island Ferry. The crossing is about one and half hours. The Grand Manan Island to White Head Island Ferry, serves the 220 residents of

from Ingalls Head on Grand Manan, with a trip of about half an hour. Airplane service is available to most destinations in the Maritime region and some destinations in the New England States from the

Grand Manan Airport Grand Manan Airport is located northwest of Grand Harbour on the island of Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA of ...

New Brunswick Route 776 Route 776 is a provincial highway in New Brunswick, Canada. It serves as the main road on Charlotte County's Grand Manan Island, following the entire eastern coast of the island. The northern terminus of Route 776 is at the Coastal Transpo ...

is the main road on Grand Manan, running on a north-south alignment along the island's eastern coast.