New Denmark is a rural community in
Victoria County Victoria County is the name of several locations:
In Australia:
*Victoria County, Western Australia
* County of Victoria, South Australia
In Canada:
* Victoria County, New Brunswick
* Municipality of the County of Victoria and the eponymous histo ...
,
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
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. The community is situated in rolling hills east of the
Saint John River valley several kilometres south of
Drummond. Its main industry is
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
farming and related industries. Once the site of several schools, they have all closed and students in New Denmark can choose to continue school in nearby
Grand Falls or
Tobique Valley
Tobique Valley is a village in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It was formed through the 2023 New Brunswick local governance reforms.
History
Tobique Valley was incorporated on January 1, 2023 via the amalgamation of the former villag ...
.
The community hosts Lutheran, Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Pentecostal churches. Its five major ancestries are: English (50.1%), French (36.4%), Danish (17.0%), Scottish (12.4%), Irish (11.9%). The population has remained at approximately 1,000 residents in recent history, with
Denmark Parish reporting a population of 1,668 in
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
.
History
The community of Hellerup originally derived its name from Captain Sorensen S. Heller with several
Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
settlers who sailed from Copenhagen to Halifax aboard the steam ship ''Caspian'', then on to the city of Saint John aboard the Empress. Then they paddle-wheeled up the St. John River and the Salmon River to arrive at the gravel bank on the opposite, inhabitable side of Drummond. This concurred with the redrafting of the Free Grants Act and redistribution of land parcels away from the original agreement set in the 1872 Stymest Heller proposal. Eventually this settlement formed the largest and what would become the oldest Danish community in Canada, but in recent decades the Danish influence has diminished due to anglicization.
In 1912, the
National Transcontinental Railway
The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) was a historic railway between Winnipeg and Moncton in Canada. Much of the line is now operated by the Canadian National Railway.
The Grand Trunk partnership
The completion of construction of Canada's ...
constructed a large steel trestle across the Little Salmon River valley. Today, this bridge remains an important structure on the
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
-
Halifax mainline of the
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN i ...
.
![Little Salmon River Viaduct](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Little_Salmon_River_Viaduct.jpg)
Post office changed from Salmonhurst in 1962.
Trivia
*On June 19 of every year, the community gathers on the historical grounds of the community to celebrate Founders Day. Through song, dance, prayer, and pure reminiscing, it is a very important day in New Denmark. Many Danish treats such as
Æbleskiver
Æbleskiver (, ingular: ''æbleskive'' are spherically-shaped Danish snacks made from fried batter. The name literally means "apple slices" in Danish, although apples are not usually an ingredient in present-day versions. The crust is similar in ...
and
Pølse are also served on this day of celebration.
* Of the original families to come immigrate in 1872, the descendants of one of them (Anders and Marie Carlsen) are especially numerous, but there are also many other families from subsequent immigrations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today the community is more mixed, but the Danish language can still be heard, and many families with French or English surnames, still proudly proclaim their Danish roots.
* During the summer of 2006, the site of the building in which the original settlers spent their first winter (the "Immigrant House") was declared a Provincial Historical Site by the government of New Brunswick. A plaque was placed at this site, near the New Denmark Museum which stands there today.
* During the summer of 2007, the community celebrated its 135th anniversary by holding a queen's pageant, a re-enactment of the founding of the community, by holding a parade and by holding many other planned activities.
* New Denmark and its early inhabitants have been the subject of much research. One of the more recent studies was performed by Erik Lang (originally from Perth-Andover), who donated 2 copies of his M.A. (
Carleton University
Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...
) thesis ''New Denmark, New Brunswick: New approaches in the study of Danish migration to Canada, 1872-1901,'' to the New Denmark Museum in 2005. Copies of the thesis can also be found in the public libraries of Perth-Andover, Grand Falls, and Fredericton, at the Archives of the Harriet Irving Library on the
University of New Brunswick
The University of New Brunswick (UNB) is a public university with two primary campuses in Fredericton and Saint John, New Brunswick. It is the oldest English-language university in Canada, and among the oldest public universities in North Americ ...
Fredericton campus, at the
Provincial Archives of New Brunswick Provincial Archives of New Brunswick is the archives agency for the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It is located on the campus of the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick
Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the C ...
, at the Maxwell MacOdrum Library on the Carleton University Campus, and at the
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...
in Ottawa.
* The fourth season of CBC's ''Still Standing'' includes an episode on New Denmark.
Notable people
See also
*
List of communities in New Brunswick
This is a list of communities in New Brunswick, a province in Canada. For the purposes of this list, a community is defined as either an incorporated municipality, an Indian reserve, or an unincorporated community inside or outside a municipalit ...
*
Solvang, California
Solvang (; ) is a city in Santa Barbara County, California. It is located in the Santa Ynez Valley. The population was 6,126 at the 2020 census, up from 5,245 at the 2010 census. Solvang was founded in 1911 and incorporated as a city on May ...
References
{{Reflist
Communities in Victoria County, New Brunswick
Danish Canadian settlements
Ethnic enclaves in Canada