Aulac is a Canadian community in Westmorland County,

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. As of January 1, 2023 it is part of the Municipality of Tantramar which consists of the former town of Sackville, Village of Dorchester, Pointe de Bute and other rural communities . It is located between the former college town of Sackville and the provincial border with

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

Geography

Aulac is situated upon the Aulac Ridge, a prominent rise running west–east across the

Tantramar Marshes The Tantramar Marshes, also known as the Tintamarre National Wildlife Area, is a tidal saltmarsh around the Bay of Fundy on the Isthmus of Chignecto. The area borders between New Brunswick Route 940, Route 940, New Brunswick Route 16, Route 16 an ...

on the

Isthmus of Chignecto The Isthmus of Chignecto is an isthmus bordering the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that connects the Nova Scotia peninsula with North America. The isthmus separates the waters of Chignecto Bay, a sub-basin of the Bay of ...

, approximately 2 kilometres west of the Missaguash River which forms the southern part of the inter-provincial boundary with Nova Scotia.

History

Aulac became strategically important for French military forces during the 18th century after ceding what is now peninsular Nova Scotia to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

in the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht; the words describing the boundary of

Acadia Acadia (; ) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. The population of Acadia included the various ...

(then including all of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

, the

Gaspé Peninsula The Gaspé Peninsula, also known as Gaspesia (, ; ), is a peninsula along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River that extends from the Matapedia Valley in Quebec, Canada, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is separated from New Brunswick on it ...

Anticosti Island Anticosti () is an island located between the Jacques Cartier and Honguedo Straits, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in L'Île-d'Anticosti (Municipality), Minganie MRC, Côte-Nord, Quebec, Canada. UNESCO's World Heritage On September 19, 2023, ...

and part of eastern

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

) were sufficiently vague as to permit France to establish the Missaguash River as the boundary between Britain's new colony and

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

. During

Father Le Loutre's War Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the Kingdo ...

, British military forces constructed a log stockade on the Fort Lawrence Ridge, 3 km to the south of Aulac, naming their facility

Fort Lawrence Fort Lawrence was a British fort built during Father Le Loutre's War and located on the Isthmus of Chignecto (in the modern-day community of Fort Lawrence). Father Le Loutre's War Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia re ...

, which was promptly answered by the French construction of

Fort Beauséjour Fort Beauséjour (), renamed Fort Cumberland in 1755, is a large, five-bastioned fort on the Isthmus of Chignecto in eastern Canada, a neck of land connecting the present-day province of New Brunswick with that of Nova Scotia. The site was strate ...

at the western end of the Aulac Ridge, overlooking the Cumberland Basin of the Bay of Fundy. After falling to Britain during the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, the Aulac area became part of the Tantramar farming district in the township of Sackville. The

Intercolonial Railway The Intercolonial Railway of Canada , also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canada, Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also compl ...

constructed its mainline connecting

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. Th ...

, New Brunswick with

Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...

, Nova Scotia in 1872, with the railway line curving around the ridge below the fort. In the 20th century, roads across the marshes passed up and over the Aulac Ridge, as did a road running the length of the ridge toward

Strait Shores Strait Shores is a local government district called a rural community in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It was formed through the 2023 New Brunswick local governance reforms. History Strait Shores was incorporated on January 1, 2023 ...

. These roads were upgraded in the 1960s as part of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...

project, with the Moncton- Amherst, Nova Scotia section being numbered Highway 2 and the Aulac-Strait Shores (and thence Cape Tormentine) section being numbered Highway 16.

Present day

A cluster of highway service businesses established in Aulac, including a truck stop, several gas stations, motels and stores and the hamlet became a popular stopping point for highway travellers. During the 1990s, Aulac was bypassed when Highway 2 was upgraded on a new 4-lane alignment several hundred metres to the east. A truck stop, a motel, and several businesses remain. The Trans Canada Highway (

New Brunswick Route 2 Route 2 is a major state highway, provincial highway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick, carrying the main route of the Trans-Canada Highway in the province. The highway connects with Autoroute 85 (Quebe ...

) and

New Brunswick Route 16 __NOTOC__ Route 16 is a two-lane highway in the Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. The route begins at New Brunswick Route 2, Route 2 in Tantramar, New Brunswick, Tantramar and ends at the midpoint of the Confederation Bridge, where it ...

intersect at Aulac. Most traffic heading for Prince Edward Island via the

Confederation Bridge The Confederation Bridge () is a box girder bridge carrying the Trans-Canada Highway across the Abegweit Passage of the Northumberland Strait, linking the province of Prince Edward Island with the mainland province of New Brunswick. Opened ...

must use this interchange and virtually all traffic passing between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia also travels through this interchange. In 2012, there were about 14,000 vehicles per day passing along Route 2.New Brunswick Department of Transportation (2012
Traffic Volume Map
/ref>

Notable people

References

Fort Beauséjour
{{Coord, 45, 52, 15.5, N, 64, 16, 44, W, name=Aulac, display=title Communities in Westmorland County, New Brunswick

Geography

History

Present day

Notable people

See also

References