Elm Hill is a community in
Hampstead Parish, New Brunswick, Canada. It is significant as the last surviving
Black Canadian
Black Canadians () are Canadians of full or partial Afro-Caribbean or sub-Saharan African descent.
Black Canadian settlement and immigration patterns can be categorized into two distinct groups. The majority of Black Canadians are descendants ...
community in New Brunswick.
History
Elm Hill was established by black Loyalists from
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
in 1806, as one of Canada's earliest black communities. Throughout the 1800s, the community enjoyed a period of relative prosperity, as its remoteness allowed the residents to develop their economy free from outside interference. Located on the
St. John River between Saint John and Fredericton, Elm Hill functioned well while the steamers plied the river, stopping there to transport people and products. Once the railroad replaced the river as the highway, however, the community's isolation worked against it. Elm Hill had been a self-sufficient farming community until the 1960s, when many area residents moved to urban areas for better opportunities. Those remaining were not able to keep up the farms, and decline set in. Elm Hill once supported a post office, a store, two churches (
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...
and
Baptist
Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
), and a school although those are all now closed.
As of the 2016 census, the area is still home to 25 residents, many involved in small-scale farming operations or employed in government jobs.
The community was previously known as Otnabog (1854–1893), Upper Otnabog (1876–1911), and Pleasant Villa (1911–1933), before the name was changed back to Elm Hill.
See also
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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 municipal ...
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Black Nova Scotians
Black Nova Scotians (also known as African Nova Scotians, Afro-Nova Scotians, and Africadians) are Black Canadians whose ancestors primarily date back to the Colonial history of the United States, Colonial United States as Slavery in the United S ...
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Black Loyalists
Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with Loyalist (American Revolution), Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term referred to men enslaved by Patriot (American Revolution), Patriots who served ...
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Black Canadians in New Brunswick
References
{{reflist, group=Note
Black Canadian culture in New Brunswick
Communities in Queens County, New Brunswick
Black Canadian settlements
Local service districts of Queens County, New Brunswick