Petit-Rocher () was a Village in Gloucester County, New Brunswick. It was dissolved 2023, when it amalgamated with surrounding municipalities to form the New Town of

Belle-Baie Belle-Baie (, ) is a town in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It was formed through the 2023 New Brunswick local governance reforms. History Belle-Baie was incorporated on January 1, 2023, via the amalgamation of the former town of B ...

. It’s name remains for adddress purposes only. The community sits on the western shore of both

Chaleur Bay frame, Satellite image of Chaleur Bay (NASA). Chaleur Bay is the large bay in the centre of the image; the Gulf_of_St._Lawrence.html" ;"title="Gaspé Peninsula is to the north and the Gulf of St. Lawrence">Gaspé Peninsula is to the north and t ...

and

Nepisiguit Bay Nepisiguit Bay (from the Mi’kmaq word , which means "rough water") is located in northern New Brunswick, Canada on the southern part of the Chaleur Bay ( French: Baie des Chaleurs), which extends from the Atlantic Ocean and Nepisiguit Bay is ...

20 km northwest of Bathurst. The former local service districts of Petit-Rocher-Nord (Devereaux) and Petit-Rocher-Sud had bordered the village on the north and south, respectively.

History

The village was founded in 1797 by

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

settlers. The name literally means "little rock", and is pronounced by most anglophones in the region as ''Petty Roche''. The name of the village is reputed to derive from the fact that the village's founders disembarked on a small rock. The village was named ''Little Roche'' from 1850 to 1854, then ''Madisco'' until 1870, and then ''Petit Rocher''. The hyphenated form ''Petit-Rocher'' was adopted in 2009. Some old maps have the name ''Petite Roche'' (1812) and ''Sainte Roque or Little Russia'' (1827). On January 1, 2023, Petit-Rocher amalgamated with Beresford, Nigadoo, Pointe-Verte and all or part of ten local service districts to form the new town of

. The community's name remains only for address purposes.

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; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Petit-Rocher 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.

Language

Transportation

The Petit Rocher station is served by The Ocean train of

VIA Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

. There are three trains per week in each direction. The

Flag stop In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a bus stop, stop or train station, station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or drop ...

station is located 1 kilometre west of the village. The old station was demolished in 1990, but replaced in 2010 with a replica of the old station master's residence.

Tourism

In 2012 and 2013, Petit-Rocher was host to the CCBHA's annual ball hockey tournament with a team from nearby

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

taking home the Allen, Paquet & Arseneau cup as champions for both tournaments.

Notable people

References

External links

* Acadie-Bathurst
Petit-Rocher

{{Coord, 47, 47, 2.1, N, 65, 42, 57.3, W, name=Petit-Rocher, display=title Communities in Gloucester County, New Brunswick Former villages in New Brunswick Local service districts of Gloucester County, New Brunswick Lighthouses in New Brunswick 2023 disestablishments in New Brunswick