It might SURPRISE YOU TO KNOW... (or maybe we're just reminding you)
Extraordinary Facts and Figures
• New Brunswick is Canada’s only officially bilingual province (French and English).
• New Brunswick is the largest of Canada’s three Maritime provinces.
• There are three distinct coastlines in New Brunswick that together span 2,250 km (1,398 mi.).
• New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy has the highest tides on earth and is one of the most accessible viewing areas for marine life in the world.
• The St. John River system is the second largest on North America’s Atlantic coastline.
• Fiddleheads, edible, tightly coiled ferns that resemble the spiral end of a violin or fiddle, are a New Brunswick delicacy.
• Grand Manan Island in the Fundy Isles is one of the top birding spots in North America.
• New Brunswick has more than 48 lighthouses and is famous for its existing inland lighthouse system that dots its inland rivers.
• The Bay of Fundy is a pristine sanctuary for all kinds of rare, unusual wild creatures including 15 species of toothed and baleen whales (Finbacks, Humpbacks, Pilot whales and the rare Right whale).
• New Brunswick has 62 remaining covered bridges. Kings County is considered the Covered Bridge Capital of Atlantic Canada. The bridges that are standing today are living examples of the pride of craftsmanship, heritage, engineering and design of our forefathers. The ‘’Longest Covered Bridge in the World’’ is located in Hartland, New Brunswick - 390 m (1,282 ft.) long.
Eureka! (take a look at our inventions...)
• Scuba tank, James Elliot and Alexander McAvity, Saint John, 1839.
• Compound steam engine, Benjamin F. Tibbets, Fredericton, 1845.
• Snow blower, Robert Carr Harris, Dalhousie, 1870.
• Sardine cans, Henry T. Austin, Black’s Harbour, 1932.
• Clothes washer with roller wringer, John E. Turnbull, Saint John, 1843.
• Combined hot and cold water faucets, Thomas Campbell, Saint John, 1880.
• Crossword game, Edward R. MacDonald, Shediac, 1926.
• Dump-box for trucks, Robert T. Mawhinney, Saint John, 1920.
• Ganong Brothers Ltd., St. Stephen, are the first in Canada to produce lollipops (1895), to use cellophane packaging (1920), to make peppermint rolls (1926), and to sell Valentine candy in heart-shaped boxes (1932).
More Tidbits (about us of course)
• Charles Thomas "Stompin' Tom" Connors, one of Canada's most prolific and well-known folk singers, was born in Saint John on February 9, 1936.
• The world’s oldest intact shark fossil, over 409-million years old, was discovered near Atholville, in the heart of the Appalachian Range.
• Highest peak in the Maritimes is located at Mount Carleton Provincial Park. It measures in at 820 m (2,690 ft.).
• New Brunswick’s Sir Charles G.D. Roberts was the first Canadian poet to be knighted.
• The first French settlement in North America was attempted in 1604 on Saint Croix Island.
• New Brunswick is home to the largest ocean tidal whirlpool (off the coast of Deer Island) in the western hemispheres. It’s named the ‘Old Sow’.
• The University of New Brunswick is tied with the University of Georgia as being the oldest University in North America.
• The oldest “still in use” university building in Canada is the Old Arts Building, located on the Fredericton Campus of the University of New Brunswick.
• The University of New Brunswick is the first university in the world to be completely online.
• The New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, is Canada’s first museum, established in 1842.
• Fredericton’s Willie O’Ree was the first black player in the NHL.
• Shediac is home to the World’s Largest Lobster. This statue is 10.5 m (34 ft.) long and is 4.5 m (15 ft.) high. This monster weighs 90 tons!
• Sabian Cymbals, Meductic, is one of the first cymbal-manufacturing companies in North America.
Once a New Brunswicker, always a New Brunswicker. Whether you are coming to live in New Brunswick for the first time or returning home after a short break… Welcome Home! Find out what you’ve been missing and what you can expect from the moment you arrive.
Information is also available to you from the following links:
General information on New Brunswick
Government of New Brunswick
New Brunswick images
Office of the Premier