It may be a five-hour drive, but you could get lost here FOR DAYS
The majestic St. John River is truly a wonder to behold. It encompasses 400 km (250 mi.) of rolling water that nourishes some of the most fertile farming land in Canada. (Farmers can often grow two crops in same season!) Early settlers drawn to the river included Maliseets followed by French farmers, the first Europeans in the area who went upriver as far as present-day Fredericton.
In 1783, following the American Revolution, thousands of Loyalist refugees arrived from the “Thirteen Colonies” to the south. In order to remain loyal to the British establishment they fled across the new border to what is now New Brunswick. So many landed at the mouth of the Saint John River that by 1785 they were able to incorporate Saint John—the first city in what would become Canada.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, settlers from Ireland and Scotland driven out of their homes by mounting political and economic pressures began to arrive in New Brunswick in significant numbers. By the 1830s, the tide of Irish immigration had swollen to a flood and, by the Great Famine of the 1840s, an inundation. By the century’s end, immigration to New Brunswick subsided to a trickle, bringing settlers from all over the world. Today, although Aboriginal, French, Irish, Scottish and English roots run deep, New Brunswick enjoys a diverse multi-cultural and spiritual heritage.