Commemorating Loyalist Culture

Of the more than 30,000 United Empire Loyalists who fled the Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolution, almost half settled in New Brunswick. Within 2 years of the first Loyalist landing at Fort Howe on the mouth of the Saint John River in 1783, the tent encampments of Parrtown and Carleton were combined to form the community of Saint John. Loyalist pioneer farmsteads quickly spread up the Saint John River Valley, with about 2,000 Loyalists settling in the area of St. Anne, and laying the foundations for the provincial capital city of Fredericton.

New Brunswick Loyalists, like other American exiles who relocated to Nova Scotia, Quebec and eastern Ontario, were a highly diverse group, representing a broad cross-section of society. While they held common political beliefs and allegiances, they came from every stratum of society, and included people of several ethnic backgrounds. Their range of skills, professions and educational qualifications, and their ties to many different cultures, introduced new layers of complexity to New Brunswick society, and paved the way for the vibrant multiculturalism that characterizes contemporary New Brunswick culture.

As you travel through the Saint John River Valley, take time to visit these historic Loyalist sites:

• King's Landing Historical Settlement - Take a living history tour of some of the Saint John Valley's landmark Loyalist homes, businesses and public buildings. The sprawling Saint John's Historical Settlement, located on the lush banks of the Saint John River west between Fredericton and Woodstock, was created to preserve Loyalist-era buildings and artifacts that would otherwise have been lost to urban development and flooding from hydroelectric projects. Visitors can see the C.S. Ross Sash & Door Factory, Gorman Carpenter Shop, Neil Dennin's Blacksmith & Wheelwright Shop, and Joslin Farm in action, dine at the Kings Head Inn, and tour a number of Loyalist dwellings, ranging from the simple Fisher House and Killeen Cabin to the grand and well-appointed Ingraham House. Bobbing gently in a nearby cove is the Brunswick Lion, a replica of a "woodboat," a vessel unique to the Saint John River, used by farmers to carry lumber to Saint John. Role-playing guides, dressed in period costume, perform the daily tasks of the Settlement, and lead demonstrations of open hearth cooking, chair caning, rug hooking and weaving. King's Landing is open from May to September; it can be reached via the Trans Canada Highway at Exit 253.

• Loyalist House National Historic Site - Latter-day Loyalist prosperity is in full evidence at the elegant former home of the Merritt family, located in downtown Saint John. Built in 1817, it is one of the few surviving buildings of the Great Fire of 1877, and remains structurally unaltered. The interior of the house, which is constructed in the New England Federal style, features fine examples of period furniture and household items. The site is open from mid-May to mid-September.

• The Old Loyalist Burial Grounds - Located in the centre of Saint John, the recently restored grounds of the city's original Loyalist cemetery have been augmented with brick and granite walkways, tree plantings, and flower gardens. The refurbishing project, completed in 1995, was a gift to the city by the Irving Family, prominent New Brunswick industrialists.

Fredericton's Beaverbrook Art Gallery

British, Canadian, New Brunswick and Acadian paintings, sculptures and other works of art are well represented at the world-renowned Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton. The Gallery is named for its benefactor, Lord Beaverbrook (Max Aitken), a prominent British politician and newspaper publisher who spent his early years in New Brunswick. The Gallery's extensive permanent collection includes:

• The Gallery icon, Salvador Dali's Santiago el Grande
• Paintings by major Atlantic Canadian artists, including Mary and Christopher Pratt, Alex Colville, Molly Lamb and Bruno Bobak
• Contemporary works by Acadian artists such as Francis Coutellier, Ghislane McLaughlin, Nancy Morin, Yvon Gallant and Romeo Savoie
• An extensive collection of paintings by the 19th century Canadian artist, Cornelius Krieghoff, and the Canadian Impressionist James Wilson Morrice
• New Brunswick landscape paintings and works on paper by artists such as Anthony Flower, George T. Taylor and George Neilson Smith
• Canadian Group of Seven works by Emily Carr and David Milne and 20th century Canadian works of Paul-Emile Borduas, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Jack Bush
• A collection of British paintings from the Elizabethan era to the modern period, including Thomas Gainsborough, J. M. Turner and John Constable
• A sculpture garden including the works of British artists Jonathan Kenworthy and the contemporary Acadian artist Marie-Hélène Allain

The Maliseet: People of the River

Rarely has a single waterway been so strongly identified with a First Nations tribe. The Wolastoqiyik of the Wolastoq are also known as the Maliseet of the Saint John River, reflecting thousands of years of habitation of the Saint John River Valley. Before European contact, in places such as Menagoneche (Saint John), Medoctec (just below modern-day Woodstock), Aukupag (near contemporary Fredericton), and Madoueskak (Madawaska), the Maliseet hunted, fished, grew corn, and journeyed to the sea to harvest ocean resources.

Although politically independent, the Maliseet were closely linked to their Algonkian-speaking neighbours, the Abenaki, Mi'Kmaq, Passamaquoddy and Penobscot in what is sometimes known as the "Wabanaki Confederacy". They shared not only culture and lifestyle, but also strategic and commercial alliances. Along with their neighbours to the north, the Montagnais-Nakasapi (Innu), they were among the first aboriginal peoples to forge a trading relationship with the French in the 17th (and possibly even the 16th) century. Their relationship with the Acadians, who moved into the Saint John River Valley during the Acadian expulsions of the mid-1700's, was largely one of respect and mutual tolerance; most Acadians were careful to avoid trespassing on Maliseet fishing and hunting grounds. But like most post-contact First Nations in North America, the Maliseet ultimately suffered the effects of territorial loss and epidemic diseases.

Wood-working, pottery-making and canoe-building were all well-developed skills among the Maliseet, but the tribe was particularly respected for its knowledge of herbal medicine.

Today, the Maliseet Nation continues to be distributed throughout the Saint John River Valley, with about 4,000 Maliseet in New Brunswick, and a further 1,500 in the State of Maine. New Brunswick Maliseet communities include:

• Maliseet Nation at Oromocto
• Maliseet Nation at St. Mary's (east of Fredericton)
• Maliseet Nation at Kingsclear (west of Fredericton)
• Maliseet Nation at Woodstock
• Maliseet Nation at Tobique (south of Grand Falls)
• Madawaska Maliseet First Nations (north of Edmunston)

At the Madawaska Maliseet First Nation, near Edmunston, visitors from around the world have participated in unique "Escape to Nature" guided nature walks and demonstrations, in which members of the Maliseet community conduct a traditional sweetgrass ceremony, identify the Maliseet meanings of plants and animals, and explore the practical and medicinal uses of hazel nuts. In 2000, "Wolastoqiyik: Portrait of a People," a rare touring exhibit of photographs from the archives of the New Brunswick Museum, New Brunswick Archives, Canadian Museum of Civilization and other public and private collections, illustrated the lifestyle, religious ceremonies and family gatherings of the Maliseet and provided a detailed record of their Saint John River heritage.

Canada's Most Irish City

If you're looking for a place to spend St. Patrick's Day, Saint John may be an excellent choice. You're sure to find some fellow revelers in New Brunswick's largest city, where there are more people of Irish heritage per capita than anywhere else in North America!

The city's Irish influence stems from the mass migrations of the Great Potato Famine of the mid-19th century. Between 1845 and 1847, 30,000 Irish immigrants arrived at the port of Saint John; in 1847, Ireland's blackest year, 16,000 Irish deluged the quarantine station of Partridge Island at the mouth of the Saint John Harbour. By 1850, Irish Catholics were Saint John's largest ethnic group, and by 1871, 55% of the city's residents were Irish natives or children of Irish-born fathers.

Saint John's Irish immigrants became the backbone of the city's labour force, re-building much of the city when it was devastated by the Great Fire of 1877. During the age of sail, David Lynch, from Londonderry, Ireland, became one of the city's most prominent shipbuilders, launching some of New Brunswick's largest ships.

Today, the legacy of the Irish influx is evident throughout Saint John, from St. Patrick Street and St. Patrick's Square, to Market Square built on the site of the York Point Irish ghetto, and the extensive Irish archives, exhibits and collections of the New Brunswick Museum and the Saint John Regional Library. The St. Patrick's Society, founded in 1819, is one of Saint John's oldest organizations, while the Irish-Canadian Cultural Association (Saint John Chapter) is the sponsor of the annual city-wide St. Patrick's Week Celebration and Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Eireann, Saint John branch of the international organization, promotes traditional Irish dance and music.