Deer Island (New Brunswick)
Deer Island | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | New Brunswick |
| County | Charlotte |
| Settled | 1770 |
| Area | |
• Total | 38.32[1] km2 (Formatting error: invalid input when rounding sq mi) |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | 718[2] |
| • Density | 18.7/km2 (48/sq mi) |
| • Pop 2016-2021 |  9.9% |
| • Dwellings | 475 |
Deer Island is one of the Fundy Islands in the Bay of Fundy, Canada. It is at the entrance to Passamaquoddy Bay. The island was first settled by colonists around 1770.[3]
Local government was provided by the West Isles Local Service District, which is within the Southwest NB Regional Service Commission.[4]
It has three communities: Fairhaven, Leonardville, and Lords Cove.[5] There is a primary school on the island, while older pupils attend Fundy High School on the mainland.
The economy is primarily fishing and aquaculture based, although tourism is growing. The Old Sow, the largest tidal whirlpool in the western hemisphere[6] can be viewed from Deer Island Point Park.[7]
The major route is New Brunswick Route 772. Two government ferries, the Deer Island Princess II and Abnaki II, connect Deer Island with L'Etete, New Brunswick on the mainland. During the summer, East Coast Ferries Ltd. operates a ferry, Hopper II, from Cummings Cove on the southern shore of Deer Island onward to Campobello Island. A defunct ferry, the Fundy Trail II, operated between Cummings Cove and the US state of Maine until 2014.
There are two lighthouses on Deer Island, at Leonardville and Deer island Point.
 | |
| Location | Deer Island, Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 44°58′06″N 66°57′18″W / 44.968231°N 66.955103°W |
| Tower | |
| Constructed | 1914  |
| Foundation | concrete base |
| Construction | wooden tower |
| Height | 8 m (26 ft) |
| Shape | square frustun tower with balcony and lantern[8][9] |
| Markings | white tower, red lantern roof |
| Operator | Canadian Coast Guard |
| Light | |
| Focal height | 20 m (66 ft) |
| Range | 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) |
| Characteristic | F W |
History
[edit]There are "traces" of visits to the island by indigenous Passamaquoddys, although no settlement by either either the natives or French appears to have ever been attempted.[10]
Ownership of Deer Island was initially granted to Thomas Farrell, by the government, around 1775.[10][11]
One of the oldest houses to remain standing on the island is the Leonard/Garrison House near Chocolate Cove, built by the family of William Lloyd Garrison whose mother was born on the island, and whose relatives continued inhabiting it.[11] There are eight well-sheltered harbours around its irregular coast, including Chocolate Cove, Clam Cove Head and Cummings Cove.[10] In 1876 there was a store at Cummings Cove, another at Bar Island, another at Fairhaven and two at Lord's Cove although mercantile trade was also operated out of private homes,[12] and by 1908 there were two general stores in Leonardville.[11] Following his father's success, a son of Grand Manan's John Cook opened a satellite lobster factory on Deer Island but it soon faltered.[10]
As of 1908, there were 43 houses and a Customs Housed in Leonardville.[11] Ships were built at Cummings Cove Shipyard in the 1850s, but the production ceased by 1876.[10] Fishing boats were built at Richardson.[11]
Religiously, as of 1876, the Campbellite church was planted at Bar Island Harbour, with Free Will Baptist and Methodist churches elsewhere on the island.[12] The island was historically a dry county, forbidding the sale of alcohol even outside Prohibition, with author John Lorimer noting in 1876 "No license for rum-selling goes from Deer Island into the county treasure box. Prohibition is hers. The flag of total abstinence waves proudly over her rocky hills and verdant valleys. Deer Island has set an exmaple to her sister isles worthy of all imitation", and predicting Deer Island would excel above the rest of the region due to its stance.[10]
The island was not easily reached except by those with private boats, until 1900 when the steamship Viking began taking passengers from the mainland to Leonardville.[11] In 1904, a telephone was set up from Eastport, Maine.[11]
Geography
[edit]The largest whirlpool in the Western Hemisphere, dubbed the Old Sow, is immediately off the southern tip of Deer Island.[11] Three brothers named Stover, were drowned in the 1850s.[10]
There are two inland freshwater ponds, Little Meadow Pond and the Lily Pond near it halfway down the island and speckled trout may be caught in its brooks.[10][11]
Deer Island is covered in pine trees,[10] and wildlife includes partridges, rabbits, waterfowl and historically foxes which were later eradicated to protect poultry flocks.[10] In 1876, the soil was noted as ideal for potatoes, oats and vegetables.[10]
Between Richardson and Lord's Cove is a hill locally known as Daddy Good's Mountain, after the quaint gentleman who used to own the property which offered a fire-scarred peak from which to view the Bay of Fundy.[11]
The only mineral rights held by the Crown are for potential finds of gold, silver or coal - although no traces of valuable minerals are known to exist.[10] The nearby Simpson's Island holds a small copper mine.[11]
A nearby islet, named Pope's Folly, saw a settler named Pope establish an ill-fated trading post.[11] The nearby Doyle's Island, also called Pendleton's Island, has a 500' cliff that historically drew thrillseekers to attempt to climb.[11] Other adventurers were prone to imagine buried pirate treasure, even from Captain Kidd, but with little historical backing.[10]
Gallery
[edit]-
Ferry crossing between Deer Island (N.B.) and Eastport (ME). -
High tide at Deer Island Point. -
Low tide at Deer Island Point with the Old Sow in action. -
Cargo ship sailing by Deer Island Point. -
Deer Island Ferry
References
[edit]- ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (February 9, 2022). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - West Isles, Parish (P) [Census subdivision], New Brunswick". www12.statcan.gc.ca.
- ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (February 9, 2022). "Profile table, Census Profile, 2021 Census of Population - West Isles, Parish (P) [Census subdivision], New Brunswick". www12.statcan.gc.ca.
- ^ "Deer Island History and Little Known Facts". Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- ^ "Communities in each of the 12 Regional Service Commissions (RSC" (PDF). Government of New Brunswick. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
- ^ "LETETE - DEER ISLAND FERRY". Archived from the original on 2 January 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- ^ "Old Sow Whirlpool". Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- ^ "Public Parks Recreation Areas Hiking Trails". Quoddy Loop. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
- ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Canada: Southern New Brunswick". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 2017-02-25.
- ^ List of Lights, Pub. 110: Greenland, The East Coasts of North and South America (Excluding Continental U.S.A. Except the East Coast of Florida) and the West Indies (PDF). List of Lights. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lorimer, John G. "History of Islands and Islets in the Bay of Fundy, Charlotte County, New Brunswick", Archive.org copy, 1876
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thompson and Martin, s:The Smiling Isle of Passamaquoddy, 1908
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
lormierwas invoked but never defined (see the help page).
External links
[edit]
- Aids to Navigation Canadian Coast Guard
44°58′32.4″N 66°58′53.6″W / 44.975667°N 66.981556°W
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| Leonardville Lighthouse | |