Grand Manan is a Canadian island in the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is t ...

. Grand Manan is also the name of an incorporated village, which includes the main island and all of its adjacent islands, except

White Head Island White Head Island is an island located in the Bay of Fundy. It is off the east coast of Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. In 2011 the island had a population of 162. White Head Island is governed as a local service district. Its economy is bas ...

. It is governed as a village and is part of the province of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. The point on the mainland closest to the island is near the town of

Lubec, Maine Lubec ( ) is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States. It is the easternmost municipality in the contiguous U.S. (see extreme points of the United States) and is the country's closest continental location to Africa. The town, with a ...

, the easternmost point of the

continental United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

, across the Grand Manan Channel. Grand Manan is 32 kilometres south of

Blacks Harbour, New Brunswick Blacks Harbour (2021 population: 907) is an incorporated village in New Brunswick, Canada. It is in a harbour of the same name opening onto the Bay of Fundy. It is 15 kilometres southeast of the town of St. George, 3 kilometres west of Beaver ...

Toponymy

"Manan" is a corruption of ''mun-an-ook'' or ''man-an-ook'', meaning "island place" or "the island", from the

Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...

Passamaquoddy The Passamaquoddy ( Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: ''Peskotomuhkati'') are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America. Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatik'','' straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick ...

Penobscot The Penobscot ( Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewi'') are an Indigenous people in North America from the Northeastern Woodlands region. They are organized as a federally recognized tribe in Maine and as a First Nations band government in the Atlantic ...

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

who, according to oral history, used Grand Manan and its surrounding islands as a safe place for the elderly Passamaquoddy during winter months and as a sacred burial place (''ook'' means "people of"). In 1606

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...

sheltered on nearby White Head Island and produced a map calling the island "Manthane", which he later changed to "Menane" or "Menasne".

History

Portuguese explorer

João Álvares Fagundes João Álvares Fagundes (born c. 1460, Kingdom of Portugal – died 1522, Kingdom of Portugal) was an explorer and ship owner from Viana do Castelo in Northern Portugal. He organized several expeditions to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia around 152 ...

charted the area around 1520, but the island does not appear clearly on a map until 1558, produced by Portuguese cartographer

Diogo Homem Diogo Homem (1521–1576) was a Portuguese cartographer, son of Lopo Homem and member of a family of cartographers. Due to a crime of murder, in which he was connivent, he was forced to exile from Portugal, first in England, and then in Venic ...

. French merchant-explorer

Étienne Bellenger Étienne Bellenger (fl. 1580–84) was a merchant from Rouen, France who, through his trading expeditions, became an important figure in the early exploration of the Maritimes in Canada. Bellenger appears to have been a general merchant who took se ...

visited the area in January 1583. In 1693, the island was granted to Paul D'Ailleboust, Sieur de Périgny as part of Champlain's "

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

". D'Ailleboust did not take possession of it, and it reverted to the French Crown, in whose possession it remained until 1713, when it was traded to the British in the

Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne ...

. The first permanent settlement was established in 1784, when

Moses Gerrish Moses Gerrish was a United Empire Loyalist and one of the original settlers of the island of Grand Manan. Early life and Revolutionary War activities He was born in Byfield parish, Newbury, Massachusetts in 1744. He attended Harvard College, gr ...

gathered a group of settlers on an area of Grand Manan he called Ross Island, in honour of settler Thomas Ross. During the American Revolution, just off the island there were many naval battles between American privateers and British shipping. Because of the

Treaty of Paris (1783) The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, officially ended the American Revolutionary War and overall state of conflict ...

, the U.S. considered Grand Manan to be its possession due to the island's proximity to Maine. Britain obtained title in

Jay's Treaty The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, commonly known as the Jay Treaty, and also as Jay's Treaty, was a 1794 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted ...

of 1794, while surrendering its sovereignty claims over Eastport on Moose, Frederick and Dudley islands in nearby

Cobscook Bay Cobscook Bay is located in Washington County in the state of Maine. It opens into Passamaquoddy Bay, within the Bay of Fundy. Cobscook Bay is immediately south of the island city of Eastport, the main island of which (Moose Island) straddles the ...

. From 1812 to 1814, the Bay of Fundy was infested with

privateers A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

who raided and plundered villages. The ownership of islands in

Passamaquoddy Bay Passamaquoddy Bay (french: Baie de Passamaquoddy) is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Most of the bay lies within Canada, with its w ...

was not settled until 1817, when the United States gave up its claim to Grand Manan and the surrounding islands. By 1832 schools were established by the

Anglican Church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...

. While neighbouring islands along the American coast to Boston relied on whaling, Grand Manan had fishing and shipbuilding. In 1831 the Gannet Rock Lighthouse was built on a rocky islet south of Grand Manan, to protect shipping en route to

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of ...

. It is Grand Manan's oldest lighthouse. This period was also marked by a number of shipwrecks off the island's rocky, cliff-lined coast. In 1857, the '' Lord Ashburton'', was driven into the cliffs at the northern end of the island by hurricane-force winds to great loss of life. Another wreck was the Nova Scotian

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

''Walton'', which was bound for

, from

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

when it wrecked on the White Ledge off Grand Manan on September 14, 1878. By 1851, the island population numbered almost 1,200 permanent inhabitants, most working in fishing. By 1884, Grand Manan became the largest supplier of smoked

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean ...

in the world. By 1920, it produced one million boxes—or twenty thousand tons—of smoked herring, all caught in its local waters. By the late Victorian era, Grand Manan had been discovered by a new breed of explorers—the "tourists"—who began visiting the island in steady numbers, weaving themselves into the fabric of its close-knit, isolated society. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Willa Cather loved the island's unspoiled solitude, while painters such as

Alfred Thompson Bricher Alfred Thompson Bricher (April 10, 1837 – September 30, 1908) was a painter associated with White Mountain art and the Hudson River School. Life and work Bricher was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was educated in an academy at Newburyp ...

and

John James Audubon John James Audubon (born Jean-Jacques Rabin; April 26, 1785 – January 27, 1851) was an American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist. His combined interests in art and ornithology turned into a plan to make a complete pictori ...

came to Grand Manan and its outlying islands to capture what they believed to be its "unique majesty", documenting its varied geography and indigenous fauna.

Geography

It is the largest of the

Fundy Islands The Fundy Islands, also known as the ''Fundy Isles'', is a term given to a group of Canadian islands in the Bay of Fundy along the southwestern coast of New Brunswick, Canada, in the provincial county of Charlotte. There are over 25 islands withi ...

, and the primary island in the Grand Manan archipelago, which also includes

, Gull Rock, and

North Rock North Rock (french: Roche North) is an offshore rock near the boundary between the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy east of the North American continent. Its ownership is disputed between the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the U.S. state ...

are part of the larger Grand Manan

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arch ...

. Grand Manan is long and has a maximum width of with an area of . The vast majority of Grand Manan residents live on the eastern side of the island. Due to limited access, cliffs and high winds, the western side of the island is not residentially developed.

Geology

The western two-thirds of the island shows thick lava flows (

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...

) of Late Triassic age, part of a

flood basalt A flood basalt (or plateau basalt) is the result of a giant volcanic eruption or series of eruptions that covers large stretches of land or the ocean floor with basalt lava. Many flood basalts have been attributed to the onset of a hotspot reac ...

that underlies most of the Bay of Fundy. The Fundy basalts are themselves a small portion of the

Central Atlantic Magmatic Province The Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP) is the Earth's largest continental large igneous province, covering an area of roughly 11 million km2. It is composed mainly of basalt that formed before Pangaea broke up in the Mesozoic Era, near the ...

which was formed in a volcanic event preceding the breakup of the supercontinent

Pangaea Pangaea or Pangea () was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous approximately 335 million y ...

in the Early Jurassic. Many minerals have filled the cracks and bubbles left by gases boiling out of the cooling lavas. They include

zeolite Zeolites are microporous, crystalline aluminosilicate materials commonly used as commercial adsorbents and catalysts. They mainly consist of silicon, aluminium, oxygen, and have the general formula ･y where is either a metal ion or H+. These p ...

minerals such as chabazite, mesolite, stilbite, and heulandite, plus attractive quartz-related amethyst, agate, jasper, and many others. Good collecting areas include Seven Days Work, Indian Beach, and Bradford Cove. A few meters of siltstone are exposed under the basalt along the western shoreline, which by analogy with the

Blomidon Formation The Blomidon Formation is a unit of Upper Triassic (Norian–Rhaetian) sedimentary rocks, which outcrops in Nova Scotia. At outcrop they reach a maximum thickness of , but up to has been proven from well data and a thickness of up to has been ...

in Nova Scotia must include the Triassic-Jurassic boundary. Harbours along the eastern shoreline were created by the erosion of complex fault and fold structures in ancient metamorphosed sedimentary and volcanic rock formations. A major north-south fault is exposed at Red Point, and it divides these older eastern rocks from the western basalts. The metamorphic formations are organized into groups called Castalia, Ingalls Head, and Grand Manan, and there are also metamorphosed plutonic masses such as Stanley Brook Granite, Rockweed Pond Gabbro, and Kent Island Granite. These rocks have recently been dated between 539 and 618 million years old ef. Black and others, 2007and are now considered to correlate with the New River and Mascarene terranes of southern New Brunswick, Canada. Although originally they were igneous and sedimentary rocks such as basalt, sandstone, and shale, the eastern formations have been metamorphosed into greenstone, phyllite, argillite, schist, quartzite, and other foliated types. In addition, many folds and faults have bent and broken the formations in rather tortured-looking outcrops. One such fault can be seen at the north end of Pettes Cove, where it separates

metabasalt Amphibolite () is a metamorphic rock that contains amphibole, especially hornblende and actinolite, as well as plagioclase feldspar, but with little or no quartz. It is typically dark-colored and dense, with a weakly foliated or schistose (flaky ...

of Swallowtail Head from schist of North Head.

Climate

Grand Manan has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(''Dfb''). The climate in spring, summer and fall is very comfortable but winter has an inconsistent weather pattern with snow, rain, freezing rain and mild weather. Since 2000, the average annual precipitation has been 859.8 mm with August being the driest month (35 mm) and October (112 mm) the wettest. The highest temperature ever recorded on Grand Manan was on 26 July 1963. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 10 January 1890.

Economy

Grand Manan's

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

is dependent upon

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

and

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...

. Lobster,

, scallops and crab are most commonly sought among fishermen. Together with ocean salmon farms,

dulse ''Palmaria palmata'', also called dulse, dillisk or dilsk (from Irish/Scottish Gaelic '/'), red dulse, sea lettuce flakes, or creathnach, is a red alga ( Rhodophyta) previously referred to as ''Rhodymenia palmata''. It grows on the northern coas ...

, rock weed and clam digging, many residents make their living "on the water." Tourism is growing significantly, providing the island with a highly profitable "green" industry. Whale and bird watching, camping and kayaking are popular activities for tourists. Visitors and retirees often purchase real estate and remain on the island through the summer months or reside permanently as every necessary amenity exists for people of all ages. Approximately 54% of the island is owned by non-residents. The community is noted for its friendly people, low crime rate, high church membership, quaint villages, and unspoiled seascapes. New York architect Michael Zimmer established the Sardine Museum and Herring Hall of Fame. There are

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does incl ...

ponds, lakes and beaches that are prime locations for sunbathing, beachcombing, and picnics. Other interesting finds on Grand Manan are magnetic sand, and "The Hole-In-The Wall" located in Whale Cove in the village of North Head. Anchorage Provincial Park can be found on the island's southeastern coast between the communities of Grand Harbour and Seal Cove.

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; french: Statistique Canada), 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 cultu ...

, Grand Manan 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. As of 2016, the racial make-up of the island was 99.17% White; and less than 1% Latin American and Aboriginal populations. Those who were third generation or more made up 89% of the population. There were 1,045 households, out of which 23% had children under the age of 18 living with them. Of the 700 census families on the island, 71.42% were married couples living together. The average family size was 2.90. On the island the population was spread out, with 25% age 19 or under; 5% from 20 to 24, 27% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 17.1% at 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.3 years. The median income for a family was $48,190. Males had a median income of $32,183 versus $23,106 for females. A full 63% of the population 15 years and older had at least a high school certificate or equivalent, with 22% having at least some college,

CEGEP A CEGEP ( or ; ), also written cégep, CÉGEP and cegep, is a publicly funded college providing technical, academic, vocational or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, ...

, or university training.

Infrastructure

Governance

The Village of Grand Manan includes the all of Grand Manan Parish except

. The village was formed in 1995 by the amalgamation of the villages of Grand Harbour, North Head, and Seal Cove, along with the local service districts of Castalia, Woodwards Cove, and the parish of Grand Manan.

Education

The

Anglophone South School District The Anglophone South School District (ASD-S) is a Canadian school district in New Brunswick. Anglophone South is an Anglophone district operating 70 public schools (gr. K-12) in Saint John, Charlotte, Kings, and part of Queens Queens is a ...

operates the K–12

Grand Manan Community School Grand Manan Community School is a K-12 school located on Grand Manan Island in Charlotte County, New Brunswick. Grand Manan Community School is in the Anglophone South School District. See also * List of schools in New Brunswick * Anglophone S ...

.Anglophone South
Grand Manan Parish.

Health care

The only medical facility is the Grand Manan Hospital, operated by

Horizon Health Network Horizon Health Network is one of two health authorities in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, the other being Vitalité Health Network. Horizon Health Network delivers medical care on behalf of the Government of New Brunswick to the central ...

, provides family medicine, emergency medicine and palliative care. The hospital also has an eight-bed inpatient unit. There are onsite

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

clinics,

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patie ...

as well as telemedicine. Diagnostics include

x-ray An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30&nb ...

, EKG, and blood and specimen collecting.

Access and transportation

Coastal Transport Limited Coastal Transport Limited (Coastal Transport) is a ferry company operating in eastern Canada on the Bay of Fundy with headquarters in Saint John, New Brunswick. The company began as a wholly owned subsidiary of Marine Atlantic Incorporated (MAI), ...

operates the Blacks Harbour to Grand Manan Island Ferry. The crossing is about one and half hours. The Grand Manan Island to White Head Island Ferry, serves the 220 residents of

from Ingalls Head on Grand Manan, with a trip of about half an hour. Airplane service is available to most destinations in the Maritime region and some destinations in the New England States from the

Grand Manan Airport Grand Manan Airport is located northwest of Grand Harbour on the island of Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada. The airport is classified as an airport of entry by Nav Canada and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). CBSA offic ...

New Brunswick Route 776 Route 776 is a provincial highway in New Brunswick, Canada. It serves as the main road on Charlotte County's Grand Manan Island, following the entire eastern coast of the island. The northern terminus of Route 776 is at the Coastal Transport L ...

is the main road on Grand Manan, running on a north-south alignment along the island's eastern coast.