White Head Island is located east of

Grand Manan Grand Manan is a Canadian island in the Bay of Fundy, part of the province of New Brunswick. Grand Manan is also the name of an incorporated village, which includes the main island and numerous nearby islands; White Head Island, small islands n ...

in the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of 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 tidal range is the highest in the world. The bay was ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

. In 2011 the island had a population of 162. White Head Island was governed as a

local service district Local service district may refer to these administrative units in Canada: * Local service district (New Brunswick) A local service district (LSD) was a provincial administrative unit for the provision of local services in the Canadian province o ...

prior to the

2023 New Brunswick local governance reform Local governance reform in the Canadian province of New Brunswick was implemented on January 1, 2023. This resulted in a significant reorganization of the local government entities in the province, including a reduction in the number of entiti ...

. For approximately four hours surrounding

low tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

, the island can be reached on-foot from Grand Manan walking across sandbars and ledges through shallow water.Lorimer, John G. "History of Islands and Islets in the Bay of Fundy, Charlotte County, New Brunswick"
Archive.org copy
1876 A channel was

dredged Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing dams ...

to allow fishing boats to reach the wharf to access White Head Village.Sailing Directions for Nova Scotia, 1952, US Navy Hydrographic Office

Infrastructure

Its economy is based largely around

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. Nelu ...

and fishing, historically through herring

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s. There is a series of very small islands marked on charts but typically not appearing on maps, west of White Head Island and north of Three Islands. The island has a two-classroom elementary school, and older students take a ferry to Grand Manan Community School. From 1976-2012, the island was serviced by the ''MV Lady White Head'', until it was replaced by

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 ...

's ''William Frankland'' car ferry between White Head and Grand Manan. Until 2022 the community had a small general store. There is a Baptist church on the island that was completed in 1981. However, there are records of a religious house in use until 1928, when the second of three churches was dedicated. There are 5km of paved roads circling the northern half of the island, while the southern portion has only gravel roads that are less accessible.

History

The island has been identified as one of those written about in the 1604 writings of

Samuel Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; 13 August 1574 #Fichier/ref>For 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 1 ...

and Sieur de Monts.

Parks Canada Parks Canada ()Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 37 National Parks, three National Marine Co ...

, "West Isles Feasibility Study....a National Marine Park in the West Isles", December 1985 The son of

François Gravé Du Pont François Gravé (Saint-Malo, November 1560 – 1629 or soon after), said ''Du Pont'' (or ''Le Pont'', ''Pontgravé''...), was a Breton navigator (captain on the sea and on the "Big River of Canada"), an early fur trader and explorer in the N ...

abandoned the ship left to his care and went to live among the indigenous tribes, adopting their customs for himself. He was arrested by Jean de Biencourt de Poutrincourt in 1610 but escaped captivity. The following year

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priest Pierre Biard found the younger DuPont and brought him out on White Head Island to take public

Confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of people – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that ...

, participate in

Holy Mass The Mass is the central liturgical service of the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, in which bread and wine are consecrated and become the body and blood of Christ. As defined by the Church at the Council of Trent, in the Mass "the same Christ ...

and receive Communion reconciling himself to Poutrincourt. The younger DuPont asked Poutrincourt to dine with him as he reclaimed the ship left to his care, but during the meal Potrincourt lost his temper and seized the ship requiring Biard to come out again to make peace between the pair.Pioneer Priests of North America 1642-1710, https://ia601601.us.archive.org/20/items/pioneerpriestsof02camp/pioneerpriestsof02camp.pdf In October 1741, the

brigantine A brigantine is a two-masted sailing vessel with a fully square-rigged foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of the two masts. Ol ...

''Martha and Eliza'' wrecked in a storm and drifted to what is believed to be White Head Island, with approximately 200 passengers. Dozens of survivors were picked up in at least three separate rescues over the next six months, scattered across nearby islands.Allaby, Eric. "The Sea Wins: Shipwrecks of the Bay of Fundy", 2022 The island was granted to Captain William Frankland who was for years its sole resident, Frankland invited J. J. Audubon to visit the island May 22 1833 to study the Herring Gulls, whose eggs were harvested on the island.Report Upon the Fisheries of the Bay of Fundy, https://ia801304.us.archive.org/16/items/cihm_22284/cihm_22284.pdf Frankland's journal later went to auction and was purchased by the New Brunswick Museum who created a copy to display at White Head. Death on Cheney Island and White Head Island

Death on Cheney Island and White Head Island

Edward Cheney died January 23, 1835 alongside Nathaniel Bancroft, when their small boat spent an hour crashing upon a rock between

Cheney Island Cheney Island is a tidal island located between Ross Island (New Brunswick) , Ross Island and White Head Island in the Grand Manan archipelago in the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick. It is accessible by foot, at low tide. It is privately owned. Hist ...

and White Head Island. In 1845, the Lighthouse approved £200 for a

fog bell A fog bell is a navigation mark used as an audible aid to navigation in seafaring, especially in fog and poor visibility. Floating navigation signs with bells are called bell buoys. On ships, the ship's bell is used for sound signals. Due to more s ...

on White Head. In 1912, the lighthouse keeper Patrick Conway was dismissed leading to years of Parliamentary inquiry.https://archive.org/details/n01ajsessionalpap48canauoft

Gallery

File:White_Head_elementary_school.jpg, White Head elementary school August, 2016 File:White_Head_post_office.jpg, White Head Post Office File:William_Franklin_Ferry.jpg, The car ferry ''William Frankland'' at Ingalls Head

References

{{Authority control , additional=Q33416380 Coastal islands of New Brunswick Communities in Charlotte County, New Brunswick Local service districts of Charlotte County, New Brunswick Lighthouses in New Brunswick