Caraquet, NB Monument

CARAQUET
The arrival of Acadians in northeastern New Brunswick dates back to 1757. Hundreds of families, having survived the famine of Camp d’Espérance (Miramichi) and, before that, escaped the Deportation of 1755, settled along the coast from Nipisiguit to Néguac, including at Pokemouche and Caraquet. On the Bay of Caraquet they joined a group of Norman fisherman, who had settled there to live off the fishery.

In 1761, many of these families were captured during the raid by Captain Roderick MacKenzie and then imprisoned at Halifax and Fort Cumberland (Fort Beauséjour). Those who had escaped these attacks settled along the Chaleur Bay, principally at Bonaventure and Miscou. Shortly afterwards, others returned to settle in their former places of refuge.

When 34 families from Caraquet received title to their lands from the colonial government on 19 March 1784, a grant comprising 14,500 acres, these settlements finally took root in the Acadian Peninsula. More Acadian families joined them after being displaced by the arrival of the Loyalists on the lower St. John River. In this way the whole region became part of the new Acadia.

Source : texte inscrit sur le Monument.