Grand Manan is also the name for the village that incorporates the main island and several nearby smaller islands - although White Head Island and Machias Seal Island are not part of the village.[a]
Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes charted the area around 1520, but it first appeared cartographically on Diogo Homem's 1558 map. French merchant-explorer Étienne Bellenger visited the area in January 1583. In 1606 Samuel de Champlain sheltered on nearby White Head Island and produced a map calling the island "Manthane", which later changed to "Menane" or "Menasne". The word "Manan" believed to be a corruption of mun-an-ook meaning "the island", from the Wolastoqiyik, Passamaquoddy, and PenobscotFirst Nations.[citation needed]
In 1693, the island was granted to Paul D'Ailleboust, Sieur de Périgny as part of Champlain's "New France". 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.
In 1784, Moses Gerrish gathered a group of settlers on an area of Grand Manan he called Ross Island, in honour of settler Thomas Ross, and formed the first permanent settlement. During the American Revolution, just off the island there were many naval battles between American privateers and British shipping.[3]
Because of the Treaty of Paris (1783), 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 of 1794, while surrendering its sovereignty claims over Eastport on Moose, Frederick and Dudley islands in nearby Cobscook Bay.
From 1812 to 1814, the Bay of Fundy was infested with privateers who raided and plundered villages. The ownership of islands in Passamaquoddy Bay was not settled until 1817, when the United States gave up its claim to Grand Manan and the surrounding islands. In 1814, the schoonerGeorge was purchased at prize-auction and intentionally loaded with specifically ordered British goods at Saint John so John Tappen could fraudulently have captains William Sebor and Henry Dekoven stage a fraudulent capture of the George by his own privateer ship Fly and seize the insured goods when it was docked at Long Island Harbour, Grand Manan. [4]
In 1831 the island's first lighthouse, Gannet Rock Lighthouse, was built on a rocky islet south of Grand Manan, to guide shipping en route to Saint John.[5]
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.[6] Another wreck was the Nova Scotian barqueWalton, which was bound for Saint John, New Brunswick, from Wales when it wrecked on the White Ledge off Grand Manan on September 14, 1878.[7]
By 1851, the island population numbered almost 1,200 permanent inhabitants, most working in fishing. Two years earlier, Moses Henry Perley studied the fisheries and noted "the people of Grand Manan enjoy perfect free trade. No duties whatever are paid by the inhabitants of Grand Manan, in fact there is no person there authorized to receive duties. The inhabitants take their fish to Eastport or Lubec, and there sell them at low prices takin in return such articles as they need for home consumption...as there is a perfectly good understanding with the fishermen of Maine.".[8]
By 1884, Grand Manan became the largest supplier of smoked herring in the world. By 1920, it produced one million boxes—or twenty thousand tons—of smoked herring.[citation needed]
In 1967, the Grand Manan Museum was opened, with exhibits including the large lens from the Gannett Rock Lighthouse and taxidermied bird specimens from Allan Moses.[11]
In 2005, approximately fifty Islanders engaged in vigilante justice in removing a drug dealer from the island as five, "whom many considered heroes",[12] were criminally charged.[13][14]NDP candidate Andrew Graham noted "I don't know what it's like to see what crack [cocaine] is doing to your children. It was a pressure cooker and they reached their limit."[15] Investing in the island in the aftermath of the violence which had drawn international headlines, the government built a youth centre and outdoor skating rink.[12]
History of Religion
In 1838, St. Paul's Episcopal Church was the victim of an attempted arson, and in 1839 it was destroyed by arson with an effigy holding a paper that showed "hostility toward the Bishop...the rector...and four other persons of this county"; the government offered a reward for information and many accused Wilfred Fisher or those near him as having had a feud with the rector.[16][17] It was rebuilt within a year.[18][19]
Christians' Temple was built in Woodward's Cove by the Baptist minister Mr. Cook, but passed into ownership of Joseph Lakeman who was converted to the Disciples of Christ denomination by the visiting Elder George Garraty, but was later converted to a Latter Day Saints temple after Lakeman declared himself a Mormon.[3] A missionary had been preaching "alongside a Mormon elder" on Grand Manan circa 1870.[20] It later burned down, and was not rebuilt.[21][22]
Island community norms "officially prohibited drinking".[23]:270 However, before a provincial liquor store opened in 1972 islanders could legally order liquor and have it delivered on the ferry, and alcohol smuggling was common.[23]:270 In 1975, an outsider from Toronto was disparaged on the island for purchasing the Marathon Hotel and applying for a liquor license angering religious leaders who had blocked liquor licenses on the island five times previously, with local MLA James Tucker noting "It's an atrocity...I'm only taking the side of 95% of the island opposition".[23] A year later, the Marathon's license was revoked - although reinstated in 1982 on condition it serve only hotel patrons and not general island population.[23] In 1995, an outsider purchased a video rental store which transformed into a pizza parlour and then into a pool hall within two years - and received a liquor license, again angering local islanders.[23] By the time of the third liquor license, for a restaurant in North Head, in 2003 - there was no community outrage and alcohol had become normalised. [23]
Fishermen adhered to a "strict "no-Sunday" rule" which prohibited checking lobster traps or harvesting herring from weirs on Sundays. This community norm persisted until at least 2000 in the community of Seal Cove.[23]:272
As of 2008 Grand Manan and neighbouring White Head Island were served by fifteen churches. Of these, three were Wesleyan and three Baptist.[23]:266 In 2021 the three Wesleyan churches merged into the Lighthouse Church.[24] There are also two Anglican churches dating back to Loyalist days,[25] three Baptist, and a small Catholic church.[26][27]
Grand Manan Island is the largest of the Fundy Islands, while the Grand Manan archipelago contains other islands such as White Head Island, Ross, Cheney Island, the Wood Islands and dozens of surrounding shoaling rocks.[3]
Grand Manan is 34km (21mi) long and has a maximum width of 18km (11mi) with an area of 137km2 (53sqmi). The Western side of the main island and the smaller islands form numerous passages, coves, and rocky reefs. The vast majority of Grand Manan residents live on the eastern side of the island. Due to limited access, 90-metre (300ft) cliffs and high winds, the western side of the island is not residentially developed.
Map of Grand Manan geology
Eastern shore harbours were created by the erosion of complex fault and fold structures in metamorphosedsedimentary and volcanic rock formations.[citation needed] A major north–south fault at Red Point divides these eastern rocks from the western basalts. The metamorphic formations are organized into groups called Castalia, Ingalls Head, and Grand Manan.
There are also metamorphosed plutonic masses such as Stanley Brook Granite, Rockweed Pond Gabbro, and Kent Island Granite. These rocks have been dated between 539 and 618 million years old [ref. Black and others, 2007] and are now considered to correlate with the New River and Mascarene terranes of southern New Brunswick. 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 of Swallowtail Head from schist of North Head.
English Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The western two-thirds of the island shows thick basaltic lava flows of Late Triassic age, part of a flood basalt that underlies most of the Bay of Fundy. The Fundy basalts are themselves a small portion of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province which was formed in a volcanic event preceding the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea in the Early Jurassic. Many minerals have filled the cracks and bubbles left by gases boiling out of the cooling lavas. They include zeolite 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 in Nova Scotia must include the Triassic–Jurassic boundary.[28]
Grand Manan has a humid continental climate (Dfb). The climate in spring, summer and fall is very comfortable[clarification needed] but winter has an inconsistent weather pattern with snow, rain, freezing rain and mild weather. Its average of 177 frost-free days is the highest in the province.[29]
Since 2000, the average annual precipitation has been 859.8mm with August being the driest month (35mm) and October (112mm) the wettest.
The highest temperature ever recorded on Grand Manan was 34.2°C (93.6°F) on 12 August 2025.[30] The coldest temperature ever recorded was −30.6°C (−23°F) on 10 January 1890.[31]
Grand Manan's economy is dependent upon aquaculture, tourism and fishing which includes lobster, herring, scallops and crab. Together with ocean salmon farms, dulse, rock weed and clam digging, many residents make their living "on the water." The Anchorage Provincial Park draws campers to the island.
Tourism is growing significantly, supported by whale and bird watching, camping and kayaking. Approximately 54% of the island is owned by seasonal or non-residents.[citation needed] New York architect Michael Zimmer established the Sardine Museum and Herring Hall of Fame.[37]
There are freshwater ponds, lakes and beaches that are prime locations for sunbathing, beachcombing, and picnics. Other interesting finds on Grand Manan are magnetic sand,[38] and "Hole-In-The Wall" located in Whale Cove.
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population, Grand Manan had a population of 2,595 living in 1,179 of its 1,408 total private residences. 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.
The Grand Manan Hospital, operated by Horizon Health Network, provides family medicine, emergency medicine and palliative care. The hospital also has an eight-bed inpatient unit. There are onsite diabetes clinics, physiotherapy as well as telemedicine. Diagnostics include x-ray, EKG, and blood and specimen collecting.[42]
New Brunswick Route 776 is the main road on Grand Manan, running on a north–south alignment along the island's eastern coast. In March 1976, a vote of residents on Grand Manan showed 100% agreed to withhold payment of provincial property taxes until a second ferry was put in service.[43][44]
Coastal Transport Limited operates the Blacks Harbour to Grand Manan Island Ferry. The crossing is approximately one and one-half hours.
The Grand Manan Island to White Head Island Ferry, serves the 220 residents of White Head Island from Ingalls Head on Grand Manan, with a trip of about half an hour.
↑Canadian Geographic 2007 -Page 58 "These weathered structures still line Seal Cove's picturesque harbour, and one contains the Sardine Museum and Herring Hall of Fame, an offbeat tourist attraction established by a wealthy New Yorker to exhibit obsolete fishing equipment as..."
↑"Island Demands Second Ferry", Telegraph-Journal, March 29 1976
↑Airphoto Analysis Associates Consultants, "Fundy Isles Region Tourism Industry Development Plan", federal Department of Regional Economic Expansion, NB Department of Tourism, 1976
Notes
↑Originally defined as "all of Grand Manan Parish except the local service district of White Head Island", the 2023 New Brunswick local governance reforms finally clarified the status of Machias Seal Island and small islands immediately off White Head Island.[2]
↑1981–2010 normals are derived from data collected at Seal Cove, however extreme high and low temperatures have been recorded on various parts of the island since 1883. Based on station coordinates, climate data was recorded in the area of Castalia from July 1883 to April 1912 and again from July 1962 to March 1965, at Seal Cove from November 1987 to February 2004 and at Grand Manan Airport from November 2000 to present.
Further reading
Eric Allaby, Grand Manan: Grand Harbour, Grand Manan Museum, Inc., 64 p., 1984.
Joshua M. Smith, Borderland Smuggling: Patriots, Loyalists and Illicit Trade in the Northeast, 1783–1820 Gainesville, University Press of Florida, 2006.
Elaine Ingalls Hogg, Historic Grand Manan: Images of Our Past. Nimbus Publishing, 2007.
Tim Peters, Rhythm of the Tides, Tim Peter's Publishing, August 2000
Fyffe, L.R., Grant, R.H., and McHone, J.G., 2011, Bedrock geology of Grand Manan Island (parts of NTS 21 B/1O and B/15): New Brunswick, Department of Natural Resources: Lands, Minerals, and Petroleum Division, Plate 2011-14 (map scale 1:50,000).
Miller, B. V.; Barr, S. M.; Black, R. S. (2007). "Neoproterozoic and Cambrian U–Pb (zircon) ages from Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick: implications for stratigraphy and northern Appalachian terrane correlations". Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 44 (7): 911–923. Bibcode:2007CaJES..44..911M. doi:10.1139/e06-132.
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