 | |
 | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Bay of Fundy |
| Area | 372.9 [1] ha (921 acres) |
| Administration | |
Canada | |
| Province | New Brunswick |
| County | Charlotte |
| Parish | Grand Manan Parish |
Ross Island (previously known as Harbour Island [2] [3] )is an island in the Grand Manan Parish of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada in the Bay of Fundy. [4] [5] [6] It is a tidal island that forms the eastern shore of Grand Harbour on Grand Manan island. [7]
In 1780, at the conclusion of the American Revolution, fifty loyalist families were named including John Jones, Thomas Oxnard, Thomas Ross, Peter Jones, and Moses Gerrish granting them the right to "occupy during pleasure pleasure the island of Grand Manan and the small islands adjacent". [8] Ross was a mariner from Falmouth, Maine. [8] The first settlers, including Moses Gerrish, arrived on Ross Island, then known as Harbour Island, on 6 May 1784 before settling Grand Manan while both Ross and Gerrish maintained homes on the original island. [3] [2]
Upon settling in the area, Ross began trading with the West Indies and was granted ownership of Ross Island. [8]
Ross Island was the site of the Grand Harbour Lighthouse, which was constructed in 1879. The lighthouse was decommissioned after a light was installed on the breakwater at Ingalls Head, at the entrance to Grand Harbour opposite Ross Island. The last keeper left in August 1963 and the building was abandoned. [9] It was severely damaged during the Groundhog Day gale of 1976 and continued to deteriorate until it was declared "North America's most endangered lighthouse" by Lighthouse Digest in 1999. [10] The building finally collapsed during a gale on 19 November 2013. [9]
In 2021 the Nature Trust of New Brunswick established the Keiko and Errol Nature Preserve on Ross Island. [11]
