NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY

French Fort Cove
Nortin, Miramichi City

French Fort Cove was the site of a French fort and encampment of Acadian refugees following the 1755 expulsion. 

The Enclosure
Derby Junction, Highway #8, near Miramichi City

On January 15th, 1757, Charles Deschamps de Boishebert, arrived on the Miramichi River to establish a refugee camp at the Enclosure for Acadians who were fleeing expulsion. Boishebert protected the camp with the erection of small batteries down river. Although the camp was not detected by the British under Colonel James Murray, conditions for the Acadian families spending the winter at the camp were desperate and most left in the spring. It is provincial historic site.

Beaubears Island
Miramichi City

Beaubear is a corruption of the name “Boishébert”. An island in the Miramichi River named in honour of Lieutenant Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot, a member of the French regular colonial troops who saw extensive service in what is now New Brunswick during the Seven Years War.

Town of Burnt Church
Miramichi Bay, south of Highway #11

The Town of Burnt Church is named as a result of an event in the Seven Years War. Following the capture of Louisebourg by the British in July 1758, Colonel James Murray was sent to destroy Acadian settlements in the Miramichi region. On 17 September 1758, Murray reported spending two days in Miramichi Bay looking unsuccessfully for Acadians, but destroying anything he found. This included burning the first stone church built in New Brunswick.

Girouard Shipwreck
Miramichi Bay, between Burnt Church and Portage Island

A largely intact shipwreck of a British armed merchantman, which sunk in a storm in 1768. A protected provincial historic site.

MacDonald Farm Provincial Historical Park
Highway #11 at Bartibog

Home of Private Alexander MacDonald, a disbanded regular British soldier from the 76^th Regiment, also known as the McDonald Highlanders, who saw serve in American Revolution War. His home was built between 1815 and 1820. A protected provincial historical site.

Marine or Seaman’s Hospital
Douglastown, Miramichi, Highway 8

This elegant building constructed between 1830-1831, designed in the British Classical tradition of local sandstone, served sick and disabled merchant seamen in the Miramichi area for ninety years. It is a designated a New Brunswick provincial historic site in 1992.

Canadian Forces Base Chatham
Miramichi City

Chatham was selected for a World War Two airfield because of the large average number of clear flying days per year. RCAF Station Chatham became an operational field under Eastern Air Commands. With U-boat activity in the Gulf of St Lawrence, between 9 September and 13 December1942, Hudsons from 113 (Bomber-Reconnaissance) Squadron were stationed at RCAF Chatham as a "special Submarine Hunting Detachment". On two occasions Pilot Officer R.S. Keetley, flying Hudsons from Chatham spotted U-boats in the Gulf. With the return of U-boats in the Gulf, No 119 (BR) Squadron operated from Chatham from 13 April to 2 December 1943.

It was also the location of training units of No 3 Training Command of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. No 21 Elementary Flying Training School for pilots was located there from mid 1941 to mid 1942 and No 10 Air Observer School from mid 1941 to the end of the war, training both navigators and wireless operators. The air observer school was run by a local civilian group headed by R.H. Biddy, an experienced bush pilot. They trained a total of 131,553 air crew from around the world.
In 1949, RCAF Station Chatham saw the start of the “Jet Age”, when Vampires and F-86 Sabre fighter jets were stationed there. Between the late 1950s and early 1960s the famous Golden Hawks aerobatic team made Chatham its home. The last F-86 Sabre left Chatham on February 19th, 1969 for the National Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

The next era began in 1962 with the arrival of No. 416 All Weather Squadron flying CF-101 Voodoos jet fighters. The Voodoos remained until 1984 when No. 416 Squadron was disbanded. During this period of the Cold War the airfield had a US controlled storage facility for nuclear warheads. In the summer of 1985, No. 416 Squadron was replaced by No. 434 Tactical Fighter Squadron flying CF-5 Freedom Fighters. In 1987, CFB Chatham was one of six bases, including some in Spain and Turkey, considered for a NATO pilot training centre. Unfortunately, it was not selected and on 13 June 1989 the air force presence on the base ended when No. 434 Squadron was disbanded.

With the integration of the armed forces, the station assumed the name of Canadian Forces Base Chatham. In 1984, in an attempt to prevent the closing of the base, CFB Chatham became home to the Air Defence Artillery School and the operational 119 Air Defence Battery. In 198, in an apparent commitment to maintaining the base, a large two storey building was constructed to house the artillery school, a $12 million project. However, in a move to consolidate military training, the artillery units were moved to CFB Gagetown and CFB Chatham was closed in 1996.

Fatal World War Two Aircraft Training Exercise
No 10 Air Observer School, RCAF Station Chatham, Miramichi City

On April 21st, 1943, fourteen Ansons, a twin-engine aircraft, took off from RCAF Station Chatham in clear condition for a night training exercise. Heavy fog covered the Maritimes shortly after the exercise began. Two Ansons ran out of fuel over the ocean and one ditched into the Miramichi Bay near Bay du Vin and one near Bathurst, drowning two trainees. A third crashed into a hill near Elgin, killing two Polish trainees and the instructor. The pilot survived. A fourth Anson, after running out of fuel, made a successful forced landing on a highway near Bathurst. All survived this landing. (There is some confusion over the date of this incident. It may have occurred on May 7th, 1943.)

Naval Ammo Depot
Renous

It was a naval ammunition depot during World War Two and post war it supported CFB Chatham.

Canadian Forces Station St Margarets
Highway #11, St Margarets

The Pinetree Line was one of three radar lines established across North America during the Cold War to counter the perceived Soviet air threat. It was a joint Canadian and American initiative. St Margarets was one of the Pinetree sites, manned and operated by the RCAF. Construction began in 1950 and the site became operational on 1 November 1953. Units stationed there included #205 RCAF Radio Station and #21 AC&W (RCAF). During the late 1950s plans were made to provide St Margarets with three unmanned satellite radar sites - at Bull Moose Hill, Shemoque and Todd Mountain. Although construction started on two of these sites, they never became operational. The Pinetree Line became redundant and CFS St Margarets closed on 1 April 1988.

2RNBR Amoury
Miramichi City

Memorial Room
#78 (Normandy) Branch, Royal Canadian Legion, Boiestown, Highway #8

Branch #78 maintains a Memorial Room consisting of photographs of all local veterans, a display of service medals, military badges, uniforms and other military memorabilia. Of particular interest is the uniform of Pilot Officer Paul Burden, who flew Lancasters as a Pathfinder, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross.

TBM Avenger Torpedo Bombers
Chatham Airport

War surplus aircraft used in fighting forest fires.

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