Westmorland County

One of the most storied counties in the province, Westmorland in the southeast corner borders on both the Northumberland Strait and the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy, and the Province of Nova Scotia.  A critical part of the traditional pathways of the Mi’kmaq people, the marshlands of Westmorland were settled by Acadians in the 1600s, by New Englanders following the Acadian expulsion, by English migrants from Yorkshire in the 1770’s and even a few Loyalists after 1783.  It remains a unique combination of strongly English and French-speaking towns and villages with a major urban area around the nineteenth century rail hub of Moncton – now New Brunswick’s largest city.

Westmorland has New Brunswick’s only major extant colonial-era fort, Fort Beauséjour/Cumberland and museum, and its satellite (long a ruin) of Fort Gasperaux/ Moncton.  Fort Beauséjour/ Cumberland was besieged twice, by the British in 1755 and American rebels in 1776.  It retained a British garrison until 1835.  It is now a Parks Canada National Historical Site.