DORCHESTER, NEW BRUNSWICK

'Dorchester' (2001 population: 954) is a Canadian village in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.
It is located on the eastern side of the mouth of the lush Memramcook River valley near the river's discharge point into Shepody Bay. Dorchester is an English-speaking community but it is adjacent to French-speaking Acadian areas farther up the Memramcook River valley.

Contents

Economy

History

Trivia

References

External links

Economy

The village's main employer today is the Correctional Service of Canada, which operates a prison complex now comprising the medium-security (once maximum-security) Dorchester Penitentiary, and the minimum-security Westmorland Institution.
Private sector employers include:

★ Atlantic Industries Limited, a galvanized steel and culvert manufacturer.

★ Bell Inn Restaurant

★ several convenience stores

★ Goodland Farms

★ an art studio
Many residents commute to work in the nearby towns of Sackville and Amherst or the cities of Moncton and Dieppe.
Although situated on the CN Rail main line between Halifax and Montreal, Dorchester no longer has a passenger station, with travellers having to entrain/detrain in Sackville or Moncton. The nearest airport is the Greater Moncton International Airport, a 40 km drive in Dieppe.
Tourism is centred on the historic and natural features of the area. One of Dorchester's most historic buildings houses the Keillor House Museum. The annual shorebird migration to the mud flats of nearby Johnson's Mills is celebrated by an oversize model of a semi-palmated sandpiper situated in the village square.

History

The shire town of the county, Dorchester has several fine historic homes and civic buildings. During the 19th century, Dorchester and neighbouring Dorchester Island were important shipbuilding centres. Numerous master mariners also lived in Dorchester and vicinity during the "Age of sail".
The community was transformed with the construction in 1872 of the Intercolonial Railway between Halifax and Riviere-du-Loup.
In 1911 the village founded the Dorchester Light and Fire Company which is currently known as the Dorchester Volunteer Fire Department.

Trivia

★ Dorchester appears fictionalized in Douglas How's humorous book ''Blow Up the Trumpet in the New Moon'' (1993).

References

★ ''One Village, One War, 1914-1945: A Thinking About the Literature of Stone'', by Douglas Howe, Hantsport: Lancelot Press (1995). The story of Dorchester residents who served Canada in World Wars I and II.

★ ''Dorchester Island and Related Areas'', by Reginald B. Bowser, 1986.

External links

★ Village of Dorchester official website