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New Brunswick Tourism Region : St. John River Valley
Description From Owner:
- This name for the 70-metre (230-foot) cataract on the St. John R. dates from at least 1686.
- In that year the Bishop of Quebec, Jean-Baptiste La Croix de Chevriéres de Saint-Vallier (1653-1727) visited the area and wrote:
- 'On 16 May we arrived at the place called le Grand Sault Saint Jean-Baptiste, where the river falls from a height over lofty rocks into the abyss making a wonderful cascade: the rising mist hides the water from sight,
- and the uproar of the fall warns from afar the navigators descending in their canoes.'
- Before 1686 the Maliseet knew the falls as Chikunikabit, meaning 'destroyer place,' referring to a legend where a young Maliseet woman, Malabeam, saved her village by bravely luring a warring Mohawk tribe over the falls to their deaths.
- A small French settlement developed in the mid-eighteenth century and by 1790 a military post was established by Lt.-Gov. Thomas Carleton.
- With the development of sawmills in the 1830s the population grew and the place was incorporated as a town in 1890. Until 1983 the place was called Grand Falls, but New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual,
- province and makes an effort to have place names reflect the predominant language of the local population.
- So in 1983 the name was changed to Grand Falls/Grand-Sault, making the place one of two populated places in NB with a name approved in both official languages. (The other is Caissie Cape / Cap de Caissie).
- Today's visitor can learn about the falls and gorge at Malabeam Information Centre and then follow hiking trails, descend 250 steps into the massive gorge or take a pontoon-boat ride through the 1.5-km-long gorge.
- Pioneer and early-Victorian artifacts and archival documents are on display at the Grand Falls Museum, 68 Madawaska Road.
- With permission from 'New Brunswick Place Names' David E. Scott 2009
Address of this page: http://nb.ruralroutes.com/GrandFalls
