Dorchester, New Brunswick

Dorchester is a village in Westmorland County, in southeastern New Brunswick, Canada. It is located on the eastern side of the mouth of the lush Memramcook River valley, on the upper reaches of the Bay of Fundy. The village had a population in 2001 of 954 (Census of Canada). Dorchester is an English-speaking community but it is adjacent to French-speaking Acadian areas farther up the Memramcook valley.

Dorchester is the former shiretown or administrative centre of Westmorland County and as such has several fine historic homes and civic buildings; however, counties are no longer an administrative jurisdiction in New Brunswick. In the Nineteenth 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 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. Many residents commute to work in the nearby Town of Sackville or the City of Moncton.

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.

External links

Communities in New Brunswick | Bays of Canada | Geography of New Brunswick

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