Caraquet, a town nestled in Gloucester County, New Brunswick, Canada, is a place where history and culture intertwine. Located on the shore of Chaleur Bay in the Acadian Peninsula, Caraquet's name originates from the Mi'kmaq term for the meeting of two rivers. The Caraquet River and Rivière du Nord flow into the Caraquet Bay west of the town. On 1 January 2023, the town expanded significantly by annexing the village of Bas-Caraquet and parts of seven local service districts.
Caraquet was first settled by Gabriel Giraud dit St-Jean, a French trader and merchant. He married a Mi'kmaq woman and settled in Lower Caraquet. After the expulsion of the Acadians from southern New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in 1755, some Acadians settled in Upper Caraquet. Led by Alexis Landry in 1757, the original town site was founded at what is now called Sainte-Anne-du-Bocage. The land was officially granted for the town in 1774 through the Royal Proclamation to 34 families of Acadian, Normand, and Mi'kmaq origins. Today, Caraquet is known as Acadia's capital by its residents and hosts the annual Acadian Festival each August, with the Tintamarre on August 15 being the highlight.
The Mi'kmaq were the first to visit the region around 4000 years ago. The Vikings also visited the region around the year one thousand. Jacques Cartier explored the surrounding area in 1534. In 1713, Great Britain obtained Acadia in the Treaty of Utrecht. Caraquet was founded around 1731 by the Breton Gabriel Giraud dit Saint-Jean. It stood on the present site of the border with Bas-Caraquet.
In 1755, the British took Fort Beauséjour and began the deportation of the Acadians. A group of survivors led by Alexis Landry took refuge in Caraquet in 1757 at a place called Sainte-Anne-du-Bocage. Several privateers, Captain Saint-Simon, and survivors of the Battle of the Restigouche took refuge in the village of Gabriel Giraud in 1760. The rest of the population emigrated to other places in the Bay of Chaleur, especially Miscou and Bonaventure.
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Caraquet had a population of 4,285 living in 1,988 of its 2,150 total private dwellings, a change of 0.9% from its 2016 population of 4,248. With a land area of 68.13 km2 (26.31 sq mi), it had a population density of 62.9/km2 (162.9/sq mi) in 2021.
Caraquet is featured in Phantom Ships: A Novel by Claude Le Bouthillier.
The water fee is $120 and the sewer fee to $250. Counters for industries and businesses, the fee is $1.00 per 1000 gallons of salt water, $2.25/1,000 gallons for water and $1.20 for each sprinkler watering.
