Grand Lake (New Brunswick)

Grand Lake
Grand Lake is located in New Brunswick
Grand Lake
Grand Lake
LocationQueens County, New Brunswick
Coordinates45°56′1.1″N 66°1′57.6″W / 45.933639°N 66.032667°W / 45.933639; -66.032667
Primary outflowsJemseg River
Basin countriesCanada

Grand Lake is a lake located in central New Brunswick, Canada. It is approximately 40 kilometres east of Fredericton; and the province's largest open body of water being a total of 20 kilometers long and 5 kilometres wide.[1] The lake drains through the Jemseg River and the Grand Lake Meadows into the Saint John River.

Records indicate that by the early 1600s [Grand Lake] was inhabited by Maliseet and Mi’kmaq peoples.[1] The traditional word for Grand Lake is "Kchee'quis" meaning Big Lake.[2]

Commercial barges of forest products were towed across the lake from a large sawmill in Chipman to a pulp mill in Saint John until the late 1990s. Other commercial activities included New Brunswick's largest coal mining area with extensive strip mines in the Newcastle Creek valley. In the 1850s, significant amounts of 'Newcastle coal' was being shipped down river from Grand Lake to the Saint John River.[3] This was a coal-fired power generating station that was built in 1931 and was torn down in 2012,[4] it was formerly operated by NB Power, and is located on the lake shore near the village of Minto.

Today, the lake is popular for recreational activities for both locals and visitors, with several beaches, cottages, and campgrounds along its shores. This large body of water acts as a heat sink, moderating local temperatures and creating the warmest climate in the province which extends the growing season.[1] There is a small aerodrome, Cumberland Bay Water Aerodrome, located in a bay of the same name on the east shore of the lake.[5]

Communities along or near Grand Lake include:

Campgrounds along or near Grand Lake include:

Lakes and rivers which drain into Grand Lake include:

  1. ^ a b c McGrath, H.; Stefanakis, E. (June 2014). "Grand Lake Meadows Historical Mapping". Geomatica. 68 (2): 119–128. doi:10.5623/cig2014-205.
  2. ^ Ganong, William (1896). A Monograph of the place-nomenclature of the province of New Brunswick. Ottawa.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Seager, Allen (1980). Minto, New Brunswick: A Study in Canadian Class Relations Between the War. Labour/ Le Travail. p. 5.
  4. ^ "Demolition takes down smoke stack of generating station". CBC News. 19 April 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  5. ^ Nav Canada's Water Aerodrome Supplement. Effective 0901Z 26 March 2020 to 0901Z 22 April 2021.