Growing up, I considered New Brunswick a place that you passed through to get to Nova Scotia.

In the Maritime provinces, Nova Scotia is the matriarch, flanked by its charming and much-loved little sister PEI with distant cousin and life of the (kitchen) party, Newfoundland to the ‘far east’. New Brunswick is often the forgotten one, the Charlie Brown, if you will, of the East Coast. This has earned it the nickname “the drive-through province”.

If you do decide to linger a little while here, you will find travelling through New Brunswick (NB) a breeze. Distances are relatively short and with enough money for car rental, gas and accommodation,  you can see quite a bit in a short amount of time of what this province has to offer. I suggest one week to get intimate with NB. Big cities don’t seem to be the main attraction though; they are just a distraction from all of the natural wonders.

Hopewell Rocks
Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Fundy Trail
Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Enjoy what the cities have to offer but don’t expect an experience of London, Paris or Hong Kong magnitude.

Tidbits

In my opinion, New Brunswick is the only truly bilingual province in Canada. French and English are scattered seemingly evenly throughout the province. The English accent, however, seemed almost indiscernible from that of Nova Scotia. Yes Virginia, there is a Maritime tongue.

In spite of its modest reputation, there are many accolades credited to this understated province.

• the longest covered bridge in the world (Hartland)
• the highest tides in the world (Bay of Fundy)
• the world’s largest lobster and lobster capital of the world (Shediac)
• home to Canada’s oldest museum and oldest incorporated city – both Saint John
• and magnetic hill, where your car rolls uphill backwards (Moncton)
  
  amongst other tidbits…

Interesting Facts About New Brunswick

Photo by Kimberley (c)2015

Notable New Brunswickers

Willie O’Ree
The first black hockey player to break the colour barrier in the NHL. He hails from Fredericton.

Measha Brueggergossman
A soprano, opera singer and Fredericton native.

Donald Sutherland
Famous actor, born in New Brunswick and raised partially in Nova Scotia.

The McCain brothers
Anyone in Canada who has had frozen McCain french fries are familiar with the McCain food giant. Yes they are Canadian.