Description of Historic Place

LeBlanc Marsh is a large marshland, protected by a dike. This marsh once served as farmland. The dike is now used for a bike trail along the Petitcodiac River in Dieppe.

Heritage Value

LeBlanc Marsh is designated a Local Historic Place in recognition of the cultivation of marshlands and the coastline of the Petitcodiac River in the Dieppe area.

LeBlanc Marsh is recognized first for embodying traces of the founding element of the community, the cultivation of marshlands. In fact, the Acadians, who were known as “défricheurs d’eau” (clearers of water), cultivating marshes with the help of dikes, canals, and aboiteaux. Aboiteaux were wooden sluice devices allowing rainwater to drain from the marshland while keeping out the saltwater tides of the Petitcodiac River. In old Acadia, at the “coude” or bend of the Petitcodiac, the first marsh that was diked is the “Pré du village,” which connects the Chartersville marsh to the one near Champlain Place. Firmin LeBlanc and his sons, Amand and Maximim, were the first to farm the LeBlanc Marsh. It was near these marshes that the first families settled in the region around 1730, only to be expelled during the Deportation of 1755. It was not until 1775 that Acadian settlement resumed around the marshlands.

LeBlanc Marsh is also recognized for the fact that breakwaters and dike are still found on the site, bearing witness to an era when the Petitcodiac River was much wider.

Source: City of Dieppe, Historic Place file D12

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe LeBlanc Marsh include:
- marsh landscape;
- dike;
- breakwaters.