Description of Historic Place

French Fort Cove, located in the City of Miramichi, is a body of water surrounded by forested parkland on the north side of the Miramichi River.

Heritage Value

French Fort Cove is designated a Local Historic Place for its historical influence in the settlement of the Miramichi area, for its industrial history and for its natural elements.

Samuel de Champlain's map of 1632 refers to this tributary as Crow Brook. Its mouth on the western bank, known as Kethro lookout, was the site of a French battery in 1756.

French Fort Cove, also known as Mill Cove, is recognized for its industrial influence in the region. For the century following the Acadian Expulsion and British settlement, it was the site of such sawmills as “The Blueberry Grinder”, gristmills, a woollen carding mill as well as a site for launching ships.

French Fort Cove is also recognized for C.E. Fish's quarry that was operational on this site from 1884-1904. Miramichi olive sandstone quarried from here was used to construct such notable edifices as the Langevin Block in Ottawa and St. James Street Methodist Church in Montreal.

French Fort Cove is finally valued for its uniqueness as an ecological site, and was recognized as such when, in 1887 a hard-covered botanist book was published entitled 'Miramchi Wildflowers', comprising an exceptional representation of its content from the Cove area. Today French Fort Cove is a municipal natural parkland representative of the Acadian Forest that is accessed by walking trails, a pedestrian bridge and a boardwalk.

Source: City of Miramichi, Heritage Office Site File # 06-71

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements that describe French Fort Cove include:
- geographic location in relation to the Miramichi River;
- geographic contour within the context of a vantage and lookout point;
- mixed Acadian Forest comprising mature red spruce, American beech and other significant shade tolerant species, which create aesthetic fall colour foliage;
- diverse vascular plant representation including 461 species of which 7 species considered provincially rare;
- abandoned sandstone quarry;
- walking trails;
- covered pedestrian bridge;
- boardwalk along waters edge.