Description of Historic Place

The Site of the Former Agricultural Society Establishments, currently a parking lot, is located on the Irving Boulevard in Bouctouche. The site highlights the importance of the location as a former centre of commercial and industrial activity for the town.

Heritage Value

The heritage value of the Site of the Former Agricultural Society Establishments as a Local Historic Place resides in its historical association with the Agricultural Society, which established its infrastructure here in the late 19th century. The site is representative of this collective enterprise that marked the agricultural, commercial, and industrial development of the region.

Established in 1892 under the initiative of Father François-Xavier-Joseph Michaud, the Agricultural Society was the very first of the early businesses set up on this site in 1895. This complex, which included a butter factory, a cheese factory, a carding mill, and a sawmill, was located a few feet away from the rail line and adjacent to the river. Later, other businesses were set up, including a flour mill and a general store. After a fire which razed the butter factory and the cheese factory in 1906, certain production activities could not be maintained. Reconstructed shorlty after, the building only contained the flour mill and the carding mill. In 1948, the entire complex was converted into a fish plant and, in 1959, became a garage.

The Agricultural Society was for many years the first group of some significance devoted to the progress of the Acadian community.

Source: Kent Museum, 150 Du Couvent Road, Bouctouche, New Bruncswick

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements of the Site of the Former Agricultural Society Establishments include:
- interpretative panel relating the site’s history;
- site of the sawmill marked by an interpretative panel along a trail;
- the scope of the parking lot evoquing the size of the former general store.