Article

Woodstock (NB)

Published Online September 10, 2012

Last Edited March 4, 2015

Woodstock, NB, incorporated as a town in 1856, population 5254 (2011c), 5113 (2006c). The Town of Woodstock, the shire town of Carleton County, is located 103 km up the Saint John River from Fredericton, at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River.

Woodstock, NB, incorporated as a town in 1856, population 5254 (2011c), 5113 (2006c). The Town of Woodstock, the shire town of Carleton County, is located 103 km up the Saint John River from Fredericton, at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River. It was possibly named for the community of the same name in Oxfordshire, Eng.

The disbanded troops of Oliver Delancey's second battalion were the initiators of Woodstock's development. Despite its Loyalist tradition, the ethnic mix of the community rapidly changed, and by the mid-19th century the town was the site of a riot between members of the Loyal Orange Order and Roman Catholics. By the beginning of the 20th century, Woodstock was the site of sawmills, tanneries, harness shops, carriage factories, woodworking plants, a woollen mill, a canning factory and several foundries. With the development in the 1960s of a headpond for the Mactaquac Power project, much of the town's recreational area on islands in the Saint John was destroyed; new facilities have since replaced these.

At the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway and Interstate 95, Woodstock is a transportation hub and service centre for the potato-farming industry. It is also the site of New Brunswick Community College.