Arthabaska

Arthabaska lies in the wooded interior south of the Saint Lawrence, in country associated with Abenaki peoples. The name is of Indigenous origin and has been interpreted as referring to reeds or rushes. In 1802 the colonial authorities proclaimed the township of Arthabaska in Lower Canada. The merchant John Gregory acquired the township with the intention of developing it, but settlement proceeded slowly where communications were difficult; more sustained colonial settlement began in the 1830s. The later town of Arthabaska grew within this township, and should not be projected back as an established town throughout the earlier period. Its history joins an Indigenous landscape to the gradual extension of colonial land surveying and settlement.