Richibucto

The Richibucto River flows through Mi'kmaq country to a sheltered harbour on the Northumberland Strait. Its name has been rendered as the river of fire, and the Mi'kmaq community of Elsipogtog belongs to the same river country. Acadian families established settlements in the area during the eighteenth century.

The river became a centre of timber trade and shipbuilding in the early nineteenth century. In 1819 John Jardine built the Ellen Douglas at Kingston, upriver from the harbour, for carrying lumber to the West Indies and other markets. It was the first ship built at Kingston, where the Jardine yards would become an important employer. During the 1820s and 1830s, great quantities of timber left Richibucto, linking the wooded interior to ports across the Atlantic.