Pointe-à-la-Croix, Quebec

Pointe-à-la-Croix (Cross Point in English) is a town located on the Restigouche River in the Gaspésie region of eastern Quebec, Canada. The town is situated across from the city of Campbellton, New Brunswick. As of 2001, the town had a population of 1,513.

The town is home to the Battle of the Restigouche 1760 National Historic Site of Canada, and The Petite Rochelle interpretation center.

History

The first Euro-American settlement in the town was by Acadians fleeing the Expulsion in 1755. Retreating as far as possible up the Restigouche River, they were trapped by a huge British fleet. Approximately 1500 Acadian and Métis took refuge here, with the local Micmac Native Americans, their combined resistance was not able to prevent an English landing at their village, they had called La Petite Rochelle, after the Seingeurie de La Petite Rochelle, situated at Point au Bourdon it was completely destroyed by fire on the 23 Aug 1760. Further upriver near Listuguj, the Battle of the Restigouche ended with all the French ships, and most of the Acadians boats sunk, but the English were not successful in landing because of the number of muskets on shore. The Acadians had made their last stand here and survived. Their resistance was in effect a success.

Pointe-à-la-Croix after the conquest was primarily a fishing, forestry, and farming community until the opening of the J. C. Van Horne Bridge to Campbellton in 1962. In 1969, the town was still incorporated as Cross Point, but changed to the French name in 1970. The town now is nearly fully integrated economically with the Campbellton area.

Demographics

Mother tongue:^[2]

• English as first language: 10.8 %
• French as first language: 86.3 %
• English and French as first language: 0.6 %
• Other as first language: 2.2 %

Population trend:^[5]

• Population in 2006: 1587
• Population in 2001: 1513
• Population in 1996: 1607
• Population in 1991: 1541

References

• “A la recherche de La Petite-Rochelle: Memory and Identity in Restigouche”, Acadiensis, XXVIII, 2 (Spring 1999), pp. 3–40; article p4

External links

• Municipalities and cities of Gaspe region