Think of New Brunswick as the Rodney Dangerfield of Atlantic Canada -- it just gets no respect. It is probably better known for pulp mills, industrial forests, cargo ports, and oil refineries (the huge Irving Oil conglomerate is based here) than for its quaint villages and charming byways, which is a shame. Travelers tend to view New Brunswick as a place you need to drive through -- preferably really fast -- en route from Québec or Maine to the rest of Atlantic Canada.
Granted, there's a grain of truth behind the province's reputation. But rest assured, New Brunswick has pockets of wilderness and scenic beauty that are unrivaled anywhere in eastern Canada. You'll find sandy beaches on warm ocean waters that hold their own to anything on Prince Edward Island. Not to mention rocky, surf-pounded headlands that could be in the farthest reaches of Newfoundland. The province's appeal tends to be more hidden than that of other locales. But with a little bit of homework, you can quite easily cobble together memorable excursions through an exquisite landscape.
Culturally, New Brunswick is Canada in microcosm. It's split between Anglophone and Francophone populations (about one-third of the residents speak French). Its heritage is both proudly Acadian and proudly pro-British -- in fact, New Brunswick is sometimes called the "Loyalist Province" since so many Loyalists fleeing the United States settled here after the American Revolution.
But the cultural divide is less contentious here than in Québec. Interestingly, French-speaking New Brunswick residents share few cultural roots with French-speaking Québecois. (New Brunswick's French ancestors came mostly from central and western France; Québecois trace their ancestry to Brittany and Normandy.) Acadians celebrate the Feast of the Assumption as their national holiday, though in Québec it's the day of St. Jean Baptiste that's biggest. With its unusually harmonious détente between two cultures, New Brunswick likes to offer itself as a model for Québec, but Québec tends to ignore New Brunswick. Too bad; they're missing a national treasure.
