Sackville Waterfowl Park

Sackville is a tiny border town of 5,300 people (2016) in southeastern New Brunswick, where it (and the even tinier hamlet Aulac) border Amherst (Nova Scotia).

Understand

Sackville is on the saltwater Tantramar Marshes in southeastern New Brunswick. It is home to Mount Allison University, a liberal arts university.

Historically, the area was populated by the Mi’kmaq First Nation (Aboriginals). The French-speaking Acadian population settled in the area around 1670. Nearby Aulac (on the Nova Scotia border) was home to Fort Beauséjour, a French fortification defeated in 1755 and now largely in ruins.

Radio-Canada International, the country's former shortwave broadcaster, used Sackville as its transmitter site until it left the air in 2012; the saltwater marshes made an effective reflector at radio frequencies.

Get in

• The Trans-Canada Highway main route, NB 2, passes through Sackville and Aulac before crossing into Nova Scotia as Route 104
• NB 16, the road to the Confederation Bridge and Prince Edward Island, meets NB 2 in Aulac - some 10 km (6 miles) east of Sackville
• VIA Rail's Halifax-Montréal "Ocean" train stops in Sackville

Get around

• Sackville Cab, 34 Lorne St, ☏ +1 506 364-8000. 
• Squires Courtesy Cab, 27 Walker Rd, ☏ +1 506 536-3118. 

See

• Owens Art Gallery, Mount Allison University, 61 York Street, ☏ +1 506 364-2574. M-F 10AM-5PM, Sa Su 1-5PM. The oldest university art gallery in Canada. Free.. 

Do

Duck Walk boardwalk

• Sackville Waterfowl Park. A public boardwalk circles 22 ha (55 acres) of natural habitat for ducks, muskrats and over 150 species of birds. 

Buy

• Sackville Farmers Market, ☏ +1 506 536-7378. Sa 9AM-noon. Small farmers, artisans and street restaurants; 30-50 local vendors. 

Eat

• Black Duck Café, 19 Bridge St., ☏ +1 506 536-8084. Local meeting place serving espresso, pastries and baked goods, seasonal soups, sandwiches and salads. 
• Coy Wolf Bistro, 19 Bridge St., ☏ +1 506 536-8084. Fresh oysters, food from local farms and courtyard garden (in season), wine list. 
• Goya's Pizza, 96 Main St., ☏ +1 506 536-5000, +1 506 536-2222. Pizza, donairs and subs. Lebanese food, including chicken and beef shawarma, tabbouleh salad and hummus. 
• Mel's Tea Room, 17 Bridge St., ☏ +1 506 364-9250. Local 1945 diner serving burgers, home fries and comfort foods. 

Drink

• Ducky's Pub, 4 Bridge St., ☏ +1 506 536-1344. 
• Painted Pony Bar and Grill, 26 Bridge St, ☏ +1 506 939-7779. 
• Sassy's Pub, 166 Main St, ☏ +1 506 536-2003. 

Sleep

• Marshlands Inn, 55 Bridge St., ☏ +1 506 536-0170. 1854 B&B heritage inn on 8 acres with open restaurant for breakfast (about $8), lunch ($15-20), dinner ($20-33). about $200/night (double, with breakfast/dinner). 

Connect

• In Aulac, Wi-Fi and e-mail are available at the provincial travel information office (near the NB 2/16 highway crossroads)
• In Sackville, wi-fi and public access computers are available at the Sackville Public Library, 66 Main St. (+1 506 364-4915, fax +1 506 364-4915, open Tu 1-5PM/6-8PM and W-Sa 10AM-noon/1-5PM)

Nearby

Aulac

A tiny New Brunswick hamlet directly on the Nova Scotia border (10 km E of Sackville), Aulac occupied a strategic location in the final days of francophone Acadia. Peninsular Nova Scotia was under English control after 1710; New Brunswick remained Acadian until le grand dérangement - the forced Acadian exile of 1755. This made tiny Aulac the front line. Fort Beauséjour, a French fortress, was built in 1751 to counter the British Fort Lawrence directly across the border in Nova Scotia.

The ruins of Beauséjour are now a national historic site.

Tiny Aulac has a restaurant and an Irving truck stop. Before the motorway bypassed the hamlet in the 1990s, the Trans-Canada Highway (NB 2) passed directly through the village as Aulac Road.

• 1 Fort Beauséjour - Fort Cumberland National Historic Site, 111 Fort Beauséjour Rd, Aulac, ☏ +1 506 364-5080, fax: +1 506-536-4399. Late Jun to early Sep: 9AM – 5PM. A French fortress, Fort Beauséjour was built 1751 to counter the British Fort Lawrence (near the site of the ruined Acadian village of Beaubassin) and control the Isthmus of Chignecto. The British defeated Fort Beauséjour in 1755, using it to house Acadians as prisoners (a group of 80 Acadian captives escaped on February 26, 1756) during a period of mass deportations known as le grand dérangement. Acadian refugees resettled as far afield as Louisiana. British forces occupied the fort until 1835; it was then abandoned. The ruins were only partially reconstructed, with a museum on-site. $4. 
• 1 The Schnitzel Haus, 153 Aulac Rd, Aulac (across the street from the Irving Big Stop), ☏ +1 506 364-0888. Near the junction of NB highways 2 and 16. Serves German cuisine, reasonably well-known around the Atlantic provinces due to the relative lack of such cuisine in Atlantic cities. 

Go next

Routes through Tantramar

Fredericton ← Moncton ←	W  E	→ becomes → Amherst → Truro
END ← Aulac ←	W  E	→ Jct W → Confederation Bridge → becomes → Borden-Carleton → Charlottetown