Saint John River Valley

• — a vacation and summer destination, with numerous cottages up and down the shores of the lake
• — 95% francophone, and centre of the Brayon culture, which many consider to be neither Acadian nor Québécois, and home of the New Brunswick Botanical Garden
• — home of a 2/3-scale model of Noah's Ark
• — capital city and the cultural, artistic and educational centre of the province
• — many studios featuring pottery, weaving and art
• — named for a waterfall created by a series of rock ledges over which the river drops 23 m
• — home of the world's longest wooden covered bridge
• — home of the world's largest axe
• — has a small museum about the Danish settlers who founded the hamlet
• — home of Canadian Forces Base Gagetown
• — at the Gathering of the Scots at the end of May, you can watch some of the finest Ancient Scottish Heavy Events athletes
• — come in February for the annual World Pond Hockey Championships
• — it has it all: a sawmill and potato farms
• — the oldest incorporated town in New Brunswick preserves its many Victorian buildings

The Saint John River is a 673-km-long river that flows from Northern Maine into Canada, and runs south along the western side of New Brunswick, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean in the Bay of Fundy. Eastern Canada's longest river,[ its drainage basin is one of the largest on the east coast.
With the water flow in the spring being six times the average rate, the valley has always been prone to flooding in the spring. Surface runoff from heavy rainfall is the main cause of flooding, and can be exacerbated by ice jams, high tides, and rapid snowmelt. Flooding has occurred in Edmundston, Grand Falls, Perth-Andover, Hartland, and Woodstock, and most severely around Fredericton. The severity and frequency of flooding is increasing with climate change.
When the Europeans arrived, they found that the Saint John River basin was the homeland of the Maliseet tribes, who practised hunting and gathering and farmed near the banks of the river. During the 1600 and 1700s, French colonists populated the lower river valley as part of Acadia. Decades of warfare between the British colonies in what is now New England and Acadia, led to the expulsion of the Acadians in 1784. Following the American Revolutionary War, United Empire Loyalists settled the area. Returning Acadians settled the upper valley.
Large numbers of people began settling the area in the early 1800s, mostly Scottish and Irish, and by the end of the 1850s much of the central Saint John valley had been cleared of old-growth forest for farming. Francophone Quebecers moved into the northern areas. In the interwar period, many of these farms were abandoned due to urbanization, and allowed to reforest.

By car

Edmundston is on Trans-Canada Highway 2 between Fredericton and the Quebec border. It is across the river from and has an international border crossing with Madawaska, Maine.
Fredericton is 180 km from Moncton on the Trans-Canada Highway (#2), and 120 km from Saint John on Route 7 (turn west on #2 at Oromocto).

By bus

Maritime Bus runs buses to Edmundston from Rivière-du-Loup in Quebec twice a day.

By plane

• {{listing | type=go

| name=Fredericton Airport | alt=YFC | url=https://www.frederictonairport.ca/ | email=
| address= | lat=45.868889 | long=-66.537222 | directions=
| phone= | tollfree= | fax=+1 506-460-0938
| hours= | price=
| wikipedia=Fredericton International Airport | wikidata=Q2735729
| content=Flights from Halifax, Montreal–Trudeau, Ottawa, Toronto–Pearson, St. John's (Newfoundland).
}}

The Trans-Canada Highway (#2) provides the most direct route through the valley, from the Quebec border all the way to Moncton.
Route 105 is a slower, more scenic route that follows the river closely from Grand Falls to Fredericton.
Maritime Bus runs buses between Edmundston and Fredericton twice a day with stops at the towns along the Trans-Canada Highway, including Woodstock, Florenceville, Perth-Andover, Grand Falls and St.-Leonard.

• {{see

| name=Beaverbrook Art Gallery | alt= | url=http://beaverbrookartgallery.org/en | email=
| address=Fredericton | lat= | long= | directions=
| phone= | tollfree= | fax=
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| wikipedia=Beaverbrook Art Gallery
| lastedit=2017-04-27
| content=New Brunswick's provincial art gallery. William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, funded the building of the gallery and assembled the original collection. It has over 300 works, including paintings by J.M.W. Turner and Salvador Dalí.
| wikidata=Q3094641}}

• {{listing | type=see

| name=Hartland Covered Bridge | alt= | url= | email=
| address= | lat= | long= | directions=
| phone= | tollfree=
| hours= | price=
| wikipedia= | wikidata=Q99290
| lastedit=2019-05-01
| content=The longest covered bridge in the world at 391 m. You can still drive across, or walk across on the sidewalk. The bridge is a National Historic Site.
}}

• {{see

| name=World Pond Hockey Championships | alt= | url=http://worldpondhockey.ca/ | email=
| address=Plaster Rock | lat= | long= | directions=
| phone= | tollfree= | fax=
| hours=Mid-February | price=
| lastedit=2019-05-03
| content=The 4-day event has been held annually since 2002. It attracts 120 teams from every province in Canada, 35 American states, and 15 other countries at a variety of competitive levels. Its emphasis is on camaraderie instead of competition. Over 8000 spectators enjoy games on 20 rinks.
}}

• {{see

| name=New Brunswick Botanical Garden | alt=Jardin Botanique du Nouveau-Brunswick | url=http://jardinnbgarden.com | email=
| address=Edmunston | lat=47.439 | long=-68.3942 | directions=
| phone= | tollfree= | fax=
| hours=Summer only | price=
| lastedit=2017-04-24
| content=Themed gardens including annuals, perennials, rhododendrons, an alpine garden and a rose garden.
}}

• {{listing | type=do

| name=Zipline over the valley | alt= | url= | email=
| address=Grand Falls | lat= | long= | directions=
| phone= | tollfree=
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| wikipedia= | wikidata=
| lastedit=2019-07-28
| content=
}}

• {{listing | type=do

| name=Hike the NB Trail | alt= | url=http://sentiernbtrail.com | email=
| address= | lat= | long= | directions=
| phone= | tollfree=
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| wikipedia= | wikidata=
| lastedit=2019-05-03
| content=On the old railway line and bridges on both sides of the St. John River. Part of the Trans-Canada Trail.
}}

• Fiddlehead ferns are a local specialty
• Tarte au sucre is a Brayon sugar pie
• River salmon are abundant in rivers and on menus
• {{eat

| name=French fries | alt= | url=http://www.potatoworld.ca | email=
| address=Florenceville-Bristol | lat= | long= | directions=
| phone= | tollfree= | fax=
| hours= | price=
| content=Gourmet French fry cafe and potato museum (summer only) in the town that hosts the world headquarters of McCain's.
}}

{{IsPartOf|New Brunswick}}
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