For governance purposes, Alma is divided between the village of Fundy Albert[5] and the Southeast rural district,[6] both of which are members of the Southeast Regional Service Commission.[7] A small area on the western side of Fundy National Park belongs to the Fundy rural district.[a]
Prior to the 2023 governance reform, the parish was divided between the village of Alma[9] and the local service district of the parish of Alma.[10] Fundy National Park was de jure part of the LSD. The village and the park are now part of Fundy Albert, the LSD part of the rural district.
The census subdivision of the same name includes all of the parish[1] except the village of Alma, which forms its own census subdivision. The population of the parish CSD is so small that census numbers are rounded to maintain privacy. Revised census figures based on the 2023 local governance reforms have not been released.
Origin of name
The parish was named for its resemblance to the heights above the Alma River, site of the Battle of Alma, a decisive British/French/Turkish victory over Russia in 1854.[11][12][13]
History
Cumberland County, Nova Scotia included the territory now known as Alma Parish until the division of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Initially modern Alma parish was split three ways.[14]Saint Martins Parish in Saint John County extended eastward to the boundary of Hopewell Parish,[b] but ran only as far north as the extension of the northern line of Saint John County. The remainder of Alma was in Westmorland County, with Hopewell Parish extending north past Alma Parish's northern line, and the area north of Saint Martins Parish and west of Hopewell not assigned to any parish until Salisbury Parish was erected in 1787.[18] This put the community of Alma in Saint Martins Parish, Hebron in Hopewell Parish, and Teahans Corner in Salisbury Parish.
The county line between Saint John County and Westmorland County shifted westward in 1837 and the orphaned part of Saint Martins Parish was added to Hopewell[19] but not the area to its north. The next year the newly erected Harvey Parish included all of Alma.[20]
on the north by a line beginning about 550 metres southeasterly of Wolfe Lake, then running north 72º east[c] to the western line of Harvey Parish;
on the east beginning at a point about 3 kilometres northeasterly of the junction of Red School House Road and Collier Mountain Road, on the prolongation of the eastern line of a grant to William Hoar, then running southerly along the prolongation and the grant to strike the shore of Rocher Bay about 1.1 kilometres southwest of the mouth of Alcorn Brook;
The village of Alma contains all of the parish east of Fundy National Park and south of New Ireland Road.[27]
Local service district
The local service district of the parish of Alma legally contained all of the parish not in the village of Alma;[28] in practice the national park is separate from the LSD.
The LSD was established on 1 November 1973[29] to assess for fire protection after the village of Alma was reduced in size from including in the entire parish.[30] Ambulance service was added on 21 January 1976.[31]
Fundy National Park is in the southwestern section of the parish, bounded on the north by Shepody Road and on east by Forty-Five Road, Lake Brook, and the Salmon River. It contains most of the parish and is under federal administration.
Communities
Communities at least partly within the parish;[21][22][33]bold indicates a municipality
Parks, historic sites, and other noteworthy places in the parish.[21][22][33][34]
Upper Salmon River Protected Natural Area
Demographics
Population
Parish population total does not include the former incorporated village of Alma. Revised census figures based on the 2023 local governance reforms have not been released.
Notes: Income & median age data for this area has been suppressed for data quality or confidentiality reasons. References: 2021[35] 2011[36] earlier[37][38]
Historical Census Data - Alma Parish, New Brunswick[39]
^Maps still visible as thumbnails show the current and previous governance boundaries.[8]
^This was probably near Owls Head rather than the modern boundary of Alma and Harvey Parish. William Francis Ganong's adaptation[15] of the 1780 map of region by Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres shows the boundary approximately at Owls Head and a grant to Hambleton Redpath at Owls Head[16] in 1831 gives the parish as Hopewell.[17]
^By the magnet of 1847,[23] when declination in the area was between 19º and 20º west of north.[24] The Territorial Division Act clause referring to magnetic direction bearings was later changed to the problematic wording "by the magnet of the year in which the County or Parish was erected",[25] which ignores lines changed after the erection of the county or parish, before being omitted in the 1952[26] and 1973 Revised Statutes.[2]
^The Territorial Division Act[2] divides the province into 152 parishes, the cities of Saint John and Fredericton, and one town of Grand Falls. The Interpretation Act[3] clarifies that parishes include any local government within their borders.
^"1 Vic. c. 23 An Act for erecting parts of the Towns or Parishes of Hopewell and Salisbury, in the County of Westmorland, into a separate Town or Parish.". Acts of the General Assembly of Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick, Passed in the Year 1838. Fredericton: Government of New Brunswick. 1838. pp. 72–73.
^ abcd"No. 142". Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development. Retrieved 24 May 2021. Remainder of parish on map 152 at same site.
^ abcd"417"(PDF). Transportation and Infrastructure. Government of New Brunswick. Retrieved 24 May 2021. Remainder of parish on mapbooks 418, 435, 436, 450, and 451 at same site.
^"Chapter 2 The Division of the Province into Counties, Towns, and Parishes.". The Consolidated Statutes of New Brunswick. Fredericton: Government of New Brunswick. 1877. pp. 56–85. Available as a free ebook from Google Books.
^"59 Vic. c. 8 An Act to Revise and Codify an Act to Provide for the Division of the Province into Counties, Towns and Parishes.". Acts of the General Assembly of Her Majesty's Province of New Brunswick. Passed in the Month of March, 1896. Fredericton: Government of New Brunswick. 1896. pp. 86–123. Available as a free ebook from Google Books.
^"Chapter 227 Territorial Division Act". The Revised Statutes of New Brunswick 1952 Volume III. Fredericton: Government of New Brunswick. 1952. pp. 3725–3771.
