Petit-Rocher is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 village in Gloucester County

Gloucester County, New Brunswick

Gloucester County is located in the northeastern corner of New Brunswick, Canada. Fishing, mining and forestry are the major industries in the county...

, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

. Located on Chaleur Bay

Chaleur Bay

frame| Satellite image of Chaleur Bay . Chaleur Bay is the large bay opening to the east;the [[Gaspé Peninsula]] appears to the north and the [[Gulf of St...

 20 km northwest of Bathurst

Bathurst, New Brunswick

Bathurst is a Canadian city in Gloucester County, New Brunswick.Bathurst is situated on Bathurst Harbour, an estuary at the mouth of the Nepisiguit River at the southernmost part of Chaleur Bay....

, Petit-Rocher's residents are 92% Francophone

Francophone

The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....

 Acadian. Its current population meets the requirements for "town" status under the Municipalities Act of the Province of New Brunswick, however the community has not requested a change in municipal status.

History

The village was founded in 1797 by Acadian

Acadian

The Acadians are the descendants of the 17th-century French colonists who settled in Acadia . Acadia was a colony of New France...

settlers. The name literally means 'little rock', and is pronounced by most anglophones in the region as Petty Roche. The name of the village is reputed to derive from the fact that the village's founders disembarked on a small rock. The village was named Little Roche from 1850 to 1854, then Madisco until 1870, and then Petit Rocher. The hyphenated form Petit-Rocher was adopted in 2009. Some old maps have the name Petite Roche (1812) and Sainte Roque or Little Russia (1827).

External links

• Acadie-Bathurst. Petit-Rocher