Petit-Rocher is a former village in Gloucester County, New Brunswick. It held village status prior to 2023 and is now part of the town of Belle-Baie. Sitting on the western shore of both Chaleur Bay and Nepisiguit Bay 20 km northwest of Bathurst. The former local service districts of Petit-Rocher-Nord (Devereaux) and Petit-Rocher-Sud bordered the village on the north and south, respectively.

History

The village was founded in 1797 by Acadian 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). On January 1, 2023, Petit-Rocher amalgamated with Beresford, Nigadoo, Pointe-Verte and all or part of ten local service districts to form the new town of Belle-Baie. The community's name remains only for address purposes.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Petit-Rocher had a population of 1,954 living in 890 of its 963 total private dwellings, a change of NaN% from its 2016 population of 1,897. With a land area of 4.52 km2, it had a population density of in 2021.

Language

Tourism

In 2012 and 2013, Petit-Rocher was host to the CCBHA's annual ball hockey tournament with a team from nearby Dundee taking home the Allen, Paquet & Arseneau cup as champions for both tournaments.

Notable people