Parlee Beach Provincial Park

Parlee Beach Provincial Park
Parc provincial de la Plage-Parlee (French)
IUCN category II (national park)

Parlee Beach
Location Pointe-du-Chêne, New Brunswick, Canada
Nearest city Dieppe
Coordinates Coordinates: 46°14′28.4″N 64°30′59.7″W / 46.241222°N 64.516583°W / 46.241222; -64.516583
Area 6,400 square metres (69,000 sq ft)
Established 1957 (private park since 1800s)
Visitors +400,000 (in 2010[1])
Governing body Government of New Brunswick

Parlee Beach Provincial Park is a Canadian provincial park located in Pointe-du-Chêne, New Brunswick.

Geography

Parlee Beach Provincial Park is located in eastern Westmorland County fronting the Northumberland Strait on the northeast side of Pointe-du-Chêne and forming the boundary with the community of Cap-Brulé.

History

The park and beach received its name in 1959 in honour of T. Babbitt Parlee, the former Minister of Municipal Affairs in the ministry of New Brunswick Premier Hugh John Flemming; Parlee having died in an airplane crash in 1957.

The park extends south from the beach approximately 1 km (0.62 mi) to Main Street (Route 133), with the campground located on the eastern boundary. In 1989, The Beach Boys played a successful concert to approximately 20,000 fans at a temporary concert stage on a large mowed green space between Main Street and the beach.

Each spring the provincial government replaces sand on the beach that is lost due to winter storm erosion and storm surge damage.[2]

Present day

The property is owned by the Government of New Brunswick and operated by the Department of Tourism and Parks. Parlee Beach Provincial Park includes the following facilities:

The park is open from 8am-10pm during the summer months. Parlee Beach is patrolled by lifeguards from the first weekend of June until Labour Day.

The waters of the Northumberland Strait are sometimes marketed as having some of the warmest ocean waters on the east coast of North America north of Virginia.[1] Parlee Beach Provincial Park is one of New Brunswick's most popular recreational areas, attracting over 16,000 visitors on weekend days and has annual visitation rates of over 400,000 (entirely in the summer months).

Information board showing typical summer water temperature at Parlee Beach

The nearby town of Shediac benefits from the large number of tourists to the park and forms a summer service centre for numerous cottagers and campers who flock to the area. The popularity of Parlee Beach since the 1800s has created a cottaging area for the city of Moncton in communities surrounding Pointe-du-Chêne, ranging from the area of Cocagne and Bouctouche in the north and Barachois, Robichaud and Cap-Pelé in the east. This was enhanced by the construction of the 4-lane Route 15 expressway from Moncton to Shediac in the 1970s.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 New Brunswick Department of Tourism & Parks News Release, May 2011
  2. ↑ Paul Jordan, "Residential Development in Coastal Communities: Addressing Climate Change Through Sustainable Coastal Planning", CMHC, 2002, p. 27
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