In the late 1700’s, mariner Francis Peabody of Saint John would frequently sail into Miramichi trading goods with merchants in Halifax. Peabody grew a growing fondness for area and decided to purchase a large tract of uninhabited wooded land covering our district area today. He later moved to the location, built a waterfront home and became an even more successful entrepreneur. His many river businesses included a lumber mill as well as a shipyard at England’s Hollow. He is referred to as the Father of Chatham’ by the Daily Gleaner with his passing in the early 1840’s. You will find a statue of Francis Peabody in our Waterford Green

It was during Peabody’s time and through the rest of the 18^th century, the scope and size of the Miramichi economy brought ships mooring at river docks from around the world. Such global scale brought the rise of a number of influential river entrepreneurs like the famous Cunard brothers who established a huge shipbuilding and lumbering enterprise in our district area (brothers to Samuel Cunard of Halifax and Cunard Steamship Lines) and William Steward Loggie who built a local empire of industry from exporting fish, buying and selling lumber and who operated many establishments from hardware to footwear to groceries. You can cruise Cunard Street or swing down Loggie Drive when visiting our district to this day!

On January 1, 2000 the Province of New Brunswick officially designated our business district as New Brunswick’s first provincial historic district under subsection 2(3) of the Historic Sites Protection Act. The commemorative plaque reads “Historically, the Water Street area and the adjacent Miramichi riverfront bustled with shipping, shipbuilding, lumber industries and commerce. The enduring spatial quality and architectural character are reminiscent of the past.”