Nestled in Carleton County, New Brunswick, Canada, Woodstock is a charming town on the Saint John River. Located 103 km upriver from Fredericton at the mouth of the Meduxnekeag River, Woodstock is a hub of transportation, history, and culture.
The history of Woodstock, New Brunswick, is rich and varied. The area was first settled by disbanded veterans of De Lancey's Brigade following the American Revolutionary War in late 1783. The town was possibly named after Woodstock, Oxfordshire, with the name being Old English in origin, meaning a "clearing in the woods".
In 1831, Woodstock was made the county seat of the newly created Carleton County, and a jail, court house, and registry office were installed. The town was the first in New Brunswick to be incorporated, in 1856, with Lewis P. Fisher as its first mayor.
Woodstock, New Brunswick, is a hub of cultural and recreational activities. In 1995, the Town of Woodstock opened the Carleton Civic Centre, a multipurpose complex housing a 25-metre indoor swimming pool, an 846-seat arena, a fitness centre, and community meeting rooms.
The annual Woodstock Old Home Week activities are a highlight of the town's cultural calendar, with activities including parades, fireworks, a gospel concert, 4-H activities, and a demolition derby. The Dooryard Arts Festival is another major event, featuring four days of music, art, theatre, stories, workshops, and an open-air market.
Woodstock, New Brunswick, is a transportation hub, located on New Brunswick Route 2, an alignment of the Trans-Canada Highway. The shorter New Brunswick Route 95 extends westward from Woodstock to the Houlton/Woodstock Border Crossing, where it continues into the United States as Interstate 95. The town also has a small public airport in nearby Grafton, New Brunswick.
Woodstock, New Brunswick, has a history of mining, with iron-manganese and iron ore occurrences reported as early as 1836. Today, Minco owns a significant manganese claim northwest of Woodstock, with plans to produce manganese well below the typical cost for the industry.
Woodstock, New Brunswick, boasts a variety of architectural styles, with many of the original wooden buildings replaced by brick structures following a series of calamities in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Notable buildings include the George Frederick Clarke house, a rare example of residential Regency architecture, and the Old Carleton County Court House.
As of the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Woodstock had a population of 5,553. The Maliseet Woodstock First Nation is located about 9 km south of the town.
Woodstock, New Brunswick, experiences a humid continental climate. The highest temperature ever recorded in Woodstock was 39.4 °C (103 °F) on 18 August 1935, a record it shares with Five Rivers and Nepisiguit Falls for New Brunswick's highest recorded temperature.
