Shigawake
Shigawake | |
|---|---|
Saint Paul Church in Shigawake | |
Location within Bonaventure RCM | |
| Coordinates: 48°06′N 65°05′W / 48.100°N 65.083°W | |
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Quebec |
| Region | Gaspésie– Îles-de-la-Madeleine |
| RCM | Bonaventure |
| Settled | Late 18th century |
| Constituted | December 15, 1924 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Rolande Beebe |
| • Federal riding | Gaspésie— Îles-de-la-Madeleine |
| • Prov. riding | Bonaventure |
| Area | |
• Total | 75.85 km2 (29.29 sq mi) |
| • Land | 76.82 km2 (29.66 sq mi) |
| There is an apparent contradiction between two authoritative sources. | |
| Population (2021) | |
• Total | 333 |
| • Density | 4.3/km2 (11/sq mi) |
| • Pop (2016-21) | 14.0% |
| • Dwellings | 167 |
| Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
| Postal code(s) | |
| Area code(s) | 418 and 581 |
| Highways | R-132 |
| Website | municipalityshigawake |
Shigawake is a municipality in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of the province of Quebec in Canada. Shigawake is bordered to the west by Saint-Godefroi and to the east by Port-Daniel–Gascons.
The place name is taken from the river that flows through the village and is of Mi'kmaq origin, meaning either "land of the rising sun" or "white water".
The Municipality of Shigawake has an eight kilometre stretch of coastline behind high red cliffs on the Gaspe Coast. It has been officially designated as an Anglophone community among the largely Francophone population of Quebec. The community is only home to, among many small houses, a municipal building, the Anglican church of St Paul's (built in the 1860s), and a former Rectory converted to the Community Centre. The United Church was decommissioned in 2012, formerly the site of a temperance hall.
Shigawake has held the Shigawake Fair annually since 1909, also now paired with the Shigawake Music Festival which has showcased local talent.
Shigawake is also the site of Seagro, an organic fertiliser and composting firm.
The oldest farmhouse on the entire coast continuously inhabited by one family, the Old Homestead, was built early in the first decade of the 1800s. The founding of Shigawake is described in The Alford Saga, an eight book series of a romantic adventures by Paul Almond, an officer of the Order of Canada.
The area's fields, once so productive, are now used mainly for hay and its forests for harvest of sawlogs and firewood.