TopNational Historic Site · 1856–1857Miscou Island LighthousePhoto: Dennis G. Jarvis · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons file
Big Shippegan Shore Light · Photo: Dr Wilson · CC BY-SA 3.02historic places on the registers
History of Shippagan · Canada’s heritage registers
2 historic places in Shippagan, one of them a top designation
Counted by designation, there are a Recognized Federal Heritage Building. Scaled to its population Shippagan’s record is long: 4.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 94% of Canadian towns. The oldest dated place, Miscou Island Lighthouse, goes back to 1856.
Historic places
2
4.2 per 10,000 residents
Highest designations
1
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings
Other federal designations
1
Recognized buildings, railway stations, lighthouses
Oldest building
1856
the first construction date on its record
Homes built before 1961
18%
typical town: 18%
In pictures
Historic Shippagan, in 2 photos
Leading off: Miscou Island Lighthouse and Big Shippegan Shore Light. Each of Shippagan’s two designated places has a photo.
Photos from Wikimedia Commons, each credited to its photographer with its licence; names open the place’s page. Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
The map
Where Shippagan’s history is
Every place on the registers inside the town, by its designation.
Highest designationsOther federal designations
Names show on hover, and a tap takes you to the place’s page.
The 2, by tier
1 Highest designations1 Other federal designations
The federal directory kept by Parks Canada supplies most of these places; provincial and municipal lists outside Québec aren’t open data, so only the ones Wikidata documents with an article appear.
Points from Wikidata (Parks Canada’s files carry none) and from Québec’s register, as mapped there.
Highest designations
One place in Shippagan with the highest designation
National Historic Sites and Classified Federal Heritage Buildings, Canada’s highest federal recognition. Each one opens its own page.
Other federal designations
Federal heritage in Shippagan: one more place
Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings, heritage railway stations and lighthouses. Each one opens its own page.
FedRecognized Federal Heritage Building · 1905–1907Big Shippegan Shore LightPhoto: Dr Wilson · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons file
Around the town
Gabriel Giraud Site, 16 km from Shippagan, is the closest
Église Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens de Caraquet, 22 km off, is the oldest: 1860. They stand in 2 towns, Caraquet and Bas-Caraquet among them. 4 places lie within 25 km.
The 4 nearest, within 25 km
| Gabriel Giraud SiteProvincial heritage place · 16 km away, in Bas-Caraquet |
| Collège de Caraquet SiteLocal historic place · 22 km away, in Caraquet |
| Église Saint-Pierre-aux-Liens de CaraquetProvincial heritage place · 1860 · 22 km away, in Caraquet |
| Couvent de CaraquetLocal historic place · 22 km away, in Caraquet |
Homes by age
Little new building in Shippagan: 1.1% of homes date from 2016 to 2021, against 4.1%
Count back from today and half of Shippagan’s homes are older than 1981. Shippagan’s largest group of homes, 43%, went up from 1961 to 1980. Homes built from 2001 to 2015 make up just 9.1% of Shippagan’s, against 15% in the typical town.
18%
Before 1961
43%
1961–80
28%
1981–2000
9.1%
2001–15
1.1%
2016–21
ShippaganTypical town
2021 Census, private dwellings by period of construction (Statistics Canada); the typical town is the middle Canadian town of 2,500 or more.
Towns its size
Shippagan has the 4th most of 16 towns its size
Towns of 4,700 to 4,800 residents, by places on the registers.
Shippagan2
Ahead of it: Château-Richer, Cumberland County, Subdivision D and Riverside Park - Mooneys Bay. The middle one has 0. 10 of them have none.
Neighbours
Shippagan and its neighbours
| Town | People | Places | Highest | Oldest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shippagan | 4,721 | 2 | 1 | 1856 |
| Lamèque | 1,392 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Shippagan | 3,073 | 0 | 0 | — |
| Bas-Caraquet | 1,391 | 1 | 0 | — |
| Caraquet | 1,263 | 0 | 0 | — |
In brief
Shippagan in brief
The 2021 Census dates 18% of Shippagan’s homes before 1961, against 18% in the typical town. In all there are 2 historic places, one with the highest designation, including Miscou Island Lighthouse. Of the 16 towns closest in size, just 3 have more historic places. The other figures are unremarkable: Marie-Esther Robichaud (1910) is its person of the past on the record; and the designations ran from 1974 to 1992.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Provincial and municipal lists. Outside Québec, provinces’ and municipalities’ heritage registers aren’t open data; their places are known only through Wikidata items with a register number, and only those with an encyclopedia article get a page.
- Protection. National historic designation honours a place but binds only federal owners; a private building’s protection depends on its province or municipality.
- People and events. Parks Canada’s open file gives its national historic persons no place. A town’s page names one only when the person was born there (matched by name and both life years) or one of its own historic places carries the name and its record speaks of them; national historic events stay off.
- The tiers. The highest designations are National Historic Sites, Classified Federal Heritage Buildings and Québec’s classements; then come the other federal designations; then provincial and local listings.
- The grade. This page gives no grade; history doesn’t count toward a Canadian town’s letter.
- Map points. Federal places get their map points from Wikidata, since Parks Canada’s files carry none; they are as mapped there.
- The federal register. Every federal designation is in Parks Canada’s directory, and the Canadian Register of Historic Places gives most of them a bilingual statement of significance.
Questions about Shippagan’s history
Which places in Shippagan have the highest designation?
Miscou Island Lighthouse.
What is the oldest building in Shippagan?
Miscou Island Lighthouse (National Historic Site): the first construction date on its record is 1856.
How old are the homes in Shippagan?
The 2021 Census dates 18% of its homes before 1961 (18% in the typical town).
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada (Parks Canada).
Sources: Parks Canada, Directory of Federal Heritage Designations · Canadian Register of Historic Places (federal extract) · Wikidata (CC0) for map points, other names and articles · Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (homes by period of construction). Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).