Saint John is one of the largest cities in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The town’s prehistory started when the Frenchman Samuel de Champlain explored the area in 1604 and went ashore in the natural harbor of the later town. It happened on John the Baptist’s name day, and from that the city got its name. In 1631, Fort Latour was established as the first French settlement in the region. In 1758, British troops captured the fort, which was destroyed during the American Revolutionary War. After this, the towns of Parrtown and Carleton arose, which were merged and named Saint John in 1785.

In the 19th century, Saint John grew significantly due to a large trade at its important port, and the lumber industry and shipyards contributed to the development of the economy. During this time, Canada’s first bank and first public museum were established in Saint John, which remains an important industrial city with a refinery and an terminal in the port. In 1877, a large fire broke out in the city, which destroyed large parts of the central city, and the city center had to be rebuilt.

Today, Saint John is a city where you can enjoy a cozy atmosphere among the architecture that dates from the 1800s to the present day. The town plan with perpendicular streets forms the downtown around the elegant King’s Square and Queen Square, and the neighborhood consists mainly of buildings from the period after the fire that ravaged large parts of the center in 1877.

King’s Square was laid out in 1785 and turned into a park in 1844. It is named after King George III, and many of the park’s trees were planted in 1883 to commemorate the centenary of the Loyalists’ arrival in the city. Northeast of the park is the Loyalist Burial Ground, where some of Saint John’s earliest residents are buried. The oldest tombstone is that of Coonradt Hendricks from 1784, and many of those buried were Americans who moved to Canada due to their loyalty to the British crown.

North-west of King’s Square is the Saint John City Market, which was established in 1785 and is housed in an lovely market hall from 1876, which narrowly survived fire the following year. South of the park is the beautiful Imperial Theatre, which opened in 1913 and which today has been restored to its former glory. To the west is the business street King Street, and close to this is Trinity Anglican Church, which is an Anglican church that was built in 1879-1880 in fine Victorian neo-Gothic style.

In the northern part of the center you can see St. John’s Anglican Church, known as the Stone Church, which stands as a fixed point at the end of Germain Street. The church dates from early Saint John and was built 1823-1826. From about the same time, you can see the Loyalist House, which was built 1810-1817. The house was occupied by the Merritt family until 1958, and the New Brunswick Historical Society took it over in 1961. Today, the house is open as a museum, where you can have a look at 19th century furnishings and of course information on the Merritt families who were Loyalists from the United States.

If you want to visit another museum and learn more about the province, you can go to the New Brunswick Museum/Musée du Nouveau-Brunswick. It is a museum that began as a natural history museum that Abraham Gesner opened in 1842. The museum presents New Brunswick’s natural and cultural history. You can also go to the south-west part of the city, where the Carleton Martello Tower stands. The tower is one of nine of this type in Canada. It was built in 1813 at the war between Great Britain and the United States.