Thompson Marsh Preserve

The Thompson Marsh Preserve encompasses 11 acres of coastal salt marsh and part of a gravel barrier beach peninsula near Chance Harbour, on the Bay of Fundy. The preserve is located less than 1km from the Nature Trust’s Belding Reef Nature Preserve, and within several kilometres of the Nature Conservancy of Canada’s Round Meadow Cove Preserve.Mrs. Verna Thompson of Saint John donated the Preserve to the Nature Trust in 2004. The land had been in her husband’s family for generations, since the original Crown land grants. She and her husband spent many summers in a near-by cabin, picking berries on the property and fishing cod and pollock. “We made our own fun,” Mrs. Thompson says with a smile as she fondly recalls the times she and her family spent there. Mrs. Thompson donated the property to the Nature Trust to ensure it stays just the way it is: a haven for nature and a destination for naturalists and other visitors.The preserve contains two pieces of land separated by a salt water marsh. The piece next to highway 790 is largely marsh, containing only a small clump of trees next to the road. A small creek, known as Beldings Creek, runs under the highway and through the property, draining into Little Dipper Harbour.The second piece of land contains half of a barrier beach peninsula that encloses the marsh and inter-tidal area. This long and narrow spit of land is covered with gooseberry shrubs and clumps of white and red spruce. At low tide, Beldings Creek flows past the end of the spit into Little Dipper Harbour.Located on this spit and within the subject property is an old cemetery, no longer used or visibly maintained. The cemetery contains several picket fences enclosing small gave sites, old grave stones and a monument indicating those buried therein. As well, several old fishing boats and a barge lie abandoned on the shore, adding to the cultural interest of this Preserve.Please contact the Nature Trust for directions if you wish to visit the Thompson Marsh Preserve.