Kedgwick, NB, incorporated as a village in 1966, population 993 (2011c), 1146 (2006c). The Village of Kedgwick is a francophone community located 74 km southwest of CAMPBELLTON. The area is at the height of land in the Appalachian Highlands between the Kedgwick, RESTIGOUCHE, Nepisiguit and SAINT JOHN rivers as well as branches of the MIRAMICHI RIVER. Kedgwick was the site of many 19th-century lumber camps and was known then as Grande Fourche. The area was settled by French-speaking settlers after 1909 when the railway between Campbellton and SAINT-LÉONARD pushed through near the Richards sawmill. It was then known as Richards Station, but in 1915 the current name, derived from the Mi'kmaq madawamkedjwik, possibly meaning "large branch" or "flowing underground," was adopted.
The sawmills, which the advent of the railway facilitated, were taken over by major companies in the 1920s. This consolidation facilitated the shipping of the smaller logs to pulp mills in EDMUNDSTON and Atholville. There is a small agricultural base in and around the village, but the majority of the workforce is engaged in primary forest activities or the manufacture of wood products. The Kedgwick Forestry Museum is a replica of a lumber camp depicting life in the woods in the 1930s.
The area has a number of hiking and cross-country ski trails, including a section of the International Appalachian Trail.