News: Goat Island Remains Boater Accessible

Jan 23, 2025

Last Friday, a small island located in New Brunswick’s Grand Lake has sold at tax auction and the new owners say they hope to keep it accessible to the public. According to the notice of tax sale posted by the provincial government, the island belonged to the estate of Lloyd C. Ryan and was auctioned at the Fredericton Convention Centre on Jan. 17. 

Gary and Julie Armstrong beat out several other bidders to acquire Goat Island, which has served as an unofficial gathering place for boaters in the region for decades, for $90,000.

“We just wanted the island to keep it in the greater Grand Lake area to let friends and family use it and everybody in the area as long as they respect the property and don’t garbage it up,” Gary Armstrong said after the auction.

Chris Spencer, from the Chipman area, who owns a place in nearby Cumberland bay, said going to Goat Island is one of his earliest memories. His children inherited his fondness for it and so have his grandchildren, he says. “When we load the boat, even before the boat’s loaded, they start asking, ‘Can we stop at Goat Island?'”

Spencer had hoped to bid on the island to keep it public but was glad to see it go to a fellow boater who had the same idea.

Joshua Green, the manager of the media unit for the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, said information about the island is scant. 

Little is known about the history of Goat Island. (Provincial Archives of New Brunswick)

It was first granted to Micah Y. Cox in May of 1883 and a portion was later purchased by the federal government from Eliza McBain for a “light site,” in 1919.

No one is quite sure where the island gets its name. Some believe that nearby Cox’s Point looks like the head of a goat. Green said that no information on the name or the use of the island could be found in the archives.

Armstrong said it’s important the island continue to hold its place as a boating destination.

“I have no plans to do anything with it — it was just mainly to keep it for the area,” he said.

“As long as people look after it and respect it, there won’t be any changes.”

With files from Silas Brown is a Fredericton-based video journalist.