An island province that serves as an informal gathering place for Grand Lake boaters is being auctioned off.
Goat Island is a 1.5-hectare (3.7 acre) island on the northern side of the lake between Cox Point and Wuhrs Beach.
Its arrival at the tax sale has come as a surprise to those who have frequented the island for decades.
“I didn't really know who owned it and never really bothered to try and find out. I always assumed the government owned it,” Brian Watson said.
Watson said many of his family members lived in the Grand Lake area when he was growing up, and he later owned a camp on the lake for 40 years.
When he got his first boat in the 1960s, he started visiting the islands. Years later, he took his son and eventually his grandchildren there.
“The island was directly across the lake from my place, so I woke up every morning and looked at the island,” he said.
“We took a little trip around the island.”
Chris Spencer of the Chipman area, who owns a place on nearby Cumberland Bay, says visiting Goat Island is one of his fondest memories.
His children have inherited his passion for it and so have his grandchildren, he said.
“When we load the boat, even before the boat is loaded, they start asking, 'Can we stop at Goat Island?'”
A small island that serves as an informal gathering spot for boaters on Grand Lake is headed to the auction block.
He said it comes back to the lake having very few beaches “where kids can go out and enjoy the water.”
It's not steep, “you don't have to worry about getting out of someone's head,” and it's always warm because it's shallow. “That gravel base is what makes it so attractive,” Spencer said.
Assessed value $3,500
According to a notice of tax sale posted by the provincial government, the island Lloyd C. Ryan's property and will be auctioned at the Fredericton Convention Center on January 17.
The province auctions off properties with unpaid taxes, but a province spokesperson said the amount owed will not be released until the day of the sale.
Goat Island's assessed value is $3,500, and the 2024 tax levy was $62.29.
CBC was unable to reach the Ryan family for further details.
Unknown history
Joshua Green, manager of the media unit for the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, said information about the island is scarce.
It was first granted to Micah Y. Cox in May of 1883 and a portion was later purchased by the federal government from Elijah McBain in 1919 for a “light site”.
No one knows where the island was named. Some believe that nearby Cox Point looks like a goat's head. Greene said no information about the island's name or use was found in the archives.
'Extremely embarrassing' to lose access
Spencer worries that the next owner might have a less relaxed attitude toward those using the island. Ideally, he would like to see it in public hands.
“It's a great shame that users of the lake will lose access to that property,” he said. “Provincial land around the lake does not exist.”
“Around Grand Lake you can count on one hand how many places there are public access to the water.”
Both Spencer and Watson warn that the island is not particularly suitable as a site for permanent structures due to spring flooding and endemic vegetation.
“You'll never be able to build it — it floods every year,” Watson said.
“There's a lot of poison ivy on that island, and when I used to take my grandkids and my son there, it was like, stay away from the bushes.”
