Retrieval Number: 7428
Port of Sackville, Westmorland County, New Brunswick, record of import duties, 1861-1868, James D. Dixon, Collector of Customs.
Mount Allison University Archives, James D. and Frederick A. Dixon fonds.
May be reproduced only with permission of Mount Allison University Archives

Through the middle decades of the 19th-century the Port of Sackville provided one of the primary means for goods to flow in and out of the Tantramar region. It was a comparatively minor port, and one that suffered the navigational perils of being located on the tidal Tantramar river which meant that only smaller coastal vessels could reach this point, and then were left to sit on the river bottom during low tide. Nevertheless as this document demonstrates an array of consumer staples found their way through the port destined to local storekeepers. Among the items were what seems like large volumes of rum and brandy, and tobacco, an indicator no doubt of the consumption habits of the day. Also notable is the large volume of “sole leather” destined for a boot and shoe making factory located at the mill site in Upper Sackville. Other entries indicate the importation of agricultural implements, and still other refer to hemp cordage, sails, chain and anchor for Christopher Boultenhouse, operator of one of Sackville’s shipbuilding yards. Many of these imports therefore point to the presence in the community of a level of economic diversification that would become increasingly important to the region as the century progressed.