Pointe a la Croix

Pointe-à-la-Croix (Cross Point in English) is a municipality located on the Restigouche River in the Gaspésie region of eastern Quebec, Canada. It is situated across from the city of Campbellton, New Brunswick.

In addition to Pointe-à-la-Croix, the municipality includes L'Alverne, Oak Bay, and Saint-Fidèle-de-Ristigouche. The municipality is home to the site of the Battle of the Restigouche, a National Historic Site of Canada, and the Petite Rochelle interpretive centre. 

Pointe-à-la-Croix ou Cross Point (en anglais) est une municipalité du Québec située sur la rive sud de la Gaspésie. Elle fait partie de la MRC d'Avignon. La municipalité est membre de la Fédération des Villages-relais du Québec. 

Les années après 1780 virent arriver un nombre important de loyalistes. En 1845, le territoire est érigé sous le nom de «municipalité du canton de Mann» en hommage à Edward Isaac Mann qui possédait de grandes concessions de terre à cet endroit en 1788. En 1760, la communauté fut témoin de la Bataille de la Ristigouche une bataille signalant la fin du régime français en Amérique du Nord.

The history of Cross-Point is based on a cross planted on a small point of land or a small barachois created by a small brook. It is about a half-mile west of Pleasant Loint, indicating a new border between land claimed by Isaac Mann and the newly surveyed Restigouche Indian Reserve. In historical documents, it is sometimes referred to as Crossing Point or Pointe de la traverse, so it is debatable whether the name derived from the fact it was the customary crossing point on this part of the river from the wooden cross indicating a border marking stolen property.

Isaac Mann lived at Pleasant Loint, not Cross Point. The local Mi'kmaq had remained relatively isolated from intrusion except by the European fishermen and a few fur traders and missionaries. The events leading up to the Battle of Restigouche were the beginning of a significant intrusion into the heart of Northern Mi'kmaq territory. The arrival of such a large population of destitute refugees seriously affected the local Amerindian population's obligation to hunt for survival amid depleting local game. Before the Battle of the Restigouche, they had lived in freedom all around the Bay of Chaleur, especially in the Listuguj River. A census taken in 1760 also shows the presence of 500 Gaspesiens Métis. There is historical evidence suggesting discontent and tension between all of the newcomers. The area was named La Petite Rochelle in 1684 when it was granted to Charles Damours, the youngest of the five sons of Mathieu Damours, the owner of the concession de Matane.

La Seigneurie, de Petite Rochelle, extended from Ruisseau de L`Officier west and included the concession of Matapedia. Charles was a trader with a questionable reputation.

Many artifacts from a site in Restigouche-Sud Est have been discovered that may indicate a French establishment of the period (the late 1600s). Further professional archaeological research needs to be done on this site. The Seigneurie was one of many that remained undeveloped. During the Battle of Ristigouche, an eyewitness description of the events of the third of July 1760 refers to a sort of village or group of Acadian dwellings numbered 150 and 200, burned by the English. He says that the village was called La Petite Rochelle. It was populated by 1003 Acadian refugees and 500 Métis Gaspesiens. Historically, it was the only French place name ever used in this area.

The village had a short lifespan. It began as a stopping point for watercraft forced to wait before being able to continue upriver. A ship is well protected from the westerly wind just below and north of Battery Point. Off Battery Point, the narrow channel creates a current of up to seven knots. To proceed upriver under sail from there required an east wind and a rising tide. This spot better suited the desperate Acadian refugee families arriving from southern Acadia. The first large group had arrived in 1757 with Joseph Leblanc dit Le Maigre and had spent the first winter near Sugarloaf Mountain but transferred across to the place referred to as La Petite Rochelle in the spring of 1760.

McNeil's Cove is an important archaeological site in a pristine undeveloped area. The first Euro-American settlement in the town was by Acadians fleeing the Expulsion in 1755. Retreating as far as possible up the Restigouche River, they were trapped by a British fleet in the Battle of Restigouche. Approximately 1500 Acadians and Métis took refuge here, with the local Mi'kmaq Native Americans. Their combined resistance could not prevent an English landing at their village, which they had named La Petite Rochelle, after the Seigneurie de La Petite Rochelle, situated at Point au Bourdon. The village was destroyed by fire on August 23, 1760. Further upriver near Listuguj, the Battle of Restigouche ended with all the French ships and most of the Acadians' boats sunk, but the English did not successfully land. The Acadians had made their last stand here and survived. Their resistance was, in effect, a success.

After the conquest, Pointe-à-la-Croix was primarily a fishing, forestry, and farming community until the opening of the J. C. Van Horne Bridge to Campbellton in 1962. In 1969, the town was still incorporated as Cross Point but changed to French in 1970. The town is now nearly fully integrated economically with the Campbellton area. Despite its economic ties and geographical proximity to Campbellton, the municipality observes Eastern Standard Time (UTC -5), which puts it one hour behind Campbellton.

The Restigouche River (French: Rivière Ristigouche) is a river that flows across the northwestern part of the province of New Brunswick and the southeastern part of Quebec.

The river flows in a northeasterly direction from its source in the Appalachian Mountains of northwestern New Brunswick to Chaleur Bay. Its meander length is approximately 200 kilometres (120 mi). The Restigouche is fed by several tributaries flowing south from Quebec's Notre Dame Mountains on the western edge of the Gaspé Peninsula (Kedgwick River, Gounamitz River, Patapédia River, and Matapedia River) as well as the Upsalquitch River flowing north from New Brunswick's Chaleur Uplands.

Located mainly in New Brunswick, the river forms the inter-provincial boundary between the two provinces from its confluence with the Patapédia River to its mouth at Dalhousie, New Brunswick and Miguasha, Quebec, where it discharges into Chaleur Bay..