Dorchester is an unincorporated community and the shire town of Westmorland County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023. It is named for Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, an 18th-century Governor-General of the old Province of Quebec. It is located on the eastern side of the mouth of the lush Memramcook River valley near the river's discharge point into Shepody Bay. Dorchester is an English-speaking community but it is adjacent to French-speaking Acadian areas farther up the Memramcook River valley. History The shire town of the county, Dorchester has several fine historic homes and civic buildings most of which were built by local lawyer and Master Builder, John Francis Teed. During the 19th century, Dorchester and neighbouring Dorchester Island were important shipbuilding centres. Numerous master mariners also lived in Dorchester and vicinity during the Golden Age of Sail. Prior to rail service, it was a centre for the stagecoach, as well as a busy ship port. The community was transformed with the construction in 1872 of the Intercolonial Railway between Halifax and Rivière-du-Loup. In 1911, the village founded the Dorchester Light and Fire Company which is now known as the Dorchester Volunteer Fire Department. In 1965, the village courthouse was destroyed by arson. Many in the community came to the town square to watch the building burn. The only thing left of the courthouse was the safe. It is now used in the village hall where the courthouse once stood. The courthouse was never rebuilt, and much of the economy behind it left the community. Dorchester was home to Edward Barron Chandler, a father of confederation and his family who built their home, Chandler House, commonly referred to as Rocklynn which is now a nationally recognized historic property. Premier Louis Robichaud's government during the 1960s created an industrial park and deepwater loading pier at nearby Dorchester Cape as part of a regional economic development program. Envisioned to be used by the petro-chemical industry, the government constructed a new road and railway spur along with an electrical substation and the pier as well as a building that was envisioned to be used as a fertilizer plant. The industrial park had no tenants and the pier sitting in the Memramcook River was quickly silted in by mud from the tides of the Bay of Fundy. Today all that remains are the roads and the railbed as well as some