Port Elgin is a Canadian community in Westmorland County, New Brunswick. It is located near the Nova Scotia border at the mouth of the Gaspereaux River where it empties into the Northumberland Strait's Baie Verte. On 1 January 2023, Port Elgin amalgamated with all or part of six local service districts to form the new incorporated rural community of Strait Shores. The community's name remains in official use. History The village was founded by Acadians in 1690, but abandoned after the Expulsion of the Acadians in 1755. The earthworks of Fort Gaspareaux, a French military fortification from the Seven Years' War are located at the mouth of the river immediately east of the village. Following the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War, British Loyalists resettled in the area which was named Gaspareaux Town. Gaspareaux Town was renamed Port Elgin in 1847 in honour of Lord Elgin. The community was incorporated as a village in 1922, the first community in the province to do so. Throughout the 19th century and first half of the 20th century, Port Elgin experienced modest industrialization with a handful of small factories, tanneries, and sawmills. The village also saw some shipping activity with several wharves on a sheltered harbour at the mouth of the Gaspereau River. The New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island Railway was built through the village in the early 1880s, opening on September 9, 1886, to connect the Intercolonial Railway at Sackville with the seasonal port of Cape Tormentine which supported the winter iceboat service to Prince Edward Island; in 1917 this port became a terminal for the year-round ferry service to P.E.I. Automobile traffic increased through the village in the 1920s after the P.E.I. ferries began to carry road vehicles. The Baie Verte Road ran west of the village through Baie Verte as "Main Street" and the Immigrant Road ran east of the village. In the 1960s a bypass for Route 16 as a result of Trans-Canada Highway project funding was constructed around Baie Verte and Port Elgin; a traffic circle called the "Port Elgin Rotary" was built at the intersection between Route 16 and Route 15 and Route 970. The largest employer in the village is Atlantic Windows, which employs 200 persons year-round. The second largest employer is Westford Nursing Home, which has about 30 full and part-time staff and provides permanent care facility for 29 persons as well