Submitted by James Wilson, Contributing Author
Road names are usually something on which there is universal agreement and when that is not the case it hints at an interesting history waiting to be discovered. Such is the case with the Niagara Road, or as the locals know it, the Nigarry Road (Nigary? Nygary?).
The road with an identity crisis equally amuses and confounds those who first learn of it.
An obvious question emerges: how did we get here?
The answer to that question is a matter of debate whenever it is raised but I would like to examine four common theories.
Road names are usually something on which there is universal agreement and when that is not the case it hints at an interesting history waiting to be discovered. Such is the case with the Niagara Road, or as the locals know it, the Nigarry Road (Nigary? Nygary?).
The road with an identity crisis equally amuses and confounds those who first learn of it.
An obvious question emerges: how did we get here?
The answer to that question is a matter of debate whenever it is raised but I would like to examine four common theories.
Theory #1 – It has always been the Niagara Road and ‘Nigarry’ is a mispronunciation.
Let us start with the simplest theory first - ‘Nigarry’ is the result of generations of locals slowly shifting the pronunciation of the name till it bears only a passing resemblance to how its spelled.
What is interesting is this exact thing has happened before in New Brunswick. The community of ‘Geary’ was originally called ‘New Niagara’ before it was progressively shortened to its current form.
This theory is further supported by ‘Nigarry’ not being a word in any of the languages I’ve checked.
The main problem with this theory is proving one usage is older than the other. Many old maps either don’t include the road or don’t label it. It is also directly contradicted by people who claim they have seen official maps with some variation of ‘Nigarry’ on it.
While this theory is believable due to it requiring the fewest assumptions its not totally proven.
Theory #2 – The name is the result of a printers error.
This theory is related to the previous one. Some claim ‘Nigarry’ is the result of a map being printed with the wrong name which resulted in the locals adopting it as the correct pronunciation and never going back to the old name when the maps were corrected.
It isn’t out of the realm of possibility, as sometimes errors creep into official documents, especially if the information was conveyed verbally or a note taker had particularly bad penmanship. That is, after all, how we ended up with the ‘Steeves’ Family rather than the ‘Stief’ Family and how Moncton lost the k in its name.
Further, Albert County folk can be stubborn about names. The causeway between Riverview and Moncton isn’t a causeway any more and has a new name but you’d be hard-pressed to find a local who knows it. However, one would think that if this error was prevalent enough to alter what people were calling the road that there would be a lot of maps surviving that show it. All I’ve been able to confirm is if such a map exists it is from after the year 1900.
Theory #3 – The government put up the wrong sign.
It wouldn’t be New Brunswick if there wasn’t at least one theory suggesting the government screwed up somehow! As the story goes, when the government was moving away from using rural route numbers they put up the Niagara sign in the wrong place. Silly government.
This theory is supported by there being a Nigarry Road near Memramcook which the locals supposedly call the Niagara Road. Of course narrowing down when this happened is tricky. The current green signs with white letters were rolled out in the 70s and 80s. Prior to this some roads lacked any signs at all.
It's easy to imagine a local referring to the road as ‘Nigarry’ for their whole life only for a sign to go up reading ‘Niagara’ and reach the conclusion the wrong sign was put up by a distant and uncaring government.
#4 – There once was a man named Gary…
Perhaps my favourite theory is that the name ‘Nigarry’ derives from people referring to the road as the one ‘nigh Gary’s house’!
Now, I’m not going to discount this theory entirely since its happened in history before. The name of the city of Istanbul in Turkey literally means ‘to the city’ and was a common answer travellers gave when asked where they were going since it was the only city in the area.
The problem with this theory centres around the name Gary. Gary was not a common given name in English until the mid-1900s and several people have stated they had grandparents born in the early 1900s who remembered the road already having its nickname. That said, variants of the name Gary as a surname were a bit more common. However, the 1862 walling map of Albert County doesn’t have anyone with a Gary-esque surname in the right area so they would have had to have moved in after this date.
Why do we keep calling it the Nigarry Road?
Separate from the question of how the road ended up with two names is the question of why the informal version continues to survive.
As mentioned previously Albert County folk are stubborn about names and perhaps that is all there is to it. However, I would like to propose that the road’s name is an example of a shibboleth – a word to identify insiders and outsiders. If a person says ‘Niagara Road’ perhaps they are a local or perhaps not but if they they say ‘Nigarry Road’ you have some confidence that this person has been in the area for a while.
In support of this view it should be noted that while many people think the sign is wrong, there has been little in the way of effort to change it because ‘Nigarry’ only serves its function as a shibboleth if its an alternative only locals know about.
So there you have it! Four theories on how the Nigarry Road ended up with an identity crisis and why at the end of the day we might just like it that way!
Let us start with the simplest theory first - ‘Nigarry’ is the result of generations of locals slowly shifting the pronunciation of the name till it bears only a passing resemblance to how its spelled.
What is interesting is this exact thing has happened before in New Brunswick. The community of ‘Geary’ was originally called ‘New Niagara’ before it was progressively shortened to its current form.
This theory is further supported by ‘Nigarry’ not being a word in any of the languages I’ve checked.
The main problem with this theory is proving one usage is older than the other. Many old maps either don’t include the road or don’t label it. It is also directly contradicted by people who claim they have seen official maps with some variation of ‘Nigarry’ on it.
While this theory is believable due to it requiring the fewest assumptions its not totally proven.
Theory #2 – The name is the result of a printers error.
This theory is related to the previous one. Some claim ‘Nigarry’ is the result of a map being printed with the wrong name which resulted in the locals adopting it as the correct pronunciation and never going back to the old name when the maps were corrected.
It isn’t out of the realm of possibility, as sometimes errors creep into official documents, especially if the information was conveyed verbally or a note taker had particularly bad penmanship. That is, after all, how we ended up with the ‘Steeves’ Family rather than the ‘Stief’ Family and how Moncton lost the k in its name.
Further, Albert County folk can be stubborn about names. The causeway between Riverview and Moncton isn’t a causeway any more and has a new name but you’d be hard-pressed to find a local who knows it. However, one would think that if this error was prevalent enough to alter what people were calling the road that there would be a lot of maps surviving that show it. All I’ve been able to confirm is if such a map exists it is from after the year 1900.
Theory #3 – The government put up the wrong sign.
It wouldn’t be New Brunswick if there wasn’t at least one theory suggesting the government screwed up somehow! As the story goes, when the government was moving away from using rural route numbers they put up the Niagara sign in the wrong place. Silly government.
This theory is supported by there being a Nigarry Road near Memramcook which the locals supposedly call the Niagara Road. Of course narrowing down when this happened is tricky. The current green signs with white letters were rolled out in the 70s and 80s. Prior to this some roads lacked any signs at all.
It's easy to imagine a local referring to the road as ‘Nigarry’ for their whole life only for a sign to go up reading ‘Niagara’ and reach the conclusion the wrong sign was put up by a distant and uncaring government.
#4 – There once was a man named Gary…
Perhaps my favourite theory is that the name ‘Nigarry’ derives from people referring to the road as the one ‘nigh Gary’s house’!
Now, I’m not going to discount this theory entirely since its happened in history before. The name of the city of Istanbul in Turkey literally means ‘to the city’ and was a common answer travellers gave when asked where they were going since it was the only city in the area.
The problem with this theory centres around the name Gary. Gary was not a common given name in English until the mid-1900s and several people have stated they had grandparents born in the early 1900s who remembered the road already having its nickname. That said, variants of the name Gary as a surname were a bit more common. However, the 1862 walling map of Albert County doesn’t have anyone with a Gary-esque surname in the right area so they would have had to have moved in after this date.
Why do we keep calling it the Nigarry Road?
Separate from the question of how the road ended up with two names is the question of why the informal version continues to survive.
As mentioned previously Albert County folk are stubborn about names and perhaps that is all there is to it. However, I would like to propose that the road’s name is an example of a shibboleth – a word to identify insiders and outsiders. If a person says ‘Niagara Road’ perhaps they are a local or perhaps not but if they they say ‘Nigarry Road’ you have some confidence that this person has been in the area for a while.
In support of this view it should be noted that while many people think the sign is wrong, there has been little in the way of effort to change it because ‘Nigarry’ only serves its function as a shibboleth if its an alternative only locals know about.
So there you have it! Four theories on how the Nigarry Road ended up with an identity crisis and why at the end of the day we might just like it that way!
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