Beans Island (also called Bains Island) is a small uninhabited island in the West Isles Parish of Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada, where the Bay of Fundy enters Passamaquoddy Bay. It is particularly known for being the site of North America's first lobster pound. The island has long since been abandoned.Welch, H. Wesley. "Welcome to Deer Island: Deer Island History", 1967. In reference collection St. Croix Library though its shores house a series of salmon hatcheries.
It is composed of heavy beds of pinkish chert felsite.Geological Survey of Canada, Report of Progress 1870-1871, pgs 82-111, https://archive.org/details/report-of-progress-gsc_1870-1871/page/n5/mode/2up
History It was granted to John Bean in 1806, with the grant also naming John and David Mowat, of Mowat's Island. William Martin Trecartin married Sarah Mary Drake in 1810, after which they relocated to Beans Island.Arthur L. Lord’s Genealogy of the Lords of West Isles, New Brunswick: see page 9
Later, the population grew and George Case and two families petitioned the province for funds for a school in 1828 but been denied, although one was later built.Journal of the House of Assembly of the province of New-Brunswick, from Thursday the 14th day of February, to Saturday the 5th day of April, 1828 : 1828 In 1832, Thomas Baillie wrote that Beans Island had only two families settled on it.
In 1859, Peter Leslie was born on the island.The Beacon : Vol. XXIX, No. 45 (May 11, 1918) In 1900, one of the earliest pioneers Andrew Lord died on Beans Island, and was buried at Lord's Cove.The Christian : [Vol. 6, no. 8 (June 1889)] Benjamin Simpson also lived on the island at this time.The Daily Gleaner : June 8, 1901-December 4, 1901
In the late 1800s, the Green law family operated a small sardine, lobster and clam factory at Factory Cove on the island, with a supplemental building at the southwest end of the island near Mink Island passage.Gilman, John D. "Canned: A History of the Sardine Industry", 2001
In Summer 2012, the island was one of four studied as a rockweed habitat as it is commercially harvested here by locals.
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