Description of Historic Place

The Kennebecasis Rowing Sculpture is located on the Rothesay Road across from the Rothesay Golf and Country Club, beside the Kennebecasis River. It consists of a bronze replica of a sculling racing shell and granite boulders.

Heritage Value

The Kennebecasis Sculpture is designated a Local Historic Place for its association with an international sculling event which took place in the Rothesay area. At the Grand Exposition in Paris in 1867, a four-man sculling team from Saint John beat six teams at the International Regatta to become the world champions. The crew, consisting of lighthouse keeper Elijah Ross and three fishermen, Robert Fulton, George Price, and Samuel Hutton, would hereafter be known as the Paris Four. They would lose a match against the English champions at a Canadian event in 1870. The Paris Four called for a rematch the following year. The Kennebecasis Sculpture marks the banks where onlookers watched what would be called The Great Race of 1871, an event at which the Paris Four bested the world champion English crew. The Great Race took place on the Kennebecasis River and its route passed through three of the villages that now make up the Town of Rothesay: the old village of Rothesay, the village of East Riverside-Kingshurst and the village of Renforth. The Kennebecasis Sculpture is constructed with bronze for the racing shell portion of the piece and granite for the two stone boulders upon which the shell is mounted. The granite portion of the Kennebecasis is covered in commemorative etchings.

Source: Rothesay Living Museum, Historic Places file “Kennebecasis Scuplture”

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements relating to the Kennebecasis Sculpture include:
- bronze sculpted replica of the type of racing shell used by the Paris Four in The Great Race;
- granite boulders, which feature etchings referencing the Great Race;
- association with The Great Race of 1871 and the location of the onlookers of the event.