For more than a century, thousands of tourists have flocked to our famous beaches for swimming and sunbathing. In the early years, people even came by train from Moncton and Amherst to spend the day at the beach. Some of them decided to build cottages at Pointe-du-Chene as far back as 1880. It is estimated that over 2000 cottages are located in the Shediac area; that is why the population doubles every summer.

In 1959, the Government of New Brunswick undertook to develop a section of the beach and called it Parlee Beach, in honor of T. Babbitt Parlee, an ex-cabinet minister and ex-mayor of Moncton who was killed in a plane crash some years before. Parlee Beach attracts more than a million visitors each year. People come to take advantage of the warmest salt water north of the Carolinas and the sandy beaches.