Called Tracadièche until 1787, Carleton was colonized by a group of Acadians from Bonaventure looking for new land. In the mid-1760s such families as the Alains, Boudreaus, Comeaus, Dugas and LeBlancs settled there and together with the Acadian population of Bonaventure they make up the Acadian population of the Gaspé's Bay of Chaleurs region.