The town of Madawaska saw its first pioneers arrive around the middle of the 1780s and was one of the first sites to be colonized in the upper St. John River valley. Amongst others, Acadian families such as the Cyrs, Daigles, Héberts, Mazerolles, Potiers and Thibodeaus, left the Sainte-Anne-des-Pays-Bas (Fredericton) region to distance themselves from the massive arrival of Loyalists following the American War of Independence. Today, a major part of the population is of Acadian descent, a heritage which as not been forgotten, as is shown by the Madawaska Festival acadien, the Site de débarquement des pionniers and the Musée Tante Blanche.