Bedford (pop. 36,354 [2]) is a former town and now a district of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the north west shore of the Bedford Basin in the central area of the municipality. It borders the neighbouring communities of Hammonds Plains to the west, Sackville to the north, Dartmouth to the east, and Main Land Halifax to the south. Bedford was named in honour of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford, Secretary of State for the colonies in 1749.
The area of Bedford has evidence of Indigenous peoples dating back thousands of years. Petroglyphs are found at Bedford Petroglyphs National Historic Site.[3] The Bedford area is known as Kwipek to the Mi'kmaq First Nation.[4]
On 21 July 1749, Father Le Loutre's War began when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports.[5] The British quickly began to build other settlements. To guard against the Acadians, the French, and the Mi'kmaq, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (1749), Bedford (Fort Sackville) (1749), Dartmouth (1750), Lunenburg (1753) and Lawrencetown (1754).
The history of Bedford began when Governor Edward Cornwallis organised his men and began the construction of a road leading to Minas Basin on the Bay of Fundy after establishing the garrison at Halifax. To protect it, he hired John Gorham and his Rangers to erect a fort on the shore of Bedford Basin. It was named Fort Sackville after Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset.[6] The area around the fort became known as Sackville until the mid-1850s, when it became Bedford.
In 1752, among the first to receive a large land grant was military officer George Scott in the Fort Sackville area. Scott later participated in the Expulsion of the Acadians, specifically the St. John River Campaign (1758). His brother, Joseph, was paymaster at the Halifax Garrison in the 1760s, received two grants in 1759 and 1765. And built Scott Manor House in 1770.
Anthony Holland established the Acadian Paper Mill on the Basin around 1819 to provide paper to produce the Halifax newspaper Acadian Recorder.
When the railway went through the station named Millview, the Moirs, Son and Co. moved a part of the Moirs Mill factory to Bedford. The Moirs Mill generating station built in the early 1930s to supply the necessary electricity required to run the factory.
On 1 April 1996, Halifax County was dissolved and all of its places (cities, suburbs, towns, and villages) were turned into communities of a single-tier municipality named Halifax Regional Municipality. Subsequently, Bedford was turned into a community within the new Municipality of Halifax.
Geography
Bedford is approximately 18km (11mi) from Downtown Halifax.[7] Bedford covers 3,979 hectares (39.79km2) of land area.[8] As Bedford is quite centralized in the municipality its borders are formed by the community boundaries it shares with its neighbours. To the north are the communities of Lower Sackville, Lakeview and Lucasville, Waverley and Dartmouth are to the east, Halifax and Timberlea to the south and finally Hammonds Plains to the west.
Topographically, the area is situated over bedrock, with a high proportion of rockland and exposed bedrock ridges, dotted with many lakes and wetlands. In these ridge terrains, soils are typically dry, shallow, and coarse, and often degraded by a history of repeated wildfire.[9]
Bedford has several large lakes including: Marsh Lake, Sandy Lake, Kearny Lake and Paper Mill Lake, the latter being the secondary tributary of the Bedford Basin.
The main tributary of the Bedford Basin estuary is the Sackville River. The river has been heavily affected by ongoing development within its watershed and a chronic loss of riparian zones along its shores, especially in downtown Bedford, where the impervious surfaces of shopping centres and strip malls dominate the landscape. The secondary tributary of the Basin flows Paper Mill Lake then through Moirs Mill Pond adjacent to a commercial shopping district at the intersection of the Bedford Highway and Hammonds Plains Road. Both areas are composed almost entirely of impervious surfaces where contaminated stormwater and surface runoff are unable to permeate into the ground and instead flow directly into the Bedford Basin.[10]
The developed area of Bedford’s shore line is mainly long the Bedford Bay portion of the basin. It consists of a public waterfront boardwalk through a 1 km[11] portion of DeWolf Park and follows along to Lions Park and along Shore Drive. Its eastern shore consists of a "blast buffer zone" that surrounds Canadian Forces Ammunition Depot Bedford; this is the Royal Canadian Navy’s weapons magazine for its Atlantic fleet.
Culture
Recreation
There is a popular walkway along much of the Bedford Basin waterfront that begins at DeWolf park, and continues as the Bedford-Sackville Connector Greenway, a crushed gravel covered trail that meanders along the Sackville River.
On Shore Drive, there is an outdoor 25-metre pool and smaller splash pool located at Lions Park, and in the summer there are numerous lakes suitable for swimming.
Bedford is a well-established sailing community, and is home to the Bedford Basin Yacht Club and Marina.
Sports
The community is currently home to six ice surfaces, at the BMO Centre, Lebrun Centre, and the Gary Martin Dome.
The topography of the area limits the possible locations for football-and-soccer fields. However, there are fields at Basinview Drive Community School, Bedford South School, Charles P. Allen High School, Range Park, Rocky Lake Junior High, and Sunnyside Elementary (Eaglewood location).
Traditions
Bedford Days has occurred annually at the end of June and beginning of July for almost 50 years. Currently, most of the events take place at DeWolf Park. There is an opening celebration, a Canada Day celebration, free pancake-breakfast, dog show, Kids' Extravaganza, Kids' Triathlon, Movies in the Park, the Rubber Duck Dash, and the Scott Manor House Tea Party.[12]
The Light Up Bedford Parade is an annual parade that has been held since 1998[13] and takes place on the Sunday following the Light Up Halifax Parade, which usually is mid-November. It runs along the Bedford Highway from Bedford Place Mall and ends at DeWolf Park. At the park there is Christmas carol singing, contests-and-prizes, and a hot chocolate stand. At the conclusion of the parade, a Christmas Tree is lit. In addition to bringing the community together to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season, the parade serves as a fundraiser for the Turkey Club Society—which raises funds to ensure residents of Municipality of Halifax are able to provide a Christmas dinner for their families.
Demographics
Although a well-established community, Bedford has not had demographic information released from the 2006, 2011, 2016, and the 2021 Canadian Censuses.
Sandy Lake Seventh Day Adventist Academy - Grades Primary to 12
Le Conseil scolaire acadien provincial
These are French only schools for education in French as a first language to the population of Acadian and French-speaking origin residing in Nova Scotia.
Halifax Transit provides services to the community of Bedford. Many routes give access to places within the urban agglomeration of Halifax, and some routes give access to places outside of the urban agglomeration.
Recently, there have been several different modes of public-transportation proposed within Halifax to support its current and continued growth. There is a fast ferry service planned for the Mill Cove area that would connect to the Ferry Terminal in Downtown Halifax. Furthermore, there have been proposals to re-introduce Commuter (Light) Rail within Halifax's urban area. However, these proposed services are controversial due to disputes over projected costs and ridership levels.
Wheelchair – Uses Accessible Low Floor (ALF) buses only. Rush Hour Service Only Designated Bike Route MetroLink Service MetroX Service
Route number
Route name
Features
Inner terminal
Outer terminal
Notes
88
Bedford Commons
Sackville
Cobequid
The two terminals on this route are the Cobequid Terminal-and-the Sackvile Terminal, which both are in Lower Sackville. However, the route enters the community of Bedford on Damascus Road in Bedford Commons.
90
Larry Uteck
Water Street
West Bedford Park & Ride
This route goes from a North-South direction on the western side of the built-up area of Halifax Harbour. It provides a route from West Bedford to Downtown.
91
Hemlock Ravine
Mumford; Bayers Road Centre
West Bedford Park & Ride
Route 91 takes passengers from the West Bedford Park & Ride to either the Bayers Road Centre, or the Mumford Terminal.
Nova Scotia is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Dartmouth is a built-up community of Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada. Located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour, Dartmouth has 72,139 residents as of 2021.
Windsor is a community located in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a service centre for the western part of the county and is situated on Highway 101.
Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2022, it is estimated that the population of the Halifax CMA was 480,582, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.
Bedford Basin is a large enclosed bay, forming the northwestern end of Halifax Harbour on Canada's Atlantic coast. It is named in honour of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford.
Lower Sackville is a suburban community of the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Rockingham is a community located within the urban area of the Halifax Regional Municipality, in Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) in Nova Scotia, Canada has a widely varied geography.
Caledonia, Nova Scotia is a community located in northern Region of Queens Municipality, Nova Scotia along Trunk 8. Caledonia is the major community in the area known as North Queens, which has a radius of approximately 30 kilometers and a population of approximately 1500.
Trunk 1 is part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's system of Trunk Highways.
The Bedford Highway is a highway in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia that is part of Trunk 2. It runs around the western side of the Bedford Basin. The highway starts at the Windsor Street intersection on the Halifax Peninsula and passes by the communities of Fairview, Rockingham, and Bedford, where it becomes part of Trunk 1 to Highway 101.
West Lawrencetown is a residential community within the Halifax Regional Municipality Nova Scotia on the Eastern Shore on Route 207 along the scenic route Marine Drive.
Birch Cove is a subdivision and a cove in the community of Bedford within the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada, on the shore of Bedford Basin and along the Bedford Highway.
Dartmouth founded in 1750, is a Metropolitan Area and former city in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
Lawrencetown is a Canadian rural community in the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. The settlement was established during the eve of Father Le Loutre's War and at the beginning of the French and Indian War.
The St. Croix River is a river in Nova Scotia entirely contained in Hants and Halifax Counties. Its headwaters are Panuke Lake. The river has been exploited for water power. There were water mills in the nineteenth century and in the 1930s three hydroelectric dams were built; they still operate.
St. Croix is a community in the province of Nova Scotia Canada, located in Hants County, Nova Scotia.
Fort Sackville was a British fort in present-day Bedford, Nova Scotia. It was built during Father Le Loutre's War by British adjacent to present-day Scott Manor House, on a hill overlooking the Sackville River to help prevent French, Acadian and Mi'kmaq attacks on Halifax. The fort consisted of a blockhouse, a guard house, a barracks that housed 50 soldiers, and outbuildings, all encompassed by a palisade. Not far from the fort was a rifle range. The fort was named after George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Nova Scotia:
↑ Grenier, John. The Far Reaches of Empire. War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760. Norman: U of Oklahoma P, 2008; Thomas Beamish Akins. History of Halifax, Brookhouse Press. 1895. (2002 edition). p 7
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