 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2010) |
Blandford is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Chester Municipal District on the Aspotogan Peninsula on the Lighthouse Route (Nova Scotia Route 329). Blandford originally included the present day communities of New Harbour, Upper Blandford, and Deep Cove.
Between 1767–1769, the English from the west country settled Blandford, naming the community after Blandford Forum. [1] One of the first settlers of Blandford was George Casper Zinck (c. 1764–), the son of a German-speaking immigrant. George first lived in Lunenburg and then after the American Raid on Lunenburg (1782) during the American Revolution, George moved to nearby Rose Bay before finally settling in Blandford at the age of 20 (1784). He married and then had his first child the following year.
Along with English and German settlers, there were also Jewish settlers to Blandford. More likely at least some of the Jewish family Levy in this part of Nova Scotia are descended from Nathaniel Levy who was in Halifax by 1759. After his first wife died in 1771 he moved from Halifax to Chester where he married again 1773 (Susannah Tufts). They had four children before he died in May 1787 at Chester. One of his sons, Gershom, married in 1796 (Catherine Barbara Graves). They had three sons before he died in 1801 at Chester. Two of his sons, David (born 1797) and Nathan (born 1798) settled in Tancook Island during the early nineteenth century. Their descendants migrated to Blandford.
Nathaniel Levy was the son of Nathan Levy, a Jewish merchant who was in Philadelphia in 1746 (Punch, 1981). Nathaniel Levy may have been in the colony to oversee the interests of the firm Levy and Frank of Philadelphia, one of the firms that provided the new colony with supplies and credit (Fergusson, 1971:46).
The village of Deep Cove was first settled by John (Johannes) Meisner (1789-1872) and John Seaburg (Seaboyer) in 1838. John Meisner owned the first gristmill which was built on the north side of Deep Cove. Meisner's Point on the Upper Blandford road still retains his name.
The person who Mathias Hill, Bovens Lake, and Jimmy's Island in Deep Cove is named after is unknown.
When settlers first arrived at Blandford, in the winter they were able to walk over the ice to Tancook and to Chester. In 1845, Charles Lordly, Esq had goods hauled from Shoal Cove (Blandford) by three pairs of oxen and two horses over the ice to Tancook. The ice was cut with axes to a depth of two feet without finding water. The following month he had molasses and barrels of four[ clarification needed ] hauled over the ice to Chester. Mr. Arch Zinck reported the last time people were able to walk to Tancook over the ice was 1932.
To ward off the threat of possible Fenian raids (1866–71), a volunteer regiment was raised in Blandford. [2] The troop of men did drills on what was once the field of Morton Publicover (Civic #?). Among these men were Jim Gates, George Roast and Will Gates.
The Fenian movement sought to bring about Irish independence from Britain. At the end of the American Civil War, Fenians in the United States determined to recruit veterans of the war, invade and capture Canada, and force Britain to negotiate the independence of Ireland. There were a number of alarms in 1865, 1866 and 1870. There was a medal given for service in the Volunteer Regiments.
Regimental troops were raised in every county across Nova Scotia. While New Brunswick and Ontario did sustain attacks, Nova Scotia did not. Perhaps to amplify the importance of the local regiment, folklore in the community includes a story of a Fenian attack by sea at Big Cove that was thwarted by the Mi'kmaq. [2]
One of the most renowned people to make Deep Cove their home was Cyrus Eaton, a millionaire industrialist, who was originally from Pugwash, Nova Scotia, but lived in Ohio. He bought a large piece of land in Blandford between 1931 – 1933. The estate covered woodland, run-down farms, and a number of lakes. Mr. Eaton turned this estate into a sanctuary for Canada Geese. The Canada Geese still remain here all winter and can often be seen walking down the road or swimming just off shore.
In the 1950s, a successful banker, businessman and philanthropist, Cyrus Eaton, was raising Mallard ducks and Canada geese in the vicinity of Hollahan Lake. In 1959 the area became a wildlife sanctuary where these birds could feed undisturbed. Hunting of waterfowl and game birds was prohibited. In 2007 it became a protected area under the Special Places Protection Act, giving the sanctuary the province's highest level of protection of plants and animals. Access is restricted to visitors on foot. The reserve contains a wide variety of habitats and is home to some rare lichens, mosses, and vascular plants, not the least of which is an extensive Jack Pine barrens. Blandford Nature Reserve is the province's 16th nature reserve and is the first of its kind in Lunenburg County.
In an address to the Empire Club of Canada (1950), Cyrus S. Eaton was introduced with the following:
Mr. Eaton entertained extensively during the summer when he resided in Blandford. Many of his guests were celebrities; one such guest was Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. He donated money for the doors of St. Bartholmus Church in Blandford. He had his ashes buried in Blandford (and Pugwash, Nova Scotia).
At his death in 1979, his estate was purchased by a group of businessmen from Germany.
Oak Island is a privately owned island in Lunenburg County on the south shore of Nova Scotia, Canada. The tree-covered island is one of several islands in Mahone Bay, and is connected to the mainland by a causeway. The nearest community is the rural community of Western Shore which faces the island, while the nearest village is Chester. The island is best known for various theories about buried treasure or historical artifacts, and the associated attempts to explore the site.
Pugwash is an incorporated village in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, Canada, located on the Northumberland Strait at the mouth of the Pugwash River. It had a population of 746 as of the 2021 census. The name Pugwash is derived from the Mi'kmaq word, Pakwesk meaning "a shoal", in reference to a reef near the mouth of the harbour.
Cyrus Stephen Eaton Sr. was a Canadian-American investment banker, businessman and philanthropist, with a career that spanned seventy years.
Mahone Bay is a bay on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada along the eastern end of Lunenburg County. The bay has many islands, and is a popular sailing area. Since 2003 the Mahone Islands Conservation Association has been working to protect the natural environment of the bay. The bay and its islands contain a variety of habitats including forests, rocky shores, beaches, wetlands, and mudflats. Wildlife in the area include black guillemots, eagles, osprey, leach's storm petrels, puffins, razorbills, and great blue herons.
Chester—St. Margaret's is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. It is located on the South Shore.
The Aspotogan Peninsula is a peninsula in the eastern part of Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia, separating St. Margarets Bay in the east from Mahone Bay in the west. The peninsula was originally settled by second generation French immigrants on the east side and by second generation German immigrants on the west side. Traditionally fishing was a major industry for communities throughout the peninsula, however other primary industries such as farming and forestry were historically important as well. Shipping and shipbuilding were secondary and tertiary industries that also came into prominence during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Big Tancook Island is the largest of many islands in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. It measures approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) by 1.6 km (1.0 mi) forming roughly a "C" shape. Its area is 550 acres (2.2 km2) and has a rocky shoreline with open fields and softwood forest dotted by ponds, residential properties and fish stores. It is separated from nearby Little Tancook Island to the east by a 1 km (0.6 mi) wide strait called "The Chops". Big Tancook Island is approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) from Sandy Cove Point on the Aspotogan Peninsula - the nearest point on the mainland. Wildlife populations are limited to deer, muskrats, snakes, and pheasants, and a great variety of birds.
The Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada of the Anglican Church of Canada. It encompasses the provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and has two cathedrals: All Saints' in Halifax and St. Peter's in Charlottetown. Its de facto see city is Halifax, and its roughly 24 400 Anglicans distributed in 239 congregations are served by approximately 153 clergy and 330 lay readers according to the last available data. According to the 2001 census, 120,315 Nova Scotians identified themselves as Anglicans, while 6525 Prince Edward Islanders did the same.
The South Shore Regional Centre for Education (SSRCE) is the public school board responsible for the administration of elementary, junior high, and high school education in Lunenburg County and Queens County in Nova Scotia, Canada. The South Shore Regional Centre for Education was established on August 1, 2004 by an Act of the provincial legislature.
The Lighthouse Route is a scenic roadway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It follows the province's South Shore for 585 km (364 mi) from Halifax to Yarmouth.
Route 329 is a collector road in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
Charles Edward Church was a Canadian politician.
Forest Heights Community School is a high school located in Chester Basin, Nova Scotia, Canada. Servicing students and families from eastern Lunenburg County, it is a member school of the South Shore Regional School Board.
Bayswater is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Chester Municipal District on the Aspotogan Peninsula in Lunenburg County on the Lighthouse Route. The community is home to Bayswater Beach Provincial park, Swissair 111 memorial, and All Saints Anglican Church
Deep Cove is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Chester Municipal District on the Aspotogan Peninsula on the Lighthouse Route.
The Tancook Schooner is a sailing work boat design credited with influencing North American yacht designers and pleasure craft users during the early to mid twentieth century.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Nova Scotia:
Maurice Louis Zinck was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Lunenburg East in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1959 to 1974. He is a member of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party.
The Canadian province of Nova Scotia is divided into 49 municipalities, of which there are three types: regional (4), town (25), and county or district municipality (20).