The Northwest Arm, originally named Sandwich River, [1] is an inlet in eastern Canada off the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality.
The Northwest Arm, originally named Sandwich River, [1] is an inlet in eastern Canada off the Atlantic Ocean in Nova Scotia's Halifax Regional Municipality.
Part of Halifax Harbour, it measures approximately 3.5 km in length and 0.5 km in width and defines the western side of the Halifax Peninsula. The waterway is oriented along a bearing of 135° (southeast) and 315° (northwest).
The Northwest Arm contains several small islands including Melville Island, home of the Armdale Yacht Club, and Deadman's Island, at the northwestern end near Armdale. There is a large breakwater, constructed from slate bedrock, located adjacent to South Street called the Fyfe Breakwater after the late local naturalist TLC Ratt-Fyfe.
There is a public beach (the only one on the Arm) located at Sir Sanford Fleming Park which has only recently been deemed safe for swimming since the Harbor Solutions Project began operations in 2008.
The Mi'kmaq Nation called this water body "Waygwalteech" which translates to "salt water all the way up." Early English settlers called it the "Sandwich River" and also the "Hawkes River."
The Mi'kmaq people attacked the British blockhouse on the Northwest Arm numerous times during Father Le Loutre's War. In 1751, there were two attacks on blockhouses surrounding Halifax. Mi'kmaq attacked the North Blockhouse (located at the north end of Joseph Howe Drive) and killed the men on guard. They also attacked near the South Blockhouse (located at the south end of Joseph Howe Drive), at a sawmill on a stream flowing out of Chocolate Lake into the Northwest Arm. They killed two men. [2] (Map of Halifax Blockhouses)
In 1753, when Lawrence became governor, the Mi'kmaq attacked again upon the sawmills near the South Blockhouse on the Northwest Arm, where they killed three British. The Mi'kmaq made three attempts to retrieve the bodies for their scalps. [3]
It was officially named the North West Arm on 1 March 1921 and it was changed to Northwest Arm on 4 April 1933.
Much of the shoreline of the Northwest Arm, referred to locally as "the Arm," is fronted by private residences.
The Northwest Arm is the location of several parks. Point Pleasant Park at the southern entrance to the Arm on the Halifax Peninsula. Sir Sandford Fleming Park on the western shoreline contains the Dingle Memorial Tower which, in 1908, commemorated the 150th anniversary of the establishment of responsible government in Nova Scotia, the first colony in the British Empire to do so. Deadman's Island Park commemorates American soldiers who died while imprisoned on the island during the War of 1812.
The Atlantic School of Theology also maintains its campus along the southern part of the arm.
The Northwest Arm is the location of four marinas:
Citadel Hill is a hill that is a National Historic Site in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Four fortifications have been constructed on Citadel Hill since the city was founded by the English in 1749, and were referred to as Fort George—but only the third fort was officially named Fort George. According to General Orders of October 20, 1798, it was named after King George III. The first two and the fourth and current fort, were officially called the Halifax Citadel. The last is a concrete star fort.
The Quinpool District refers to a commercial district of Halifax, Nova Scotia, encompassing the eastern portion of Quinpool Road as well as the streets directly north and south of it. Prominent landmarks on Quinpool Road include the Atlantica Hotel, the Oxford Theatre, and an eclectic variety of local businesses, including many popular Chinese and Greek restaurants.
The Halifax Peninsula is peninsula within the urban area of the Municipality of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
St. Margarets Bay is a bay located on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada on the border of Halifax County and Lunenburg County.
Armdale is a neighbourhood of the community of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Fort Anne is a four-bastion fort built to protect the harbour of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. The fort repelled all French attacks during the early stages of King George's War.
Halifax Harbour is a large natural harbour on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Halifax Regional Municipality. Halifax largely owes its existence to the harbour, being one of the largest and deepest ice-free natural harbours in the world. Before Confederation it was one of the most important commercial ports on the Atlantic seaboard. In 1917, it was the site of the world's largest man-made accidental explosion, when the SS Mont-Blanc blew up in the Halifax Explosion of December 6.
The Armdale Yacht Club is a yacht club located on Melville Island, at the head of Halifax Harbour's Northwest Arm in Nova Scotia, Canada. The Club's property has a history dating to 1732.
Deadman's Island is a small peninsula containing a cemetery and park located in the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada. The area was first used as a training grounds for the British military, and later became a burial ground for dead prisoners of war from nearby Melville Island. In the early 1900s the site became an amusement park before being annexed to the city of Halifax in the 1960s. Though development projects were considered for the site, these plans met with popular protest, and instead Deadman's Island became a heritage park, Deadman's Island Park.
Nova Scotia Route 253 is a collector road in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
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.
Blockhouse is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Lunenburg Municipal District in Lunenburg County. It was named after the blockhouses constructed by Captain Ephraim Cook to protect colonizers following a raid in 1756. The final blockhouse in the community burned down in 1874.
The Raid on Lunenburg occurred during the French and Indian War when Mi'kmaw and Maliseet fighters attacked a British settlement at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on May 8, 1756. The native militia raided two islands on the northern outskirts of the fortified Township of Lunenburg, [John] Rous Island and Payzant Island. According to French reports, the Raiding party killed twenty settlers and took five prisoners. This raid was the first of nine the Natives and Acadians would conduct against the peninsula over a three-year period during the war. The Wabanaki Confederacy took John Payzant and Lewis Payzant prisoner, both of whom left written account of their experiences.
The Raid on Dartmouth occurred during Father Le Loutre's War on May 13, 1751, when a Miꞌkmaq and Acadian militia from Chignecto, under the command of Acadian Joseph Broussard, raided Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, destroying the town and killing twenty British villagers and wounding British regulars. The town was protected by a blockhouse on Blockhouse Hill with William Clapham's Rangers and British regulars from the 45th Regiment of Foot. This raid was one of seven the Natives and Acadians would conduct against the town during the war.
Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755), also known as the Indian War, the Mi'kmaq War and the Anglo-Mi'kmaq War, took place between King George's War and the French and Indian War in Acadia and Nova Scotia. On one side of the conflict, the British and New England colonists were led by British officer Charles Lawrence and New England Ranger John Gorham. On the other side, Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre led the Mi'kmaq and the Acadia militia in guerrilla warfare against settlers and British forces. At the outbreak of the war there were an estimated 2500 Mi'kmaq and 12,000 Acadians in the region.
Melville Island is a small peninsula in Nova Scotia, Canada, located in the Northwest Arm of Halifax Harbour, west of Deadman's Island. It is part of the Halifax Regional Municipality. The land is rocky, with thin, acidic soil, but supports a limited woodland habitat.
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.
Halifax Armdale is a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elects one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. This Halifax district covers the growing population of the Fairmount, Armdale and Cowie Hill areas. The northern boundary is Highway 102, the eastern boundary is Joseph Howe Drive and the Northwest Arm, while the southern boundary is Frog Pond Park in Armdale.
Fort Clarence was a British coastal fort built in 1754 at the beginning of the French and Indian War in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. The battery was built on the grant of Capt. John Rous. Initially it had 8 guns mounted. In spring 1759, a Mi'kmaq attack on the Eastern Battery killed five soldiers.
The Lunenburg campaign was executed by the Mi'kmaq militia and Acadian militia against the Foreign Protestants who the British had settled on the Lunenburg Peninsula during the French and Indian War. The British deployed Joseph Gorham and his Rangers along with Captain Rudolf Faesch and regular troops of the 60th Regiment of Foot to defend Lunenburg. The campaign was so successful, by November 1758, the members of the House of Assembly for Lunenburg stated "they received no benefit from His Majesty's Troops or Rangers" and required more protection.
Coordinates: 44°38′13.65″N63°36′30.03″W / 44.6371250°N 63.6083417°W