Great Village is a rural community of approximately 500 people located along Trunk 2 and the north shore of Cobequid Bay in Colchester County, Nova Scotia. It is considered locally to incorporate the areas of Highland Village to the west and Scrabble Hill to the north northwest.
What was to become Great Village was first settled by French-speaking Acadians around 1630, who built dykes in the marshes, reclaimed land, and created a village called "Petit-Louis" or "Vil de Cadets". [1] They were expelled, along with the rest of the Acadian population of Nova Scotia, by Governor Charles Lawrence in 1755. This event, known as the Expulsion of the Acadians, saw the Acadians dispersed among the American colonies, Louisiana, England and France. They left behind memorials in the names of nearby rivers (anglicised in modern times into Portapique and Debert).[ citation needed ]
The next settlers, whose descendants were to remain, came in the spring of 1762: Protestants of predominantly Ulster origins, brought over by former British Army Captain Alexander McNutt, himself an Ulsterman who had been stationed in Nova Scotia. Many of these settlers re-used the burnt-out storage cellars of the expelled Acadians as the foundations for their first homes. [2]
"The vessel 'Hopewell' reached Halifax carrying Irish settlers on October 9, 1761, and landed passengers where they remained over the winter. Early next spring arrangements were made to hire a vessel to take these people to the 'District of Cobequid' where the best lands and greatest quantities of marsh in that part of the country were assigned to them, and furnished them with provisions out of the Provincial Funds. Many of these settlers took up land in what is now Londonderry district. Tradition is that twenty families located along the Bay Shore between Isgonish River and Bass River." [3]
The original grants of land of the Township of Londonderry were prepared in 1765, but because of the British government's explicit prohibition against the granting of Nova Scotia land to Irish, they were not made official until February 10, 1775 (reference 3, page 39)
"The reader should bear in mind that the settlement of the township of Londonderry was for the most part on those lands near the Bay Shore--Masstown, Glenholme, Great Village, Portapique, and Bass River. The present community of Londonderry, or Acadia Mines, was not included in the Area described in the Grant of 1775. Presumably settlement of that community did not commence until iron ore was discovered there in 1847." [4]
The Acadian settlers built dykes to create farmland from the area's extensive salt marsh. The village partially exists on this created land, which is still farmed. The dyked land is situated at a substantially lower elevation than the inhabited portion of Great Village. The dyke holds back the more than fifty-foot high tides of the Bay of Fundy.
In the early nineteenth century this village was called 'The Port of Londonderry' and was a Port of Registry." [5] Several shipyards thrived in the late 19th century and along with lumber exports created the wealth which built many of the fine, large Victorian-period houses and gardens visible today around the village. Foremost among them was the shipbuilder John M. Blaikie who built a massive four-masted barque named after himself in 1885, the barque John M. Blaikie. Along with the barque Kings County built across the Minas Basin, John M. Blaikie was one of only two four masted barques ever built in Canada and among the largest wooden sailing vessels built in the country. [6]
In her youth, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Bishop lived with her grandparents, William Brown Bulmer and Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Bulmer, in Great Village. The Bulmer House, also known as the Elizabeth Bishop House is an artists' retreat and is a Nova Scotia Provincially Recognized Heritage Site. [7] Elizabeth Bishop based many of her stories on the life of a fictional village of the same name. One story is called appropriately, "In the Village".[ citation needed ]
The Mahon Cemetery is Great Village's historic cemetery which is still in use today, Buried in it are many early settlers and their descendants including Elizabeth Bishop's grandparents and other relatives as well as many of the villagers who were portrayed in her poetry. [8] [9] [10]
The Bay of Fundy is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The name is probably a corruption of the French word fendu, meaning 'split'.
Colchester County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. With a population of 51,476 the county is the fourth largest in Nova Scotia. Colchester County is located in north central Nova Scotia.
Truro is a town in central Nova Scotia, Canada. Truro is the shire town of Colchester County and is located on the south side of the Salmon River floodplain, close to the river's mouth at the eastern end of Cobequid Bay.
Tatamagouche is a village in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The Minas Basin is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy and a sub-basin of the Fundy Basin located in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is known for its extremely high tides.
Bass River is an unincorporated rural community in western Colchester County, north-central Nova Scotia, in the Maritimes of Canada. It is shares the name of the river located there, that flows into Cobequid Bay.
Economy is an unincorporated rural community situated along the north shore of the Minas Basin/Cobequid Bay, at approximately 45°23'N, 63°54'W, in Colchester County, Nova Scotia. In the late 19th century, it was known for its shipbuilding industry.
Grand-Pré is a Canadian rural community in Kings County, Nova Scotia. Its French name translates to "Great/Large Meadow" and the community lies at the eastern edge of the Annapolis Valley several kilometres east of the town of Wolfville on a peninsula jutting into the Minas Basin surrounded by extensive dyked farm fields, framed by the Gaspereau and Cornwallis Rivers. The community was made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Evangeline and is today home to the Grand-Pré National Historic Site. On June 30, 2012, the Landscape of Grand-Pré was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Alexander McNutt was a British Army officer, colonist and land agent, responsible for seeing an approximate 500 Ulster Scottish emigrants arrive in Nova Scotia during the early 1760s.
The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755) of the Acadian Expulsion.
Masstown, formerly Cobequid, is a farming community located approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) from Truro, Nova Scotia.
Maitland, East Hants, Nova Scotia is a village in East Hants, Nova Scotia. It is home to the historic Lawrence House Museum, which is part of the Nova Scotia Museum. The community was part of the Douglas Township until it was named Maitland after Governor General of Nova Scotia Peregrine Maitland (1828–34) when building the Shubenacadie Canal was first attempted (1826–1831). The Canal was supposed to start at Maitland, Nova Scotia and run through the province to Maitland Street, Dartmouth, the canal being "bookended" by two "Maitland" landmarks.
Noel is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipal District of East Hants, which is in Hants County, Nova Scotia. The community is most well known for being named after its most prominent resident Noël Doiron and for ship building in the nineteenth century. Noel Doiron is the namesake of the village as well as the surrounding communities of Noel Shore, Nova Scotia, East Noel, Noel Road, Nova Scotia, North Noel Road, Nova Scotia. The earliest recorded reference to the community of "Noel" was by surveyor Charles Morris in 1752. Prior to that date, the area is referred to as "Trejeptick", which first appears in the Colonial Office minutes of Annapolis Royal in 1734. Noel was also the home of the Osmond O'Brien Shipyard.
Portapique is a rural community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Colchester County. It has about 100 residents in winter and increases to 250 residents in summer.
The Elizabeth Bishop House, also known as the Bulmer House, is an historic single-family house in Great Village, Nova Scotia. The house is associated with Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth Bishop who in her youth lived in the house each summer with her maternal grandparents, William Brown Bulmer and Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Bulmer. Bishop based many of her stories and poems on aspects of Great Village and Nova Scotia. Although the Bulmers bought the property in 1874, it is not known when it was built. On May 21, 1997, the Bulmer House was recognized as a Nova Scotia Provincially Recognized Heritage Site for its connection to Elizabeth Bishop and her writings as well as for its architectural significance; it is a good example of a typical 1+1⁄2-storey Classical Revival dwelling dating from between 1800 and 1850, a type common to rural Nova Scotia. In 2004, the house was purchased by a group of artists, who used the building as an artist’s retreat until it was sold again in December 2015. The house is now used as a single family home, however at the time of sale, the new owner was “meeting with members of the Elizabeth Bishop Society to discuss ways to keep the house accessible to the public.”
The old name Cobequid was derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Wagobagitk" meaning "the bay runs far up", in reference to the area surrounding the easternmost inlet of the Minas Basin in Nova Scotia, Canada, a body of water called Cobequid Bay.
Pisiguit is the pre-expulsion-period Acadian region located along the banks of the Pisiquit River from its confluence with the Minas Basin of Acadia, which is now Nova Scotia, including the St. Croix River drainage area. Settlement in the region commenced simultaneous to the establishment of Grand-Pré. Many villages spread rapidly eastward along the river banks. These settlements became known as Pisiguit or. The name is from the Mi'kmaq Pesaquid, meaning "Junction of Waters". In 1714, there were 351 people there.
The Canard River is a river in Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada which drains into the Minas Basin of the Bay of Fundy between the communities of Canard and Starr's Point. It is known for its fertile river banks and extensive dyke land agriculture.
The Acadian Exodus happened during Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) and involved almost half of the total Acadian population of Nova Scotia deciding to relocate to French controlled territories. The three primary destinations were: the west side of the Mesagoueche River in the Chignecto region, Isle Saint-Jean and Île-Royale. The leader of the Exodus was Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre, whom the British gave the code name "Moses". Le Loutre acted in conjunction with Governor of New France Roland-Michel Barrin de La Galissonière who encouraged the Acadian migration. A prominent Acadian who transported Acadians to Ile St. Jean and Ile Royal was Joseph-Nicolas Gautier. The overall upheaval of the early 1750s in Nova Scotia was unprecedented. Present-day Atlantic Canada witnessed more population movements, more fortification construction, and more troop allocations than ever before in the region. The greatest immigration of the Acadians between 1749 and 1755 took place in 1750. Primarily due to natural disasters and British raids, the Exodus proved to be unsustainable when Acadians tried to develop communities in the French territories.
Rivière-aux-Canards was an Acadian community located at the west side of the Minas Basin from 1670 until 1755. The community occupied the present-day site of Canard, Port Williams and Starr's Point, Nova Scotia. The village was established in 1670 by the name of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rivière-aux-Canards, later, it became Rivière-aux-Canards in short form.
