The Annapolis River (french: Rivière Annapolis) is a Canadian river located in

Nova Scotia 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". Most of the population are native Eng ...

Annapolis Valley The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy. Stat ...

Geography

Measuring 120 kilometres in length, the river flows southwest through the western part of the valley from its source in Caribou Bog (50 m 60 ftabove sea level) near the villages of Aylesford and Berwick in western Kings County, to its mouth at Port Royal where it empties into the

Annapolis Basin The Annapolis Basin is a sub-basin of the Bay of Fundy, located on the bay's southeastern shores, along the northwestern shore of Nova Scotia and at the western end of the Annapolis Valley. The basin takes its name from the Annapolis River, whic ...

. The estuary portion of the Annapolis River runs from

Bridgetown Bridgetown (UN/LOCODE: BB BGI) is the capital and largest city of Barbados. Formerly The Town of Saint Michael, the Greater Bridgetown area is located within the parish of Saint Michael. Bridgetown is sometimes locally referred to as "The Ci ...

to Port Royal and experiences a tidal range of approximately between tides. The eastern part of the Annapolis Valley is drained by the

Cornwallis River The Cornwallis River is in Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a meander length of approximately through eastern Kings County, from its source on the North Mountain at Grafton to its mouth near Wolfville on the Minas Basin. The lower ...

, also rising in the Caribou Bog, which has been dated to 10,000 years old. According to estimates by the Province of Nova Scotia, there were 31,877 people resident within the Annapolis River watershed in 2011. The river flows through some of the most productive agricultural land in the province. The comparatively mild micro-climate produced by the valley's North and South mountain ranges, as well as its proximity to the waters of the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de 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 extremely high tidal range is the hi ...

make the region ideal for fruit crops such as

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

History

Port Royal, Nova Scotia - circa 1609 - Project Gutenberg etext 20110

The Annapolis River's importance in history is evident through its use as a transportation corridor in early

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early ...

after

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...

and

Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts Pierre Dugua de Mons (or Du Gua de Monts; c. 1558 – 1628) was a French merchant, explorer and colonizer. A Calvinist, he was born in the Château de Mons, in Royan, Saintonge (southwestern France) and founded the first permanent French set ...

established the

Habitation at Port-Royal Habitation may refer to: * Human settlement, a community in which people live * Dwelling, a self-contained unit of accommodation used as a home * Habitation (India), an administrative division in India * Habitation at Port-Royal, France's first s ...

on the north bank of the river's mouth in 1605. Champlain's map of 1609 showed the river as being named Rivière du Dauphin. A British attack in 1710 saw this part of Acadia fall from French hands. An Acadian settlement at the mouth of Allains Creek, ten kilometres upriver from Port Royal, was renamed

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port-Royal (Acadia), Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be ...

, in honour of the reigning monarch, Queen Anne. The river was also given the name Annapolis at this time. After France relinquished the part of Acadia which is now peninsular Nova Scotia to Britain in 1713, Annapolis Royal became the capital of the British colony of Nova Scotia until 1749;

Fort Anne Fort Anne (first established in 1629 as the Scottish Charles Fort) 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. Now desig ...

was established at the mouth of Allains Creek where it drains into the river to protect the community from attack. Throughout the 18th to the 20th century the river was heavily used as a transportation corridor, particularly during the age of sail when sailing ships would sail as far upriver as

(the tidehead, and head of navigation); Bridgetown being home to a thriving shipbuilding industry. A ferry service once crossed the river at Annapolis Royal to

Granville Ferry Granville Ferry is a village in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Annapolis County. Granville Ferry is located directly across the Annapolis River from Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. It was the northern terminus for ferries runnin ...

on the north bank; it was succeeded by a bridge in the early 20th century. AnnapolisRoyalGeneratingStation

In 1984,

Nova Scotia Power Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a vertical integration, vertically integrated electric utility in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB). Nov ...

opened the

Annapolis Royal Generating Station The Annapolis Royal Generating Station was a tidal power generating station in the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, Canada. When operational, it was the only tidal generating station in North America and was one of the few in the world. Located u ...

, which operates as a tidal power plant. A rock-filled dam now blocks the river between Annapolis Royal and Granville Ferry, carrying

Trunk 1 Trunk may refer to: Biology * Trunk (anatomy), synonym for torso * Trunk (botany), a tree's central superstructure * Trunk of corpus callosum, in neuroanatomy * Elephant#Trunk, Elephant trunk, the proboscis of an elephant Computing * Trunk (sof ...

and the stretch of river between Annapolis Royal and Bridgetown is now used as a reservoir. In the late 1980s, an application to designate the Annapolis River as a Canada federal Heritage River was rejected because of the high levels of pollution in the river from residential and agricultural development. A variety of monitoring and clean-up projects have followed in the wake of the rejection and led to the creation of the Clean Annapolis River Project (CARP).A Case Study of a Work in Progress: The Clean Annapolis River Project and The Atlantic Coastal Action Program

Popular culture

The title of

Dauphin Herald Extraordinary The Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA; french: Autorité héraldique du Canada) is part of the Canadian honours system under the Canadian monarch, whose authority is exercised by the Governor General of Canada. The authority is responsible for t ...

at the

Canadian Heraldic Authority The Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA; french: Autorité héraldique du Canada) is part of the Canadian honours system under the Canadian monarch, whose authority is exercised by the Governor General of Canada. The authority is responsible for t ...

is derived from the ancient name of the river.

Communities

Communities located along the Annapolis River in downstream order (from northeast to southwest), include: * Aylesford East * Aylesford * Auburn * Green Acres * Kingston * Greenwood * South Farmington *

Wilmot Wilmot may refer to: Places Australia *Division of Wilmot, an abolished Australian Electoral Division in Tasmania * Wilmot, Tasmania, a locality in the North-West Region Canada *Wilmot, Nova Scotia, an unincorporated rural community and former t ...

* Nictaux East * Middleton *

Nictaux Nictaux is a community in the Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Annapolis County. Nictaux is at the intersection of Nova Scotia Trunk 10, Highway 10 and Nova Scotia Route 201, Highway 201. The na ...

* Lower Middleton * Nictaux West * Brickton * North Williamston * Lawrencetown * West Lawrencetown *

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...

* West Paradise *

* Carleton Corner * Centrelea * Upper Granville * Tupperville * Belleisle * Round Hill * Granville Centre * Moschelle * Lequille *

* Allains Creek * Granville Beach *

Upper Clements Upper Clements is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Annapolis County. It is on Nova Scotia Trunk 1 on the eastern side of the Annapolis Basin. The town is the site of Upper Clements Park Upper Clements Parks was ...

* Port Royal

References

External links