Aylesford, since its formation, has always been a

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

. It is situated in western Kings County in the

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. St ...

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 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The settlement was named after the fourth Earl of Aylesford, Heneage Finch, who was Lord Of The Bedchamber to

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

from 1772-1777. The community is located between the North and South Mountains, and is roughly a 15 minute to Canadian Forces Base Greenwood, and a 10 minute drive to its closest neighbour, the Town Of Berwick. Aylesford is located on the

Evangeline Trail The Evangeline Trail is a scenic roadway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the province, bringing visitors to the Minas Basin, the Annapolis Valley and the Gulf of Maine. The route connects Mount Uniack ...

(

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, the proboscis of an elephant Computing * Trunk (software), in rev ...

) scenic tourist route, which was named after the epic 1847 H.W. Longfellow poem entitled '' Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie''.

History

Aylesford is one of the oldest surviving settlements in Kings County, originally settled by Ulster Scots (Scots-Irish) during the early 1770s. Between 1772 and 1781, the population of Nova Scotia actually fell - from 19,000 to 12,000 - but by 1784, after the continued arrival of

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalists (or simply Loyalists) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the Governor of Quebec, and Governor General of The Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North America duri ...

s during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, the population had reached 32,000. A number of Loyalists, aka "The King’s Loyal Americans" put down roots in Aylesford and the surrounding area. Aylesford emerged as a major centre for packing, processing and exporting apples after the arrival of the

Windsor and Annapolis Railway The Windsor and Annapolis Railway (W&AR) was a historic Canadian railway that operated in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. The railway ran from Windsor to Annapolis Royal and leased connections to Nova Scotia's capital of Halifax. The W&AR played ...

in 1869.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, Aylesford had a population of 834 living in 399 of its 428 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 833. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Economy

Aylesford's economy relies primarily on the local agricultural industry. It is a service centre for the surrounding agricultural district. An important crop is

cranberries Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry m ...

cultivated on the extensive peat bogs.

Peat moss ''Sphagnum'' is a genus of approximately 380 accepted species of mosses, commonly known as sphagnum moss, peat moss, also bog moss and quacker moss (although that term is also sometimes used for peat). Accumulations of ''Sphagnum'' can store wa ...

harvesting operations are also active. Aylesford's largest tourist attraction, the

Oaklawn Farm Zoo The Oaklawn Farm Zoo was a zoo located in Millville, Nova Scotia, Canada, just south of the village of Aylesford. It was opened in 1984, and is family-owned and operated by Ron and Gail Rogerson. The zoo boasted the largest display of Big Cats an ...

(located just outside the village in Millville), was home to Rutledge, the heaviest living

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

in captivity, as certified by

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

in 1997. Rutledge died in February 2009, three months short of his 18th birthday. The

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for Conservation biology, conservation purposes. The term ''zoological g ...

also has a variety of other animals including

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...

dromedary camel The dromedary (''Camelus dromedarius'' or ;), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel, or one-humped camel, is a large even-toed ungulate, of the genus ''Camelus'', with one hump on its back. It is the tallest of the three species of ...

s, and a variety of

monkeys Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

. Other attractions in Aylesford include a public beach at Aylesford Lake, Crystal Falls hiking trail, and Clairemont Provincial park. A farm called Dempsey's Corner has a fee-based self-pick service for fruits and vegetables. They also have a petting zoo and educate their visitors on the history of farming. Many other area farms provide a self-pick service offering strawberries, apples, pears, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, peaches and other produce.

Notable residents

* Emma Maitland Stirling, philanthropist

References

{{Subdivisions of Nova Scotia Communities in Kings County, Nova Scotia Villages in Nova Scotia Designated places in Nova Scotia