The Dartmouth Commons is an approximately area of land set aside by the government in the late 18th century for the settlers common use in Dartmouth

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 ...

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. Much of it is maintained by the

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348 ...

. Today the most prominent area is called Leighton Dillman Park, named after a voluntary keeper of the garden. Other areas of the common are used by:

baseball field A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

s, the former Dartmouth City Hall, the Dartmouth Regional Library then after that the Dartmouth Heritage Museum, the

Zatzman Sportsplex The Zatzman Sportsplex is an indoor sports and community centre in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, opened 1982 and known as the Dartmouth Sportsplex until 2019. It houses an arena, a gymnasium, two swimming pools, and other fitness, leisure and events fa ...

, Dartmouth High School, Bicentennial Jr. High School, an elementary school called "Park School" (since torn down) and two

burial grounds A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

. The baseball fields are named for Arthur H. Merrick who was a co-founder of minor baseball in the City of Dartmouth in 1950. Between the Dartmouth Sportsplex and Dartmouth High School there is the Bridge Transit Terminal, a major hub for

Halifax Transit Halifax Transit is a Canadian public transport service operating buses and ferries in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Founded as Metro Transit in March 1981, the agency runs two ferry routes, 66 conventional bus routes (including corridor, local, and expre ...

. The former Dartmouth Heritage Museum building has since been demolished, and the area it stands on was turned back into park land. Under the "Halifax Regional Municipality Act" the municipality cannot develop the Dartmouth Common, nor charge a fee to use the ball fields. The Dartmouth common section of "Halifax Regional Municipality Act" reads: 529 (1) In this Section, "Dartmouth common" means the common of Dartmouth so far as it was vested in the City of Dartmouth on April 22, 1986. (2) The Halifax Regional Municipality shall not sell, lease, license or otherwise alienate the Dartmouth common. (3) Subject to subsection (4), no person shall build on the Dartmouth common. (4) A person may build an addition to a building located on the lands described in the Schedule to Chapter 87 of the Acts of 1994, An Act to Amend Chapter 68 of the Acts of 1986, the Dartmouth Common Act, if the building and the addition are both totally located on those lands. (5) The Dartmouth common is held by the Halifax Regional Municipality in trust for the inhabitants of the municipality. 1998, c. 18, s. 529. Recent amendments to the Act: It is recommended that subsection 529 (4) be renumbered to 529 (4)(a) and clause 529(4)(b) be added as follows: (b) The Municipality may build, expand or improve: i) transit facilities, fronting on Nantucket Avenue; and ii) parking lots for the Sportsplex, on the Dartmouth Common to a maximum of .

External links

Dartmouth Commons
on

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Future of the Dartmouth CommonMaster Plan
Parks in Halifax, Nova Scotia {{HalifaxNS-geo-stub