Guysborough (population: 397) is an
unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to:
* Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality
* Unincorporated entity, a type of organization
* Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
community in
Guysborough County
Guysborough County is a county in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
History
Taking its name from the Guysborough, Nova Scotia, Township of Guysborough, which was named in honour of Sir Guy Carleton, 1st B ...
,
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 ...
.
Located on the western shore of Chedabucto Bay, fronting Guysborough Harbour, it is the administrative seat of the
Guysborough municipal district. It is home to the Alder Grounds, Boggy Lake, Bonnett Lake Barrens, and Canso Coastal Barrens Wilderness Areas. The community is named after Sir
Guy Carleton (Guy's borough).
History
![Prince Henry Sinclair Monument and Park Monument Canada](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Prince_Henry_Sinclair_Monument_and_Park_Monument_Canada.jpg)
The Mi'kmaq name for the village of Guysborough was Chedabuctou.
The Prince Henry Sinclair Society of North America believe he landed at Chedabucto Bay in 1398. The monument was erected on November 17, 1996. It is a fifteen-ton granite boulder with a black granite narrative plaque located at Halfway Cove on Trunk 16 in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia.
The village of Guysborough was first settled by French Europeans in 1634, led by
Isaac de Razilly
Isaac de Razilly (1587 – 1635) was a member of the French nobility appointed a knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at the age of 18. He was born at the Château d'Oiseaumelle in the Province of Touraine, France. A member of the French ...
, a French nobleman and Navy officer who later became Governor of French
Acadia
Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17t ...
. He built a fort named
Fort St François à Canso at the entrance to the harbour. In 1655
Nicolas Denys
Nicolas Denys (1598? – 1688) was a French-born merchant, governor, author, and settler in New France. He founded settlements at St. Pierre (now St. Peter's, Nova Scotia), Ste. Anne (Englishtown, Nova Scotia) and Nepisiquit (Bathurst, New Br ...
, governor of the new St Lawrence Bay Province, built Fort Chedabuctou on Fort Point to serve as his capital. The fort was later replaced and renamed Fort St Louis.
In 1682, a permanent settlement was started by
Clerbaud Bergier
Clerbaud Bergier ( fl. 1680–85) was a Huguenot trader and an early figure in the economic development of Acadia
Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now ...
. A group cleared land and spent the winter with the first crops being planted in 1683.
Louis-Alexandre des Friches de Meneval landed at Chedabouctou in 1687 when arriving to take up his position as governor of Acadia.
Claude Bergier led other merchants from
La Rochelle, France
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With ...
in enjoying a fishing monopoly in Acadia. In 1682,
Fort St. Louis was established by the Company of Acadia (Compagnie de la Peche Sedentaire) to protect the fishery. The principal ports were at
Chedabucto Bay
Chedabucto Bay is a large bay on the eastern coast of mainland Nova Scotia between the Atlantic Ocean and the Strait of Canso next to Guysborough County. At the entrance to Chedabucto Bay is the community of Canso at the head is the community ...
, which accounted for fifty fishers in 1686. Dauphin de Montorgueil was the commandant at Fort Saint-Louis.
Raid on Chedabucto (1688)
In 1687 there were 150 people at Chedabouctou, 80 of whom were fishermen. The Company of Acadia suffered heavy losses in 1688, when Chedabouctou was pillaged by New Englanders.
Battle at Chedabucto (1690)
During
King William's War
King William's War (also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French) was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), also known as the War of the Grand All ...
, in 1690, Captain Cyprian Southack proceeded to Chedabucto to take Fort St. Louis which, unlike
Port Royal, Nova Scotia, put up a fight before surrendering. As part of Sir
William Phips
Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was born in Maine in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was of humble origin, uneducated, and fatherless from a young age but rapidly advanced from shepherd boy, to shipwright, s ...
's expedition to destroy the capital of Acadia
Port Royal, Phips sent Southack to Chedabacto with 80 men to destroy Fort St. Louis and the surrounding French fishery. Meneval was stationed at the fort with 12 soldiers. They tried to defend the fort for over six hours, until fire bombs burned the fort to the ground. Southack destroyed the enormous amount of 50,000 crowns of fish.
At the same time, Phips also dispatched Capt. John Alden who raid Cape Sable Island as well as the villages around the Bay of Fundy, particularly Grand Pre and Chignecto.
The Company of Acadia encountered a variety of difficulties on the way to its final disappearance in 1702.
Raid on Chedacacto (1718) - The ''Squirrel'' Affair
Shortly after Southack established himself at
Shelburne, Nova Scotia
Shelburne is a town located in southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada.
History
Shelburne lies at the southwest corner of Nova Scotia, at roughly the same latitude as Portland, Maine in the United States. The Mi'kmaq call the large and well-sheltered h ...
, the Mi'kmaq raided the station and burned it to the ground.
[Geoffery Plank. An Unsettled Conquest. University of Pennsylvania. 2001. p. 76-77.] In response, from 17–24 September 1718, Southack led a raid on Canso and Chedabucto (present-day community of Guysborough) in what became known as the ''Squirrel'' Affair. Southack laid siege for three days to Fort St. Louis at Chedabucto, which was defended primarily by Acadians. There were approximately 300 Acadians in the area. On board HMS ''Squirrel'', Southack killed numerous Acadians and imprisoned others. On 18 September, British marines land on Lasconde's Grave and seize the entrance to Chedabucto Harbour. The following day HMS ''Squirrel'' landed troops at Salmon River who then proceeded to the rear of the village. HMS ''Squirrel'' made its first attempt to enter the harbour but was beaten back by the Acadian cannon fire from the fort. Later in the day the village was captured by the landed troops. On 20 September HMS ''Squirrel'' made a second attempt to enter the harbour. It successfully fired upon the fort. On 23 September Southack burned the village and loaded the goods on to the captured French transports. After pillaging and burning the villages, on 24 September, Southack released the Acadian prisoners onto the Canso Islands without any provisions or clothing. Others fled to Isle Madame. He seized two French ships, and encouraged the Governor of Nova Scotia,
Richard Philipps
General Richard Philipps (1661 – 14 October 1750) was said to have been in the employ of William III as a young man and for his service gained the rank of captain in the British army. He served at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 and promoted ...
, to fortify
Canso
The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO) is a representative body of companies that provide air traffic control. It represents the interests of Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs). CANSO members are responsible for supporting ov ...
.
French and Indian War
![St Ann's Catholic Church, Guysborough](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/St_Ann%27s_Catholic_Church%2C_Guysborough.jpg)
The Acadians in this region left in the
Acadian Exodus
The Acadian Exodus (also known as the Acadian migration) 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 thr ...
during
Father Le Loutre's 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 Briti ...
. Those that remained would have been
removed during the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
.
American Revolution
British settlers renamed the town Guysborough after
Sir Guy Carleton
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester (3 September 1724 – 10 November 1808), known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and administrator. He twice served as Governor of the Province of Quebec, from 1768 to 17 ...
, commander of the British forces and
Governor General of British North America
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...
in the 1780s. After the American Revolution, led by Thomas Brownspriggs, Guysborough was settled by
Black Loyalist
Black Loyalists were people of African descent who sided with the Loyalists during the American Revolutionary War. In particular, the term refers to men who escaped enslavement by Patriot masters and served on the Loyalist side because of the C ...
s and soldiers of the disbanded
Duke of Cumberland's Regiment
The Duke of Cumberland's Regiment, also known as Montagu's Corps, South Carolina Rangers, and the Loyal American Rangers, was a British Loyalist provincial unit raised from American colonists and rebel prisoners by the former British Royal Gover ...
and
King's Carolina Rangers
The King's Carolina Rangers (KCR) was a loyalist militia regiment active during the American War of Independence. The KCR was composed of nine infantry companies, of which one was converted into a troop of dragoons in 1782. The unit primarily ...
.
[
]
One Black Loyalist was Hannah Lining (c. 1749 - ?). She was a former slave of Dr. John Lining in Hillsborough, South Carolina (present-day Old Towne Creek). She worked on his plantation harvesting Indigofera
''Indigofera'' is a large genus of over 750 species of flowering plants belonging to the pea family Fabaceae. They are widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.
Description
Species of ''Indigofera'' are mos ...
. In 1761, at age 22, she tried to make a run for freedom but was caught. She lost one eye. During the American Revolution, in 1780 the British officer Major General Leslie occupied John Lining's residence in Hillsborough and Hannah successfully escaped with her mother to New York. They worked in New York for a while before moving to Port Mouton, Nova Scotia. Port Mouton burned down and she moved to Guysborough in 1784. Hannah was baptized in 1786 and married her first husband there the following year, when she age 38. Her first husband died. She remarried and then was windowed again. Hannah did not have children. She was given land at near by Black Loyalist settlement Tracadie, Nova Scotia
Tracadie is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Antigonish County. Tracadie has close links with nearby Upper Big Tracadie. Led by Thomas Brownspriggs, Tracadie was settled by Black Loyalists in the early 18th c ...
but never moved there. Hannah and her mother lived together into their old age.
Another Black Loyalist was Andrew Izard (c. 1755 - ?). He was a former slave of Ralph Izard in Saint George, Dorchester, South Carolina. He worked on a rice plantation and grew up on Combahee. When he was young he was valued at 100 pounds. In 1778 Izard made his escape. During the American Revolution he worked for the British army in the wagonmaster-general’s department. He was on one of the final ships to leave New York in 1783. He traveled on the Nisbett in November, which sailed to Port Mouton. The village burned to the ground in the spring of 1784 and he was transported to Guysborough. There he raised a family and still has descendants that live in the community.
In 1790 they built the first Anglican Church in the area and Rev. Peter de la Roche was the first minister. He arrived from Lunenburg after having signed a ransom agreement with American privateers in the Raid on Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (1782)
The Raid on Lunenburg (also known as the Sack of Lunenburg) occurred during the American Revolution when the US privateer, Captain Noah Stoddard of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, and four other privateer vessels attacked the British settlement at ...
.
Guysborough Blockhouse (1812–1815) was built to defend the town's harbour by the British during the War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
.
The town's fine natural harbour led to its establishment as the administrative centre for the county, and despite the diminishing role of the harbour for transport links, forestry, fishing and agriculture remain of great importance to the area.[
St Ann's Catholic Church is the second church on the present site and was built in 1873.][
]
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population
The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...
conducted by Statistics Canada, Guysborough had a population of 397 living in 166 of its 185 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 363. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
Attractions
* The Old Guysborough Court House Museum (c. 1842 to 1843) is a Municipal Heritage Property under the Heritage Property Act.
* The former residence of Supreme Court of Nova Scotia
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court is a superior court in the province of Nova Scotia.
The Supreme Court consists of 25 judicial seats including the position of Chief Justice and Associate Chief Justice. At any given time there may be one or more addit ...
Justice W.F. DesBarres. The justice was the grandson of Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres who was an army officer, military engineer, surveyor, colonizer and colonial administrator who created an important 4-volume atlas of nautical chart
A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a sea area and adjacent coastal regions. Depending on the scale of the chart, it may show depths of water and heights of land ( topographic map), natural features of the seabed, details of the co ...
s for the coastline of eastern North America called the ''Atlantic Neptune
The ''Atlantic Neptune'' is a monumental four volume atlas which was the most important collection of maps, charts and views of North America published in the eighteenth century. It was created by Colonel Joseph Frederick Wallet Des Barres.
Des ...
''. The residence was renovated into the DesBarres Manor Inn in 2003. Several maps from the ''Atlantic Neptune'' hang in the inn.DesBarres Manor
/ref>
* The Rare Bird Pub, The Skipping Stone Souvenir Store and Candlery, built in the 1920s and located on the scenic waterfront, were built from the old Jost Buildings. Frequented from their opening to the mid-1970s, the last of them, a general store, closed its doors in the early 1990s.[
]
Legacy
* namesake of HMCS Chedabucto (J168)
References
Sources
*
*
*Haynes, Mark. The Forgotten Battle: A History of the Acadians of Canso/ Chedabuctou. British Columbia: Trafford. 2004
*
*
* {{cite book, last=Plank, first=Geoffrey, title=An Unsettled Conquest: The British Campaign Against the Peoples of Acadia, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZoVaDwAAQBAJ&pg=PP1, year=2001, publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press, isbn=978-0-8122-0710-1
John Webster. Chedabucto.
External links
Guysborough Journal
District of Guysborough
Communities in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia
Designated places in Nova Scotia