Hortonville is a community in the

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 ...

province of

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 in Kings County at the mouth of the

Gaspereau River The Gaspereau River is a river in Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a length of approximately 24 km from its source at Gaspereau Lake on the South Mountain south of Kentville to its mouth at Hortonville on the Minas Basin. The low ...

and is part of the Landscape of Grand Pré UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site of

Fort Vieux Logis Fort Vieux Logis (later named Fort Montague) was a small British frontier fort built at present-day Hortonville, Nova Scotia, Canada (formerly part of Grand Pre) in 1749, during Father Le Loutre's War (1749). Ranger John Gorham moved a blockhou ...

is located by the river at Hortonville, built by the British 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 ...

to control the nearby Acadian settlements at Grand Pre. The landing at Hortonville was used in 1755 to deport the majority of Acadians from Grand Pre during the Bay of Fundy Campaign of the

Expulsion of the Acadians The Expulsion of the Acadians, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, the Great Deportation, and the Deportation of the Acadians (french: Le Grand Dérangement or ), was the forced removal, by the British, of the Acadian pe ...

and is today marked by an Acadian Memorial Cross. The same landing was used in 1760 when

New England Planters The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor (and subsequently governor) of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign ( ...

, led by Robert Denison, arrived to re-settle the Grand Pre area and is marked by a National Historic Sites and Monuments Board plaque commemorating the Planters. The settlement was named Horton Township after Horton Hall, the English country estate of

George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, (6 October 1716 – 8 June 1771) was a British statesman of the Georgian era. Due to his success in extending commerce in the Americas, he became known as the "father of the colonies". President of th ...

, chairman of the British Board of Trade which was in charge of English settlements in Nova Scotia. GrandPreMonuments

First known as Horton Landing, Hortonville was surveyed as the intended townsite for the New England Planters Horton Township settlement. However, the town development gravitated instead to

Wolfville Wolfville is a Canadian town in the Annapolis Valley, Kings County, Nova Scotia, located about northwest of the provincial capital, Halifax Regional Municipality, Halifax. The town is home to Acadia University and Landmark East School. The tow ...

further to the west and Hortonville remained as an agricultural area. 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 playe ...

, later the

Dominion Atlantic Railway The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia in Canada, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley. The Dominion Atlantic Railway was unusually diverse for a ...

, built a bridge across the Gaspereau River at Hortonville in 1869 (re-built in 1911-1912), followed by a station which further developed agriculture and began tourism in the area. In 1924, the Dominion Atlantic Railway deeded a plot of land beside the tracks at Hortonville to the Acadian memorial society to erect an iron memorial cross at what was believed to be the site of the deportation. In 2005 the railway assisted moving the cross to a site owned by Parks Canada closer to the river established by more recent research as the actual deportation site."The Deportation Cross", ''Grand-Pre.com''
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References

{{coord, 45, 6, 29.45, N, 64, 17, 28.08, W, name=Hortonville, Nova Scotia, display=title, region:CA-NS_scale:100000 Communities in Kings County, Nova Scotia General Service Areas in Nova Scotia