Masstown (2021 population: 156), formerly Cobequid, is a farming community located approximately from

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

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 ...

Historic background

Masstown has its beginnings with French settlers, known as

Acadians The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the des ...

. They first settled in this area near the

Cobequid Bay Cobequid Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy and the easternmost part of the Minas Basin, located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The bay was carved by rivers flowing into the eastern end of the Bay of Fundy. The eastern end of the b ...

in . The Acadian culture consisted primarily of farming; remains of

marshland A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

dykes, that cover the entire coast of the community, indicate their advanced farming systems. Once an old Acadian settlement, Masstown was the site of the first Acadian church in

, and a cairn is erected at the nearby United Church to commemorate this former landmark. The subsequent Catholic Church inspired the community's name: "Mass" town.

Present-day community

Masstown is located 15 minutes west of

Nova Scotia Trunk 2 Trunk 2 is part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's system of Trunk Highways. The route runs from Halifax to Fort Lawrence on the New Brunswick border. Until the 1960s, Trunk 2 was the Halifax area's most important highway link to other p ...

or Exit 12 off

Nova Scotia Highway 104 Highway 104 in Nova Scotia, Canada, runs from Fort Lawrence at the New Brunswick border near Amherst to River Tillard near St. Peter's. Except for the portion on Cape Breton Island between Port Hawkesbury and St. Peter's, it forms the main ...

. The small farming community has a local market and now a Tim Hortons and Greco. The local market, the Masstown Market is a tourist attraction for the community as well as the fish market and restaurants and diners nearby. Masstown Market is a popular halfway stop for people travelling between

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

and Halifax.

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 ...

, Masstown had a population of 156 living in 62 of its 65 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 164. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

References

Masstown on Destination Nova Scotia2016 Census Profile
{{coord, 45, 23, 2.15, N, 63, 28, 58.61, W, region:CA-NS_type:city(153), display=title General Service Areas in Nova Scotia Communities in Colchester County Designated places in Nova Scotia