Mira Road (2001 pop.: 1,578) is a community in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

's Cape Breton County. CapeBretonRegionalHospital

Located immediately east of Sydney, and now joined with Sydney as part of

Cape Breton Regional Municipality Cape Breton Regional Municipality (often referred to as simply "CBRM") is the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia's second largest municipality and the economic heart of Cape Breton Island. As of 2021 the municipa ...

, Mira Road was originally built in the 18th century by French military forces from

Fortress Louisbourg The Fortress of Louisbourg () is a tourist attraction as a National Historic Site and the location of a one-quarter partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Its two sieges, espe ...

. It was used for commercial purposes to move goods between Louisbourg and Spanish Bay, which includes present-day Sydney Harbour. The "Grande Chemin de Mire" was reported to be wide enough for two carriages to pass, a notable achievement in colonial France. After French military forces were defeated and expelled from the area, Britain moved to consolidate it with the colony of Nova Scotia. Settlement in the outlying areas of Sydney only began after the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

when New England

Loyalists Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cr ...

moved to southern Cape Breton Island as refugees. They populated the area along the Mira Road and began farming, eventually creating a community named "Mira Road". More recent housing developments in the 1970s saw much of the farmland subdivided into housing lots and the area became a bedroom community of the City of Sydney. The Cape Breton Regional Hospital was opened in the area in 1995, and with major expansions is the major referral centre for

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

References

Mira Road on Destination Nova Scotia
Unincorporated communities in Nova Scotia Communities in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality {{CapeBretonNS-geo-stub