rural
In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are describ ...
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
Colchester County
Colchester County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. With a population of 51,476 the county is the fourth largest in Nova Scotia. Colchester County is located in north central Nova Scotia.
The majority of the county is gover ...
. It has about 100 residents in winter and increases to 250 residents in summer.
Situated near the mouth of the Portapique River, which flows into the
Minas Basin
, image = Lookout On Way to Cape Split - 25006718579.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Looking east across the Southern Bight of Minas Basin from The Lookoff
, image_bathymetry =
, alt_bathymetry =
, ca ...
, its economy is based mainly on farming and some forestry.
It was the site of an
Acadian
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 de ...
settlement called ''Porcepic'' or ''Vil Port-au-pique'' named after porcupines in the area. After the
in 1755, the community was resettled in the late 1760s and early 1770s by Ulster Scots families from the Londonderry Township settlement in nearby
Great Village
Great Village is a rural community of approximately 500 people located along Nova Scotia Trunk 2, Trunk 2 and the north shore of Cobequid Bay in Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Colchester County, Nova Scotia. It is considered locally to incorpor ...
, joined by a later wave of Northern Irish settlers in the 1820s. In the 1840s, the small mixed farms of Portapique developed an important
fishery, exporting thousand of barrels of pickled shad to the
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
fish markets. A unique regional boat suited to the tidal rivers of the area was developed around Portapique by boat builders such as William G. Hall. The commercial shad fishery collapsed in the 1920s, although a seasonal recreational fishery has remained popular.
In April 2020, Portapique was one of the locations of the
2020 Nova Scotia attacks
On April 18 and 19, 2020, Gabriel Wortman committed multiple shootings and set fires at 16 locations in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, killing 22 people and injuring three others before he was shot and killed by the Royal Canadian Mo ...
, the deadliest spree killing in Canadian history. 13 of the shooting's victims were in Portapique.