Porters Lake (2011 population: 3,202) is a rural community in the Eastern Shore region of the

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, between Trunk 7 and Route 207, 27.8 km from Halifax. The residents mainly commute to jobs in Dartmouth,

Burnside Industrial Park Burnside is a Canadian urban neighbourhood located along the northeast shore of Bedford Basin of the Halifax Regional Municipality in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. History Burnside was the name originally given to the farm of Duncan Waddell, a Scotsm ...

or in

Downtown Halifax Downtown Halifax is the primary central business district of the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Municipality of Halifax. Located on the central-eastern portion of the Halifax Peninsula, on Halifax Harbour. Along with Downtown Dartmouth, and other de facto ...

. The community is built around the lake from which it takes its name.

The Lake

Porters Lake is 19 km long, but never more than a kilometre wide and is in the shape of a crescent. The depth of Porters Lake varies significantly from the north end to the south end; the south end is approximately 5 meters deep on average, but the north end averages around 12 meters deep, with one part of the lake reaching 30 meters in depth. It is one of the most popular lakes for

recreational boating Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure ...

in the region. The Lake is connected to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

near Lawrencetown Beach, because of this, the lake varies in

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensionless and equal ...

from almost completely

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

at the north end to nearly that of ocean water at the south end. The communities which surround Porters Lake include, Porters Lake, Middle Porters Lake, West Porters Lake, East Lawrencetown, Three Fathom Harbour and Seaforth. Crowell Road and West Porters Lake Road, run along the west side of the lake
Porters Lake Provincial Park
is located off West Porter's Lake Road along the west side of the Lake. Hwy 107 crosses over the Lake and Hwy 7 runs north of the Lake. Hwy 207 runs south of the lake until just past Three Fathom Harbour, where there is limited access to the Lake by road on the east side as the highway and residential communities run along the

coast.

Parks

*Porters Lake Provincial Park

2008 Fire

On June 13, 2008, a

forest fire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

broke out destroying two houses, damaging more than 20 others and burning almost 4,800

acres The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ya ...

. More than 5,000 residents were evacuated from their homes and several major roads were closed for 3 days. The fire was believed to have been caused by a camp fire, though the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

laid no charges. It was determined that residue from

Hurricane Juan A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

fueled the fire, which was the largest fire in an urban area of Nova Scotia, and the largest fire overall, in 30 years.

Demographics

*Total population: 3217 *Total dwellings: 1286 *Total land area: 91.573 km²

References

{{authority control Parks in Halifax, Nova Scotia Communities in Halifax, Nova Scotia Lakes of Nova Scotia General Service Areas in Nova Scotia

The Lake

Parks

2008 Fire

Demographics

See also

References