Rivière-aux-Canards was 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 ...
community located at the west side of 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 ...
from 1670 until 1755. The community occupied the present-day site of
Canard,
Port Williams and
Starr's Point, Nova Scotia
Starrs Point is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Kings County two miles (3 km) west of Port Williams. Starrs Point faces the Minas Basin to the east and separates the mouths of the Cornwallis River and the C ...
. The village was established in 1670 by the name of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rivière-aux-Canards, later, it became Rivière-aux-Canards in short form.
History
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 ...
settled along the
Canard River
The Canard River is a river in Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada which drains into the Minas Basin of the Bay of Fundy between the communities of Canard and Starr's Point. It is known for its fertile river banks and extensive dyke land agricult ...
in the late 1600s and called it Rivière-aux-Canards after the French word for duck. They first built small dykes to claim salt water marshes for farmland at the upper reaches of the river near the communities now known as
Steam Mill Village
Steam Mill Village is a rural community north of Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada beside Camp Aldershot. It is named after an early steam-powered saw mill.
Geography
Steam Mill Village is located about 10 km north of Kentville. Nova Scotia ...
and Upper Dyke. A large cross dyke was built further down river at Middle Dyke. About 1750 an even larger cross dyke, over a mile long, was built near Port Williams. Known as the Grand Dyke it located where the current highway
Route 358 crosses the river. By this date, the Acadian village on both sides of the river totaled 750 people and included the extensive dykeland farms along the river as well as several mills.
A parish was established in 1670 by the name of Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rivière-aux-Canards, later, ''Rivière-aux-Canards'' in short form. The best farms were located at the mouths of 'rivière aux Canards' river and the 'Saint-Antoine' river. Rivière-aux-Canards was west of
Grand-Pré. A schooner landing and ferry at
Boudreau's Bank provided a connection between the two settlements.
The Acadian settlement was destroyed in the 1755
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 ...
. On October 27, 1755 fourteen transport ships embarked 1,600
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 ...
from the region of
Grand-Pré and ''Rivière-aux-Canards'', as well as 1,300 from
Pisiguit
Pisiguit is the pre-expulsion-period Acadian region located along the banks of the Pisiquit River from its confluence with the Minas Basin of Acadia, which is now Nova Scotia, including the St. Croix River drainage area. Settlement in the region ...
and
Cobequid
The old name Cobequid was derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Wagobagitk" meaning "the bay runs far up", in reference to the area surrounding the easternmost inlet of the Minas Basin, a body of water called Cobequid Bay.
Cobequid was granted in 1689 to ...
. Acadian families from Rivière-aux-Canards brought personal possessions to Boudreau's Bank in ox carts where they were loaded on exile ships, leaving 60 ox carts to be found at the landing by later settlers. The deportation vessels joined up with ten other ships in the
Bay of Fundy
The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is the hi ...
with 1,900 Acadiens from the region of
Beaubassin
Beaubassin was an important Acadian village and trading centre on the Isthmus of Chignecto in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. The area was a significant place in the geopolitical struggle between the British and French empires. It was establ ...
. Some of the ships were over crowded with standing room only. Governor
Charles Lawrence had given the order to prevent the Acadians from returning. It was for this reason that the villages of Cobequid, Pisiguit, and Rivière-aux-Canards were burnt to the ground. It is not known when, or if, Grand Pré was burned. With no one to maintain the dykes, a severe storm in November 1759 breached the Grand Dyke and flooded up to the Middle Dyke which was badly damaged, returning hundreds of acres of farmland to tidal marshes.
The
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 ( ...
took up the Acadian lands along the river in 1760, discovering a handful of Acadian families at Rivière-aux-Canards who had hidden and escaped deportation. Their former lands became part of newly surveyed "
Cornwallis Township
Cornwallis Township was one of the original townships of Kings County, Nova Scotia. The township was named after Edward Cornwallis, the founder of Halifax, Nova Scotia. It bordered Aylesford Township to the west and Horton Township to the south. ...
" settled by New England Planters, some of whom employed the remaining Acadians to repair dykes. A government ship bringing supplies up the Canard River for the Planters, the
brigantine ''Montague'' was wrecked in the lower reaches of the river in December 1760. The Planter settlement on the south bank of the river becoming known as
Starr's Point and the settlement on the north becoming known as
Canard. The Planters repaired the Middle Dyke and rebuilt the Grand Dyke in 1782. In 1825 they built the
Wellington Dyke
The Wellington Dyke is an agricultural dyke in Kings County, Nova Scotia protecting over of farmland along the Canard River between the communities of Starr's Point and Canard in Nova Scotia, Canada. Built by local farmers, it was begun in 181 ...
near the mouth of the Canard River protecting in total over 3,000 acres of farmland along the river from the tides of the Minas Basin.
[Marjory Whitelaw, ''The Wellington Dyke'' Nimbus Publishing (1997), pages 26, 31]
See also
*
Beaubassin
Beaubassin was an important Acadian village and trading centre on the Isthmus of Chignecto in what is now Nova Scotia, Canada. The area was a significant place in the geopolitical struggle between the British and French empires. It was establ ...
*
Cobequid
The old name Cobequid was derived from the Mi'kmaq word "Wagobagitk" meaning "the bay runs far up", in reference to the area surrounding the easternmost inlet of the Minas Basin, a body of water called Cobequid Bay.
Cobequid was granted in 1689 to ...
*
Grand Pré
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
* Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist
* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
* Grand, Vosges, village and comm ...
*
Les Mines
Les Mines was the name generally applied the Acadian settlements in the western Minas Basin in Nova Scotia. They included the villages of Grand-Pré, New Minas, Rivière-aux-Canards but usually excluded the villages at Pisiguit, Cobequid, and ...
*
Pisiguit
Pisiguit is the pre-expulsion-period Acadian region located along the banks of the Pisiquit River from its confluence with the Minas Basin of Acadia, which is now Nova Scotia, including the St. Croix River drainage area. Settlement in the region ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riviere-aux-Canards
Acadian history
New France
Acadia