Wedgeport is a unincorporated place in the

Municipality of the District of Argyle Argyle, officially named the Municipality of the District of Argyle, is a district municipality in Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia. Statistics Canada classifies the district municipality as a municipal district. The district municipality occupies th ...

Southern Nova Scotia Southern Nova Scotia or the South Shore is a region of Nova Scotia, Canada. The area has no formal identity and is variously defined by geographic, county and other political boundaries. Statistics Canada, defines Southern Nova Scotia as an economi ...

, Canada.

History

Wedgeport was settled in 1767 by returning Acadians who had been deported 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 ...

area. The village of Wedgeport was formally called Tusket Wedge, and was also at one time called the "Chebec". In 1909 by an Act of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, it was changed to Wedgeport. In the 20th century, many famous Americans and Canadians traveled here due to large amounts of tuna in the area, including

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

, President

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

Kate Smith Kathryn Elizabeth Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986) was an American contralto. Referred to as The First Lady of Radio, Smith is well known for her renditions of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" & "When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain". ...

Gene Tunney James Joseph Tunney (May 25, 1897 – November 7, 1978) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1915 to 1928. He held the world heavyweight title from 1926 to 1928, and the American light heavyweight title twice between 1922 and 1923 ...

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( , born July 24, 1897; disappeared July 2, 1937; declared dead January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer and writer. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many oth ...

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...

Jean Béliveau Joseph Jean Arthur Béliveau (August 31, 1931 – December 2, 2014) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played parts of 20 seasons with the National Hockey League's (NHL) Montreal Canadiens from 1950 to 1971. Inducted into the Ho ...

Ethel du Pont Ethel du Pont Roosevelt-Warren (January 30, 1916 – May 25, 1965) was an American heiress and socialite and a member of the prominent du Pont family. She is known for her widely publicized marriage to Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., son of the ...

Thomas Gifford Thomas Eugene Gifford (May 16, 1937 – October 31, 2000) was a best-selling American author of thriller novels. He was a graduate of Harvard University. He gained international fame with the crime novel '' The Glendower Legacy'' and later w ...

, Michael Lerner,

Zane Grey Pearl Zane Grey (January 31, 1872 – October 23, 1939) was an American author and dentist. He is known for his popular adventure novels and stories associated with the Western genre in literature and the arts; he idealized the American frontie ...

and

Tony Hulman Anton "Tony" Hulman Jr. (February 11, 1901 – October 27, 1977) was an American businessman from Terre Haute, Indiana, who bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945 and brought racing back to the famous race course after a four-year hiatus ...

. It is known as the "Historic Sport Tuna Fishing Capital of the World". Many of these famous Americans were taken on fishing trips by Captain

Evée LeBlanc Evée LeBlanc (August 20, 1878 – September 26, 1978) was a Canadian fishing captain who pioneered the tuna fishing industry in Wedgeport, Nova Scotia. LeBlanc was internationally known for taking American tourists on fishing trips, including Pre ...

. In 1937, the International Tuna Cup Match began with the participation of 28 different countries. In 1949, 72 Bluefin tuna were caught for a total weight of 30,161 pounds, the most tuna as well as the highest weight ever caught in a tournament to date. The tournament ended in 1976 due to a lack of tuna, but the tournament was revived in 2004. The 13th annual ''Wedgeport Tuna Tournament & Festival'' took place in August 2016. Wedgeport hosts the annual ''Festival Acadien de Wedgeport'' each summer. The Festival celebrates Acadian heritage and includes concerts, variety shows, a parade, an Acadian pageant, traditional costumes, dances and a softball tournament.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

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 ...

, Wedgeport had a population of 1,071 living in 478 of its 534 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 1,061. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Government

In 1910, the community of Wedgeport was incorporated with

Upper Wedgeport Wedgeport is a unincorporated place in the Municipality of the District of Argyle in Southern Nova Scotia, Canada. History Wedgeport was settled in 1767 by returning Acadians who had been deported to the Boston area. The village of Wedgeport w ...

and

Lower Wedgeport Wedgeport is a unincorporated place in the Municipality of the District of Argyle in Southern Nova Scotia, Canada. History Wedgeport was settled in 1767 by returning Acadians who had been deported to the Boston area. The village of Wedgeport w ...

and became a town separate from the Municipality of the District of Argyle. In 1947, the town was dissolved and rejoined the Municipality of Argyle because the town's tax base became too small to support its obligations.

Mayors

There were ten mayors of Wedgeport during its incorporation.Town of Wedgeport fonds 1890-1948
Argyle Courthouse *Jacques R. LeBlanc 1910-1913 *Joseph Pothier 1913-1914 *Jacques R. LeBlanc 1914-1916 *Pierre G. LeBlanc 1916-1918 *Jacques R. LeBlanc 1918-1920 *Alfred L. LeBlanc 1920-1921 *Pius Z. Boudreau 1921-1924 *J. Zébédée Cottreau 1924-1928 *Denis D. LeBlanc 1928-1936 *

Willard O'Brien Willard Cleveland O'Brien (December 15, 1893 – November 6, 1981) was a physician and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada. Early life and education Born in Noel, Nova Scotia, he graduated from Dalhousie Medical School in 1919. Political ...

1936-1943 *David Z. LeBlanc 1943-1946 *Walter D. Murphy 1946-1947

References

{{Coord, 43.7398, -65.9800, type:city_region:CA-NS, display=title Communities in Yarmouth County Populated places established in 1767 Designated places in Nova Scotia 1767 establishments in the British Empire