Westmount (2001 pop.: 3,000) is a suburban community in the

Cape Breton Regional Municipality Cape Breton Regional Municipality (often referred to as simply "CBRM") is the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's second largest municipality and the economic heart of Cape Breton Island. As of 2016 the municipality has a population of 94,285. The ...

Geography

Located on the west bank of the

Sydney River The Sydney River is a short river located in Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Historically, it was also referred to as the Spanish River from the 18th century Early modern France, French name for its estua ...

at the point where Sydney Harbour begins, Westmount faces

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

's downtown. Neighbouring communities include Point Edward,

Coxheath Coxheath is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Maidstone, Kent, England. The parish is approximately south of Maidstone. It is mainly centred along Heath Road which links the villages of Yalding and Boughton Monchelsea to the west ...

and Edwardsville.

Education

Westmount has two elementary schools, as well as one

post-secondary Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

institution. These include: *Robin Foote Elementary School (gr. P-6, latterly grades P-5) *Harbourview Montessori (elementary grades) **This facility was opened in a building, formerly used by Robin Foote Elementary to accommodate Primary and Grade 1 overflow classes. *MacLennan Junior High School (gr. 7-9, latterly grades 6-8) **MacLennan was decommissioned by the Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board in the mid-2010's and demolished several years later. **MacLennan was the first public school in Nova Scotia to obtain an internet connection, and produce an educational

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

. *

Canadian Coast Guard College The Canadian Coast Guard College (CCGC) is a maritime training college and Canadian Coast Guard facility located in Westmount, Nova Scotia—a suburb of the former city of Sydney in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality. The CCGC core training ...

Government

As part of the CBRM, Westmount is represented by the municipal councilor for District 4, Steve Gillespie. Westmount is also represented by Jaime Battiste in the federal riding of Sydney-Victoria, and by Murray Ryan in the provincial riding of Northside-Westmount

Religion

With the exception of a few families almost the entire population of Westmount is Christian. The churches located in Westmount include: *Holy Rosary

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

*Westmount

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

*Saint Aidan's

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

**Saint Aidan's was a member of St Mark's Parish in Coxheath, but was closed and de-consecrated in the mid-2000's. **The building was used as a dance school for several years by the Cape Breton School of the Arts, but as of 2020 has been repurposed as apartments.

Amenities and places of interest

Westmount is home to Petersfield Provincial Park. The park was formerly a private family estate and home to the 18th century Mayor of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

David Mathews David Mathews ( – July 28, 1800) was an American lawyer and politician from New York City. He was a Loyalist during the American Revolutionary War and was the 43rd and last Colonial Mayor of New York City from 1776 until 1783. As New York City ...

and later the industrialist and Senator,

John Stewart McLennan John Stewart McLennan (5 November 1853 – 15 September 1939) was a Conservative member of the Senate of Canada. He was born in Montreal, Quebec and became an industrialist and publisher. The son of Hugh McLennan and Isabella Stewart, he was e ...

. The grounds have been designated as a historical property and are home to the ruins of a large manor house and caretaker's home..

Canada Day Canada Day (french: Fête du Canada), formerly known as Dominion Day (french: Fête du Dominion), is the national day of Canada. A federal statutory holiday, it celebrates the anniversary of Canadian Confederation which occurred on July 1, 18 ...

festivities are held at the park every year. The only building from the former estate that still stands is the boathouse, which was moved approx. 1 km down shore from the estate, and converted to a private residence. Other amenities in Westmount include: *Westmount Volunteer Fire Department *

Royal Canadian Legion The Royal Canadian Legion is a non-profit Canadian ex-service organization (veterans' organization) founded in 1925. Membership includes people who have served as military, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, provincial and municipal police, Royal ...

, Branch 126 *The

Dobson Yacht Club Dobson Yacht Club (DYC) is a private yacht club based in Westmount, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Dobson Yacht Club sits on the western shore of the South Arm of Sydney Harbour (Nova Scotia), Sydney Harbour, directly opposite the Sydney, Nova Scotia, ...

*Westmount Dental Office

Notable people

People of note who live or have lived in Westmount include: *

Howie MacDonald Howie MacDonald (born March 9, 1965) is a Canadian fiddler and entertainer from Westmount, Cape Breton Island. His lively Cape Breton style of fiddling has entertained audiences all over the world while travelling with The Rankin Family. He has ...

, Cape Breton fiddler,

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

candidate for the

Sydney—Victoria Sydney—Victoria is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. It was created in 1996 from parts of Cape Breton—The Sydneys, Cape ...

district, during the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

federal elections *

Peter Mancini Dominic Peter Mancini (born August 1, 1956) is a Canadian politician and lawyer. Mancini was elected to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1997 federal election that saw a breakthrough for the New Democratic Party in the province of Nova Sco ...

, politician, lawyer, MP for Sydney—Victoria (1997–2000) *

, British Loyalist who was active during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

, Mayor of New York City (1776–1783) *

, industrialist, publisher and politician. * John W. Morgan, politician, Mayor of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (2000–2012) * John Newell, politician, MLA for

Cape Breton The Lakes Cape Breton The Lakes was a provincial electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that elected one member of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly. It was created in 1978 out of areas which were formerly included in the Cape Breton North, Cape Breton ...

(1983–1988)

References

External links

Cape Breton Regional Municipality Official Website

The Canadian Coast Guard Official Website

HarbourView Montessori School

The Dobson Yacht Club

Historic Nova Scotia - Petersfield
{{Coord, 46, 8, 27.3, N, 60, 12, 36.7, W, display=title Communities in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality