Weymouth Falls is a Black Nova Scotian settlement within the District of Clare in

Digby County Digby County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. History It was named after the Township of Digby; this was named in honour of Rear Admiral Robert Digby, who dispatched HMS ''Atalanta'' to convey Loyalists from New York City in ...

, located in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

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 ...

History

The community was established by African-Canadians in the 1780s, near the village of Weymouth. Initially established by Black Loyalists, they were later joined by Maroons and other groups of Caribbeans of African descent. The original Baptist church in Weymouth Falls was among the first seven established in the province as part of the African United Baptist Association (AUBA) in 1854. Its replacement, Mount Beulah Baptist Church was erected in 1921. St. Matthew’s Anglican Church was purchased from a Yarmouth congregation in 1902. The building was moved to Weymouth Falls and reassembled by Anglican members of the community. St. Matthew's has a unique designation as the only

Anglican Church in Canada The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church counted 359,030 members on parish rolls in 2,2 ...

to have an all black congregation. The area was once home to a prosperous lumber industry, with the community remaining agriculturally based to this day.

Demographics

The number of black residents in Weymouth Falls has declined from 295 in 2001, to 115 in 2016.

Notable residents

Weymouth Falls is the birthplace of one of the world's greatest boxers, Sam Langford (1886–1956). Although he was never officially crowned World Champion, he held titles from England, Spain and Mexico. In 1972, Weymouth Falls erected a plaque to his memory at its community centre. In 1996, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada recognized his contribution to Canadian sports by rating Langford as one of the top ten boxers of the 20th century.

In popular culture

*In 1985, the community was thrust into the national spotlight when Graham Jarvis, a black man, was shot and killed by Jeff Mullen, a white man from nearby Weaver Settlement. Both Mullen and Jarvis had been drinking and playing pool at Mullen’s house when Mullen went to his outhouse, retrieved a shotgun borrowed from his brother-in-law and fired Jarvis from roughly two metres away. The shot punctured Jarvis’s leg near the waist, and severed an artery. Jarvis stumbled, then crawled into the middle of Highway 340, where a crowd of onlookers gathered as he bled to death. Mullen was found not guilty after a four-day trial in front of an all-white jury. Presiding Judge John J. Nichols told the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

that he would not have allowed the case to go to trial if he had known all of the facts and stated, "You know what happens when those black guys start drinking."'WE'LL DEAL WITH IT LATER': AFRICAN NOVA SCOTIAN WOMEN'S PERCEPTIONS AND EXPERIENCES OF THE POLICE
Proquest.com *

Whylah Falls ''Whylah Falls'' is a long narrative poem (or "verse novel") by George Elliott Clarke, published in book form in 1990. As with much of Clarke's work, the poem is inspired by the history and culture of the Black Canadian community in Nova Scotia ...

(1990), a poetic novel written by Black Canadian George Elliott Clarke takes place in Weymouth Falls.

Climate

References

{{Reflist Communities in Digby County, Nova Scotia General Service Areas in Nova Scotia Black Canadian settlements