Kingston is a Canadian

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

in Kings County on the north bank of the

Annapolis River The Annapolis River (french: Rivière Annapolis) is a Canadian river located in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. Geography Measuring 120 kilometres in length, the river flows southwest through the western part of the valley from its source in Carib ...

in the

Annapolis Valley The Annapolis Valley is a valley and region in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located in the western part of the Nova Scotia peninsula, formed by a trough between two parallel mountain ranges along the shore of the Bay of Fundy. Stat ...

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 ...

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 ...

. As of 2016, the population was 3,093. This village is home to Clairmont Provincial Park. It is a small picnic park approximately 12 km from the Fundy Shore. This park’s picnic area is situated under a stand of red pine, providing a cool oasis away from the valley heat.

History

Kingston remains as a major service centre for the

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

growing industry in the area of western Kings County and has a growing retail district, owing to its access to Highway 101. The land which Kingston sits on today was originally owned by Bishop Inglis, the first Anglican Bishop of Nova Scotia, granted to him in 1790. By the early 1800s he had sold off most of the land along the

, converted into farm lots. The small community centered on these farms was at first called "Bloomfield", but the name "Kingston Station" was given to it in 1868 when the Halifax- Yarmouth main line of the

Dominion Atlantic Railway The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia in Canada, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley. The Dominion Atlantic Railway was unusually diverse for a ...

was built and passed through the community, with its station being meant to serve the neighboring communities of Kingston Village (now known as Greenwood) and North Kingston. After the arrival of the railway, Kingston Station developed into a local service and light manufacturing centre.Echoes across the Valley, A History of Kingston and its Neighbors, Tony Cochrane, Editor, pp. 44-47, , Lancelot Press, Hantsport, NS In the 1940s, the adjacent village of Greenwood was selected to be the site of a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

and later

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

station, under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. Today,

CFB Greenwood Canadian Forces Base Greenwood , or CFB Greenwood, is a Canadian Forces Base located east of Greenwood, Nova Scotia. It is primarily operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force and is one of two bases in the country using the ...

is the largest airbase in Atlantic Canada, and is the largest employer in the area. Kingston was incorporated as a village on June 1, 1957 in order to facilitate the construction of a sewer, a much needed utility that solved the problem of flooding caused by the area's sandy terrain.

Present day

The villages of Kingston and Greenwood are sometimes called Kingston-Greenwood, as they share the same highway exit and local telephone exchange. Every year, on the second Saturday in July, the village hosts its annual Steer BBQ, involving a parade and a small fair, where an entire steer is roasted. This has been a tradition in the community for over 50 years. The village has a local elementary and middle school which is the Kingston and District Elementary School and Pine Ridge Middle School respectively.

References

External links

Village of Kingston official site
{{NStemplate Communities in Kings County, Nova Scotia Villages in Nova Scotia

History

Present day

See also

References

External links