Windsor is a community located in

Hants County Hants County is an historical county and census division of Nova Scotia, Canada. Local government is provided by the West Hants Regional Municipality, and the Municipality of the District of East Hants. History Formation The county of Hants ...

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. It is a service centre for the western part of the county and is situated on Highway 101. The community has a history dating back to its use by the Mi'kmaq Nation for several millennia prior to European colonization. When the Acadians lived in the area, the town was raided by New England forces in 1704. The area was central to both Father Le Loutre's War and the Expulsion of the Acadians during the Bay of Fundy Campaign in 1755. The town promotes itself as the birthplace of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

and was the home of Canada's first internationally best-selling author,

Thomas Chandler Haliburton Thomas Chandler Haliburton (17 December 1796 – 27 August 1865) was a Nova Scotian politician, judge, and author. He made an important political contribution to the state of Nova Scotia before its entry into Confederation of Canada. He was the ...

. On April 1, 2020, the Town of Windsor amalgamated with the District of West Hants to become the West Hants Regional Municipality.

History

Having migrated from Port Royal, Nova Scotia, the Acadians were the first to settle in Pisiguit by the early 1680s. French census records dated 1686 list well established farms utilizing dyked marshlands.

Queen Anne's War

Raid on Pisiquid (1704)

During

Queen Anne's War Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought in North America involving the colonial empires of Great Britain, France, and Spain; it took place during the reign of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. In E ...

, in response to the

Wabanaki Confederacy The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the The Maritimes, Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17t ...

military campaign against the New England frontier and the Canadian

Raid on Deerfield The 1704 Raid on Deerfield (also known as the Deerfield Massacre) occurred during Queen Anne's War on February 29 when French and Native American forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville attacked the English frontier settl ...

, Massachusetts, Benjamin Church led the Raid on Pisiquid (1704) and burned the village to the ground. In the Raid on Pisiquid, Church burned 40 houses along with out-buildings, crops and cattle. There was resistance and two Mi'kmaq were wounded.

Father Le Loutre's War

Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remained primarily occupied by Catholic Acadians and Mi'kmaq. Father Le Loutre's War began when Edward Cornwallis arrived to establish Halifax with 13 transports on June 21, 1749. By unilaterally establishing Halifax the British were violating earlier treaties with the Mi'kmaq (1726), which were signed after Dummer's War. The British quickly began to build other settlements. To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian and French attacks on the new Protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (1749), Dartmouth (1750), Bedford (Fort Sackville) (1751), Lunenburg (1753) and Lawrencetown (1754).John Grenier. ''The Far Reaches of Empire: War in Nova Scotia, 1710-1760.'' Oklahoma University Press. Within 18 months of establishing Halifax, the British also took firm control of peninsula Nova Scotia by building fortifications in all the major Acadian communities: present-day Windsor (Fort Edward); Grand Pre (

Fort Vieux Logis Fort Vieux Logis (later named Fort Montague) was a small British frontier fort built at present-day Hortonville, Nova Scotia, Canada (formerly part of Grand Pre) in 1749, during Father Le Loutre's War (1749). Ranger John Gorham moved a blockhou ...

) and Chignecto ( Fort Lawrence). (A British fort already existed at the other major Acadian centre of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia. Cobequid remained without a fort.) Many Acadians left this region in the Acadian Exodus, which preceded 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 peo ...

French and Indian War

During the French and Indian War, Fort Edward and Windsor played a significant role in the deportation, particularly the

Bay of Fundy Campaign (1755) The Bay of Fundy campaign occurred during the French and Indian War (the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War) when the British ordered the Expulsion of the Acadians from Acadia after the Battle of Fort Beauséjour (1755). The campaign ...

. Acadians were imprisoned in the fort as they were notified about the expulsion. Acadians numbering in the thousands were deported from mainland Nova Scotia. The deportees frequently were held onboard ships for several weeks before being moved to their destinations, thus exacerbating unhealthy conditions below decks and leading to the deaths of hundreds. Many hundreds more were lost through ship sinkings and disease onboard ships while en route to ports in Britain's American colonies, Britain, and France. The British also broke apart families and sent them to different places. Their justification for this was to more efficiently put people on the boats. This resulted in more loss of life as families could not survive without essential members.

New England Planters

The Township of Windsor was founded in 1764 by

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 ( ...

. The next year, its first Agricultural Fair was held. This fair is still continued today, and is the oldest and longest-running such fair in North America.

American Revolution

In 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 Revoluti ...

, Windsor was an important British stronghold. Fort Edward was the headquarters in Atlantic Canada for

84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) The 84th Regiment of Foot (Royal Highland Emigrants) was a British regiment in the American Revolutionary War that was raised to defend present day Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada from the constant land and sea attacks by American Revolutiona ...

. A relief force was mustered at Windsor to crush the American-led siege at the

Battle of Fort Cumberland The Battle of Fort Cumberland (also known as the Eddy Rebellion) was an attempt by a small number of militia commanded by Jonathan Eddy to bring the American Revolutionary War to Nova Scotia in late 1776. With minimal logistical support from ...

in 1776.

Loyalists

Following the American Revolution, Windsor was settled by United Empire Loyalists.

Plaster War

Windsor developed its gypsum deposits, usually selling it to American markets at

Passamaquoddy Bay Passamaquoddy Bay (french: Baie de Passamaquoddy) is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between the U.S. state of Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix River. Most of the bay lies within Canada, with its w ...

. Often this trade was illegal; in 1820, an effort to stop this smuggling trade resulted in the "Plaster War," in which local smugglers resoundingly defeated the efforts of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) 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. It is the only province with both English and ...

officials to bring the trade under their control.

Kings

The

University of King's College The University of King's College, established in 1789, is in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.Roper, Henry. "Aspects of the History of a Loyalist College: King's College, Windsor, and Nova Scotian Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century." Anglic ...

and its secondary school, King's Collegiate School, were founded in 1788-1789 by United Empire Loyalists as Anglican academic institutions. The college remained in the community until a disastrous fire on February 3, 1920. In 1922 it moved to Halifax, with the assistance of the Carnegie Foundation and continues to this day. The King's Collegiate School continued operation on the campus and was joined by a sister girls school, 'Edgehill School', in 1890. In 1976 both institutions merged to form King's-Edgehill School, and remains the oldest independent (i.e. private) school in the Commonwealth outside of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Haliburton

brought fame to Windsor during the 19th century with his writings about a clockmaker named Sam Slick.

Ships, rail and roads

In 1878, Windsor was officially incorporated as a town. Its harbour made the town a centre for shipping and shipbuilding during the age of sail. Notable shipbuilders such as Bennett Smith built a large fleet of merchant vessels, one of the last being the ship ''Black Watch''. As the port of registry for the massive wooden shipbuilding industry of the Minas Basin, Windsor was the homeport of one of the largest fleet of sailing ships in Canada. Notable vessels registered at Windsor included

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, the largest three masted barque built in Canada, and Kings County, the largest four masted barque. Following the completion of the

Nova Scotia Railway The Nova Scotia Railway is a historic Canadian railway. It was composed of two lines, one connecting Richmond (immediately north of Halifax) with Windsor, the other connecting Richmond with Pictou Landing via Truro. The railway was incorpo ...

's line from Halifax in 1857, the town became an important steamship connection giving Halifax access to the Bay of Fundy shipping routes. The railway continued westward as the

Windsor and Annapolis Railway The Windsor and Annapolis Railway (W&AR) was a historic Canadian railway that operated in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley. The railway ran from Windsor to Annapolis Royal and leased connections to Nova Scotia's capital of Halifax. The W&AR playe ...

in 1870, eventually connecting to Yarmouth as 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 ...

in 1893. In 1901 the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

was built across Hants County, connecting Windsor with Truro. Windsor used to be a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

junction for the

where a route to

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...

joined with the mainline between Halifax and Yarmouth. No longer the railhead, Windsor's steamship connection diminished but the central location of Windsor on the railway fostered the growth of numerous factories such as textile mills, fertilizer plants and furniture factories. The home of one of the industrialist families of this era, the Shands, is preserved today in Windsor as the Shand House Museum. Over the course of its history, Windsor was victim to two disastrous fires, on October 17, 1897, and January 6, 1924, both of which destroyed part of the town. In 1970, the construction of a flood-control causeway carrying Highway 101 and the

across the Avon River closed Windsor off from shipping and has affected navigation in the Avon River downstream from the causeway due to excessive siltation. Highway 101 is scheduled to be upgraded to a 4-lane expressway in the future and there have been discussions about replacing the causeway with railroad and highway bridges to improve water flow. Today, the Avon River on the upstream side of the causeway which is obstructed from freely flowing into the Bay of Fundy is called 'Lake Pisiquid'.

Geography

Situated at the junction of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers, it is the largest community in the District of the Municipality of West Hants and had a 2001 population of = 3,779 residents. Prior to the county being divided into separate municipal districts, Windsor had served as the shire town of the county. The region encompassing present day Windsor was originally part of Pisiguit, a Mi'kmaq term meaning "Junction of Waters". This name referred to the confluence of the Avon and St. Croix rivers, which flow into the Minas Basin.

Climate

The highest temperature ever recorded in Windsor was on 19 August 1935. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 7 February 1993.

Demographics

In the 2016 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Town of Windsor recorded a population of 3,648 living in 1,586 of its 1,715 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2011 population of 3,785. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2016.

Arts and culture

The world's very first pumpkin regatta was held in Windsor in 1999 where people carve out The Giant Pumpkins and race across lake Pisiquid. This weird regatta now includes a motorized class where a motor is attached to the pumpkin with a flotation device. Windsor is the location of the

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia was co-founded in 1972 in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, by the late Evelyn Garbary, Tom Miller, and Sara Lee Lewis who continues to serve as Managing Director. The Theatre moved to Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1987, purchasing a ...

. The theatre supports a touring troupe, which performs locally and internationally, as well as many children's theatre programs.

Attractions

Windsor, NS is home to numerous attractions beginning with the claim to being the birthplace of hockey. Windsor is home to both the Cradle of Hockey which is home to Long Pond where hockey began beside Howard Dill's Farm. The town of Windsor is also home to the oldest agricultural fair in North America which is held on two separate weekends in September. The first fair was held in Windsor in the year 1765 making their 250th anniversary in 2015.

Parks

*Falls Lake Provincial Park *Victoria Park *Windsor Playland Park *Windsor Waterfront Skatepark

Ice hockey

Windsor maintains a claim as the birthplace of hockey, based upon a reference (in a novel by Thomas Haliburton) of boys from King's Collegiate School playing "hurley", on the frozen waters of Long Pond adjacent to the school's campus during the early 19th century. Students from King's-Edgehill School still play hockey on Long Pond, a pond proclaimed by some as the "Cradle of Hockey", located at the farm of Howard Dill. Windsor also boasts the oldest hockey

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

in Canada, the Stannus Street Rink, which no longer hosts hockey games. The town's current arena is Hants Exhibition Arena. The town was also recently involved in the shooting of a television series called Road Hockey Rumble. The town of Windsor was also home to the historic Windsor Royals Jr. B Hockey Club, as well as the Avon River Rats Jr. C Hockey Club. The Windsor Royals Jr. B club ceased playing in the spring of 2012, but was ultimately replaced by the Valley Maple Leafs. Facing issues regarding their copyright, in June 2018 the River Rats revived the Royals brand. However, the newly named team lasted just one season before relocating to Chester, Nova Scotia as the

Castaways A castaway is a person cast adrift or ashore. Castaway or Cast Away may also refer to: Literature * "The Castaways" (short story), P.G. Wodehouse * ''Castaway'' (book), a 1984 memoir by Lucy Irvine *''The Castaway'', Hallie Erminie Rives's 1904 ...

. File:StJohnsWindsor.jpg, St. John's Roman Catholic Church, designed by William Critchlow Harris File:HantsCommunityHospital.jpg, Hants Community Hospital

Government

The town operates under a Council/Manager system of local

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

consisting of current elected Mayor Anna Allen, current Deputy Mayor Laurie Murley, three elected Councillors, Dave Sealey, Liz Galbraith, and John Bergante and a Chief Administrative Officer, Louis Coutinho.

Notable people

* Thomas R. Bennett * Scott Brison *

George Elliott Clarke George Elliott Clarke, (born February 12, 1960) is a Canadian poet, playwright and literary critic who served as the Poet Laureate of Toronto from 2012 to 2015 and as the 2016–2017 Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. His work is known larg ...

Rufus Curry Rufus Curry (31 August 1859 – 18 August 1934) was a manufacturer and painter in Nova Scotia. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1903, but declined the appointment and never actually took his seat. Notwithstanding this, he is of ...

Amor De Cosmos Amor De Cosmos (born William Alexander Smith; August 20, 1825 – July 4, 1897) was a Canadian journalist, publisher and politician. He served as the second premier of British Columbia. Early life Amor De Cosmos was born William Alexander Smit ...

* Benjamin DeWolf (Windsor merchant) * George Henry Emerson (Twillingate and Fogo) *

James Fraser (businessman) James Fraser JP ( – 14 October 1822) was a Scottish-born businessman, judge and political figure in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. He represented Northumberland County in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1795 to 1818. Ea ...

* Henry Goudge ** Monson Henry Goudge (son) * Allen Haley *

* Lewis Herbert Martell * Richard McHeffy * Alden Nowlan (from nearby Stanley, Nova Scotia) * Percy Paris * Daniel McNeill Parker * Chuck Porter *

Silas Tertius Rand Silas Tertius Rand (May 18, 1810 – October 4, 1889) was a Canadian Baptist clergyman, missionary, ethnologist, linguist and translator. His work centred on the Mi'kmaq people of Maritime Canada and he was the first to record the legend of Gloos ...

* Gerald Regan * Geoff Regan *

Avon Saxon Avon Dawson Saxon (c. 1857 – 24 March 1909) was a Canadian operatic and concert singer who created the role of Friar Tuck in the romantic opera ''Ivanhoe'' (1891) by Arthur Sullivan and Julian Sturgis and Francal in '' Mirette'' by André M ...

* Jennifer Rosanne States *

Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna (1 October 1790 – 12 July 1846) was a popular Victorian English writer and novelist who wrote under the pseudonym Charlotte Elizabeth. She was "a woman of strong mind, powerful feeling, and of no inconsiderable share ...

* Peter Togni * Benjamin Wier (nearby Brooklyn) *

Charles Smith Wilcox Charles Smith Wilcox (December 21, 1852 – October 10, 1909) was a merchant and politician in Nova Scotia, Canada. He represented Hants County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1894 to 1901 and from 1906 to 1909 as a Liberal-Conserva ...

Lewis Morris Wilkins (speaker) Lewis Morris Wilkins (ca 1768 – January 3, 1848) was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Lunenburg County in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1799 to 1817. Wilkins was speaker for the Nova Scotia asse ...

** Lewis Morris Wilkins (son)

Sister city

The sister city of Windsor is Cooperstown, New York. This is due to Windsor being the birthplace of

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

and Cooperstown being the birthplace of

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

References

External links

Town of WindsorSketch of the Old Parish Burying Ground of Windsor, Nova Scotia By Henry Youle Hind. 1888.