Apple River is a community in the Canadian province of

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, located in

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Cumberland, historic county *Cumberl ...

. The community is located on two sides of the Apple River, a small river which widens dramatically to produce a large, shallow tidal harbour facing

Chignecto Bay Chignecto Bay () is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy located between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and separated from the waters of the Northumberland Strait by the Isthmus of Chignecto. It is a unit within the greater Gulf ...

, an arm of the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy () is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its tidal range is the highest in the world. The bay was ...

. The river and harbour are bordered by extensive tidal salt marshes, protected by Cape Capstan to the East and a long sand bar to the west. The two sides of the harbour are known as East Apple River and West Apple River. Apple River is located on

Route 209 The following highways are numbered 209: Canada * Manitoba Provincial Road 209 * Nova Scotia Route 209 * Prince Edward Island Route 209 * Quebec Route 209 * Saskatchewan Highway 209 China * China National Highway 209 Costa Rica * Natio ...

and one of the communities that form the

Fundy Shore Ecotour The Fundy Shore Ecotour is a former scenic drive and network of tourist destinations in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and encircles several sub-basins of the Bay of Fundy, which contains the highest tidal range on the planet. The Fundy Sh ...

. A tidal, small craft harbour at the end of the bar serves as base to several small commercial fishing boats. A small grass

air strip An aerodrome, airfield, or airstrip is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for public or private use. Aerodromes inc ...

known as the Apple River Airport is located in West Apple River. The area was known to the

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Mi'kmaw'' or ''Mi'gmaw''; ; , and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Bru ...

as Agoomakun, meaning place of abundant

Herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

. Current settlement dates the

United Empire Loyalist United Empire Loyalist (UEL; or simply Loyalist) is an honorific title which was first given by the 1st Lord Dorchester, the governor of Quebec and governor general of the Canadas, to American Loyalists who resettled in British North Ameri ...

migration after the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

. Circa 1783 several Loyalist families from the United States settled at Apple River including Robert Dove, Hugh Pudsey and Joseph Elderkin. Apple River had one of the first

lighthouses A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mark ...

in the Upper Bay of Fundy, established in 1848 at the tip of Cape Capstan. The family tree of Fowler indicates John Fowler 1785-1866 served as an early

lighthouse keeper A lighthouse keeper or lightkeeper is a person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as ...

and is buried in Apple River, Nova Scotia. Lumbering led the community to grow in the late 19th century until local stands were exhausted. At least 14 vessels were built at Apple River between 1845 and 1909. The River and community are believed to be named after an old stand of

apple trees An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

, although some sources attribute the name to the wreck of a ship carrying apples which left the shoreline strewn with apples.Roger David Brown, ''Historic Cumberland County South'', (Halifax: Nimbus, 2002) p. 122 Westappleriver

References

Communities in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia {{CumberlandNS-geo-stub